Outside the luxury Mexican hotel, a
hurricane was ripping through the beach resort. Inside a
sprawling suite, huddled in separate beds, literary PR and author Tony Cowell and his
brother
Simon, the acerbic X Factor judge. had finally nodded off. That is, until a pillow was
hurled
across the room, hitting Tony squarely in the face.
'Then I heard Simon bellowing: "Stop snoring. You're louder than the bloody
hurricane," says
Tony.
The brothers had checked into the hotel four years ago for the peace and quiet they needed
to co-write Simon's life story. But ten minutes after they arrived, the manager announced
that the hurricane was on its way and Tony's room, near the beach, was in the path of the
storm.
'Simon's suite was huge, with two double beds at either end of the room. The wind was
howling, the sea was crashing on the rocks - but Simon didn't seem the slightest bit
concerned and after a few drinks, fell straight to sleep. So I couldn't believe it when
around
4am, he woke me up shouting, "Will you shut up?" over the frightening racket
outside,' says
Tony, 56.
Although he vowed never to share a room with Simon, 47, again, Tony forgot about his
snoring until two years ago when he met BBC radio Cornwall presenter Emma Lloyd while
holidaying in the country.
They settled down in Falmouth, Tony popped the question and they plan to marry and have
children. But the tumultuous roar of Tony's snoring has threatened to come between them.
'I
have to be in the office at 9am preparing for my show,' says Emma, 30.
'I found that I couldn't claw back the sleep I was losing and by Friday I was absolutely
exhausted.'
So when a friend casually mentioned that snoring could be lessened or even eliminated by
surgery, Tony decided it was time to act.
He knew he'd been snoring for about six years. It had gradually become worse and he
suffered many of the symptoms associated with it. He didn't feel well rested in the
morning, often had a pounding head, his lips felt dry and cracked and he felt a general
sense of fatigue.
But what really drove him to action was the effect his snoring was having on Emma.
"She was
becoming worn out,' he says.
There are 15 million snorers in the UK and new research by the British Snoring & Sleep
Apnoea Association has found that their partners' health suffers as a result - an
overwhelming 97 per cent of partners said they were disturbed regularly by the noise.
As a results of their sleep deprivation they suffered headaches, nausea, gastro-intestinal
problems, irritability and even heart palpitations. The study found that two-thirds of
snorers'
partners averaged only three to five hours' sleep a night.
Woken almost every night, Emma had begun to worry about the effect exhaustion might have
on her voice, and therefore on her career.
The couple tried many cures. Tony explains: 'If I slept flat on my back it was worse, so I
settled down on my side or my stomach.' But inevitably, he sometimes rolled onto his back.
'Emma would poke me and say: "You're snoring. Turn over." It was the only time
she ever
called me Anthony.
'I bought over-the-counter sprays and sometimes they would work, but not consistently. I
also found these "strips" which you stick to the roof of the mouth, but they
didn't help at all
and tasted revolting.'
Emma used earplug for a while. But while they cut out the snoring, she lay awake worrying
that she would miss the alarm click in the morning or wouldn't hear if someone broke into
the
flat. 'So I ended up with my sleep just as disturbed as it would have been without them,'
she
says.
In extreme cases, snoring can be associated with, or can develop into, sleep apnoea. This
is a potentially fatal condition, affecting four per cent of men in the UK, in which
sufferers stop breathing 20 to 30 times an hour due to a blockage in the airways. It may
lead to high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.
Thankfully for Tony, his snoring had another cause.
At the suggestion of a friend, he went to The Private Clinic for a consultation with
George
Mochloulis. Mr Mochloulis, who is also an ear, nose and throat (ENT) consultant for North
Herts NHS Trust, said Tony did not suffer from sleep apnoea.
After eliminating other potential causes, including injury to the face, Mr Mochloulis
established
that Tony's uvula was the culprit. The uvula hangs from the rear of the soft palate. It
has a
role in speech and is involved in the swallowing reflex, preventing food from going down
the
breathing passage.
"Tony had a very long uvula, and by using a laser to burn away most of it, it would
both
increase the airway, making breathing easier, and prevent the uvula from vibrating, which
is
what causes the snoring noise," says Mr Mochloulis.
'During the day, the muscles of the uvula hold it tight, but at night when you lie down,
it
relaxes and falls to the back of the throat. The bigger the uvula, the more it obstructs
the
airways and the more snoring noises it makes.
'Even if snorers don't wake themselves up, the extra effort it takes to breathe while
sleeping
contributes to a lack of refreshing sleep. The vibrating of the uvula can cause a dry
mouth or
a sore throat.'
The uvula increases in size with age. In LAUP, or laser uvulopalatoplasty, the surgeon
cuts
away much of the uvula. Two weeks after the initial consultation, Mr Mochloulis sprayed
Tony's mouth with a anaesthetic into the uvula. He then directed the laser beam, coloured
red so he could see it, into the uvula.
Tony did not need to wear googles during the ten-minute procedure as the narrow laser was
aimed only into the throat.
He says: 'I could smell the tissue being burnt but didn't worry me. I had been warned that
I
might have a gagging sensation and a couple of times the surgeon had to stop and let me
get
over the spasm.'
Emma was waiting outside. 'When he came out he was looking very sorry for himself,' she
says. 'His eyes were red, his face pale. When he tried to drink, the water went down the
wrong way into the windpipe.' This was because his brain had not learnt to compensate for
the changed size and shape of the uvula.
The couple had been told not to expect any reduction in snoring for at least a week as the
brain requires time to learn that breathing is easier and does not need to be forced,
which
contributes to the noise even though the hanging bits of uvula are no longer there to
vibrate.
He and Emma had been monitoring his snoring nightly. Tony would wake me up and say:
"Have I been snoring?" says Emma. 'After a week or so, I noticed it wasn't as
loud or as prolonged. After a couple of weeks, I begun to reply: "I'm not sure,"
and we took that to be a good sign. I wasn't being woken up every night. By week six or
seven, it was a lot quieter."
"Ten weeks after the surgery, I realised that I hadn't been woken by him for a week.
It's a
great relief and we both feel fantastic."
'Now the snoring's nothing but a distant memory and we can plan our wedding next year with
renewed confidence.'
To make an appointment call 0800 599 9911
or fill this form
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ADDRESS
98 Harley Street, London W1G 7HZ
Nearest Underground stations are: Regent's Park, Oxford Circus, Baker Street and Great
Portland Street
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St.James's Building, 79 Oxford Street, Manchester M1 6EJ
Nearest British Rail Station: Oxford Road
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FAX: London Fax: 020 7409 7854 - Manchester Fax: 0161 236 5094
EMAIL: data@theprivateclinic.co.uk
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