Snoring and the dream of a silent night
Snoring puts pressure on relationships, as Alison Dayani discovers when she talks to a husband and wife who now enjoy a good night’s sleep.
As if relationships weren’t hard enough, throw in a few decibels of thunderous snores, continuous nights of disrupted sleep and maybe some duvet stealing too and the bedroom can suddenly turn into a battleground for divorce.
For many, it has been a case of saying “good night” and hoping for good luck, especially for the fifth of men and women who admitted being regularly kept awake by their lover’s snores in a new survey by bed manufacturer Silentnight.
But what was more indicative was that most of these, 29 per cent in Birmingham alone, also confessed to sleeping in another room or kicking their partner out of the bedroom in order to escape the noisy condition.
When snoring came between Dr Jim Greaves and his wife, and the retired doctor from Little Aston was “removed” from his marital bed, he was ready to take drastic action to get back into the bedroom. The former Worcestershire GP went as far as undergoing a pioneering laser treatment to burn away the flesh at the back of his throat in order to be able to, once again, nestle close to his love Helen every night.
“My snoring was so bad that I was no longer allowed to sleep in the same bedroom as my wife and when we were on holiday, I would end up sleeping in the bathroom,” said Dr Greaves.
“I kept my wife awake with the noise and my 11-year-old daughter could mimic my snoring to a tee. They had had enough.”
Dr Greaves, who worked as a GP at the St Stephens Surgery, in Redditch until nine years ago, travelled down to The Private Clinic in London’s Harley Street to pay for the revolutionary procedure.
But now more than two months later, only slight murmurs can be heard around the couple’s detached home in Woodside Drive, Little Aston, during the twilight hours.
“When my wife kicked me out of the bedroom because she couldn’t get any sleep, I saw an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist who said I would have to live with it or try a brace,” recalled father-of-one Dr Greaves, who is in his 50s.
“I tried a brace but trying to sleep with a piece of plastic in your mouth is hard and I couldn’t tolerate it.
“It was only a chance meeting with a nursing colleague in the summer that led to me finding out about the laser treatment. I had heard about it but wasn’t sure if I was a suitable candidate, but she knew about it and said I was.
“I was assessed and told that my palate was very soft and extremely floppy, which is almost certainly the part cause of any snoring problem leading to reverberations of noise. During the procedure, the doctor lasers away the uvula, which is the soft piece of tissue that hangs down in the back of the throat, under local anaesthetic.”
The main culprit of snoring is usually excess vibration of the soft palate and uvula or the blockage of nasal passages, so medical staff at The Private Clinic, which also has a consultation room in Edgbaston, removed the uvula along with trimming down some of the bones in Dr Greaves’ nose in October.
Nurse Kate Hill has helped carry out the Laser Assisted Uvulopalatoplasty (LAUP) on numerous occasions as it is carried out in a chair, similar to that used in a dental clinic.
An ENT surgeon operates the laser and remodels the excess vibrating soft tissue after removing the uvula in the treatment, which costs nearly £2,000.
“Many of my patients come to the clinic having suffered for a long time,” said Nurse Hill. “They may have tried lots of different remedies to reduce or stop their snoring, usually without success.”
Back home in Birmingham the same day as the operation, Dr Greaves remembers needing a little time to recuperate.
“For a couple of days after, it was very painful and I had a bit of a sore throat,” said Dr Greaves.
“About a week later, the noise levels had dropped significantly. I sometimes make some noises when my tongue slips back but the noise caused by my soft palate has gone. I can still feel that part of my throat is no longer there and some people think my voice has become a little bit deeper, but I don’t think it has made a significant difference at all.
“This procedure has made it more acceptable for my family and my wife has allowed me back in the bedroom. It’s wonderful as we weren’t able to sleep in the same room together.”
Mrs Greaves, who runs the Professional Vocational Training website as a business from home, which trains health professionals such as practice managers, is equally delighted with the operation’s results, but still has another heavy snorer to cope with in the house.
“I have noticed the difference already with my husband,” said Mrs Greaves, “but now our dog Heidi snores as well.”
* Snoring Fact File
* Snoring occurs when a part of the throat air passage tends to collapse and vibrate.
* Factors that can lead to snoring include being overweight, having large tonsils as they narrow the airway, drinking alcohol in the evening and anatomical issues such as a floppy uvula, narrow throat or weak lower jaw. n Snorers are more likely to suffer high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and high cholesterol and with snoring sounds reaching up to 100 decibels – as loud as a passing train – their bed partners are often affected with excessive tiredness, gastro-intestinal irritability, nausea and headaches.
* The proportion of men who snore compared to women is believed to be higher due to the size of their necks.
Research reveals that someone with a neck size of at least seventeen inches usually has a snoring condition, while women tend to have larger airways and smaller uvula, which prevent snoring.
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