A new sleep clinic at Muskogee Community Hospital will give residents another choice for diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders.

The National Institutes of Health report that sleep apnea affects 12 million Americans.

And there are also other types of sleep disorders, says Dr. Edgar Boyd, medical director of a new sleep clinic to be opened in mid-October at Muskogee Community Hospital. It will be housed in a building that is almost completed.

Snoring may be a sign of sleep apnea, a serious problem which causes people to stop breathing repeatedly during sleep. This may happen hundreds of times during the night, and the lack of breathing can often last a minute or more.

“We're trying to get away from the term 'obstructive sleep apnea' because sleep apnea implies that everybody stops breathing completely, which they don't,” Boyd said. “Sometimes we have something called hypopneas. That may be on Thanksgiving when grandma or grandpa is sitting in a chair snoring up a storm, and it looks like they're have problems breathing, but they don't stop altogether.”

Boyd said what doctors are looking for now are called 'sleep-related breathing disorders.' He said the purpose of the sleep lab is primarily to address this common medical condition that affects about 25 percent of the adult population in the United States.

“Other capabilities are to assess all the other sleep disorders, like the parasomnias,” he said. “That would be the sleepwalking, sleeptalking disorders. And then we also have the ability to evaluate people that have excessive sleepiness during the daytime where there is a suspicion for the diseases like narcolepsy where people fall asleep at a second's notice.”

Boyd said the main treatment for people with sleep apnea is a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) mask that will blow air through the nose or through the nose and the mouth to keep the airway from collapsing when they sleep.

“One of the big populations that we have a concern about are the long-haul truck drivers, because they all tend to be a little bit more on the overweight side, they tend to push themselves in kind of a monotonous position,” he said. “And just because a truck driver has obstructive sleep apnea doesn't mean that he can't drive, it's just that they need to be monitored.”

The maximum wakefulness test can evaluate that condition. It proves that if they use their CPAP when they're sleeping, that they're very safe drivers when they're on the road, he said.

Sleep disorders are widely underdiagnosed and could lead to other health risks such as hypertension or congestive heart failure. Some patients have limb movement disorders such as restless leg syndrome, which are either caused by the sleep disorders or exacerbated by the sleep disorders.

“People at risk are overweight, or have underlying health issues already, or are short and stocky with thick necks,” he said. “One of the signs there is a problem is that they will say they sleep 10 hours but still feel tired.”

The new sleep center will have the capacity to handle eight patients, but Boyd said they will probably start with four. A person taking a sleep study has various leads and sensors attached to their body while they sleep.

“These are queen-size pillow-top beds,” he said. “We try to make it more like a hotel setting than a hospital setting. We try to make it as patient friendly as we can, with televisions and dressers. All the monitoring is electronic.”

Mark Roberts, president of MCH, said even details of the furnishings and features of the rooms in the sleep center will make use of the same standards of quality as the hospital.

“The sheets on the beds are made of a material called Modal,” he said. “Modal is made from a tree called beechwood. It is a rapidly renewable product, so it is an eco-friendly product. It's more comfortable than cotton. It's got better anti-microbials than cotton. And it's stronger than cotton, so it's a very comfortable product with better benefits to us and the patient.”

Roberts said patients will feel very secure in their rooms.

“The locks on the doors are programmable so we can put a different combination on them every day,” he said. “So, let's say you're supposed to be here tonight for a sleep study, we tell you to show up at room No. 6 between 6 and 7 p.m., and here's the combination to get into your room. And we can change it tomorrow. It's all done by computer.”

Reach Keith Purtell at 684-2925 or kpurtell@muskogeephoenix.com.