Symptoms of sleep apnea syndrome

If sleep apnea syndrome occurs, it is important to distinguish and understand the cause before solving the problem. Newborns may also experience these symptoms, including difficulty breathing and increased heart rate, so parents should pay attention.

1. Acute respiratory distress syndrome

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) refers to a clinical syndrome characterized by alveolar capillary damage after severe intrapulmonary and extrapulmonary attacks such as severe infection, trauma, and shock. It is a severe stage or type of acute lung injury (ALI). Its clinical features are extremely rapid and distressed breathing, progressive hypoxemia, and diffuse alveolar infiltration on X-ray. This disease is quite similar to infant respiratory distress syndrome, but their causes and pathogenesis are not exactly the same. To distinguish them, Ashbauth proposed the name adult respiratory distress syndrome in 1972. It is now noted that this syndrome also occurs in children, so European and American scholars have reached a consensus through collaborative discussion to replace adult with acute, calling it acute respiratory distress syndrome, and the abbreviation is still ARDS.

2. Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome

Also called neonatal hyaline membrane disease. Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS)

It is more common in premature infants due to poor lung maturity and lack of alveolar surfactant (PS), and manifests as progressive dyspnea and respiratory failure after birth, with a high mortality rate.

The main clinical symptoms include extreme dyspnea, cyanosis, increased heart rate, and diffuse infiltration shadows in the lungs on X-ray. The condition is critical and requires active rescue. Typical adult respiratory distress syndrome often presents in stages. Stage 1: This is the trauma resuscitation stage, during which respiratory symptoms are not obvious or there is only reactive increased breathing after trauma. Stage 2: Shortness of breath, chest tightness, and cyanosis gradually appear. However, physical examination and lung X-ray showed no abnormalities. With prompt treatment, a quick recovery is expected. Stage 3: Symptoms include progressive respiratory distress and cyanosis, which cannot be corrected even with inhalation of high-concentration oxygen. Stage 4: Ventilatory failure, severe hypoxia and carbon dioxide retention, combined with acidosis, eventually leading to cardiac arrest.

3. Countermeasures

Measures to be taken in first aid treatment: Dehydration to reduce pulmonary edema. The use of corticosteroids may alleviate lung damage caused by certain pathogenic factors. Oxygen therapy and mechanical ventilators are used to maintain the body's vital functions in order to buy precious time for the treatment of the disease. Excessive blood and fluid transfusions must be avoided, the respiratory tract must be kept open, and the oxygen concentration should not be too high.

The main treatment method is mechanical ventilation, using positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP).