Are you suffering from Execessive day time sleepiness?
Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) is a condition in which a person is unable to maintain alertness and feeling sleepy and drowsy during the daytime hours. Nearly everyone has days when they feel sleepy. But for some people, excessive sleepiness may actually interfere with daily activities.
The consequences of excessive daytime sleepiness can be varied and sometimes serious or even fatal, largely because of increased risk for motor vehicle crashes and work-related injuries. They lack concentration and adversely affect the quality of their job in work place.
Common Causes of EDS:
1-Sleep deprivation,
2-Snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA),
3-Sedating medications
Sedating medications that may cause excessive daytime sleepiness include alpha- and beta-adrenergic blockers, antiepileptic drugs antidiarrheal agents, antiemetics, antihistamines, antimuscarinics and antispasmodics, antipsychotics, cough suppressants, genitourinary smooth muscle relaxants, opiate agonists and partial opiate agonists, and skeletal muscle relaxants. Antidepressant and anxiolytics also can cause EDS.
Snoring and OSA
Snoring and OSA is a frequent cause of excessive daytime sleepiness and it can be lethal. Polysomnography should typically be used to confirm the diagnosis. In patients diagnosed with OSA, possible conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and coronary disease should be identified and managed. Current prevalence of OSA is estimated to be 30 to 35% of adults.
Most patients with OSA will experience reduction in symptoms of daytime sleepiness when treated with positive pressure devices, such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) during sleep.
Surgical treatment like Laser assisted Uvuloplasty, Tonsillectomy, RF Tongue base reduction, Septal Correction, Laser turbinectomy, adenoidectomy etc have curative role in the management.
Medications like modafinil are considered to be the first-line choice of activating agent because of its generally benign adverse effect profile. Because it is pharmacologically distinct from the amphetamines, it has a much lower potential for abuse .In addition to its indication for the treatment of persistent sleepiness associated with OSA in patients already being treated with CPAP, modafinil is also indicated for the treatment of daytime sleepiness in patients with shift work disorder.
Home Sleep Study:
Contact ENT clinic at Jubilee hospital, Trivandrum or email drpaulose@yahoo.com
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