Читать книгу Understanding Anatomy and Physiology in Nursing - John Knight - Страница 152

Jack is a 58-year-old man with type II diabetes who is clinically obese, weighing 115 kg and having a BMI of 33.2. He has a sedentary occupation and takes little exercise. Jack was previously a heavy smoker but gave up cigarettes following a bout of pneumonia. For some months, Jack has complained of tiredness even though he sleeps 7–8 hours a night, and he attributed this to increasing age. Jack’s wife has always teased Jack about his snoring, but over the past year it has become worse, and she worries that Jack seems to gasp and stop breathing numerous times throughout the night.

Eventually, Jack was persuaded to visit his GP, who referred him to the local hospital for sleep tests where obstructive sleep apnoea was diagnosed. Jack was provided with a Non-Invasive Positive Pressure Ventilation device (NIPPV) which pushes air under positive pressure into the airways via a close-fitting face mask, which prevents occlusion of the airways and allows Jack to sleep without airway obstruction and snoring.

In addition to getting relief from the use of positive pressure devices, patients such as Jack should be encouraged to lose weight which may eventually allow the use of such devices to be discontinued.