Apnea (Short Commentary and Case Report)
Dr. Ali Sultan AlRifai*
Anatomy Branch-Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery College of Dentistry, Hawler Medical University, Iraq
Submission: October 01, 2017; Published: November 20, 2017
*Corresponding author: Dr. Ali Sultan AlRifai, Anatomy Branch-Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery College of Dentistry, Hawler Medical University Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Email: alirefai2001@gmail.com
How to cite this article: Adv Res Gastroentero Hepatol 7(5): ARGH.MS.ID.555721 (2017). DOI: 10.19080/ARGH.2017.07.555721
Introduction
Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person’s breathing is interrupted during sleep. People with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times. This means the brain -- and the rest of the body-- may not get enough oxygen. There are two types of sleep apnea:
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA): The more common of the two forms of apnea, it is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the back of the throat collapses during sleep. This causes shallow breathing or breathing pauses. When you try to breathe, any air that squeezes past the blockage can cause loud snoring.
Central sleep apnea: Unlike OSA, the airway is not blocked, but the brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe, due to instability in the respiratory control center.
Case Report
A child 6 years old with breathing stops started at May 2017, and after several tests for respiratory system, breathing allergies, neurology and heart, everything was OK except the fact that apnea test approved the breathing stops. They first suspected an ENT problem. Therefore he was admitted to ENT Department.
Laryngoscopy revealed that his tonsils are slightly enlarged, but they are not the cause. They also noticed that there was irritation in the esophagus. The latter highlighted the possibility of gastro- reflux disease. pH meter test was done within 24hrs, results showed that apnea was coincident with reflux going upward and with nasal liquids going downward.
The patient took many medications, the only one showed good results was ZERTEC, an anti-histamine, anti-allergy syrup. Now the problem has moved to histamine intolerance that might be the cause of the stomach acid, nasal congestion and hence apnea. We are still waiting for the histamine blood test to approve the assumption.