Clinician's Guide to Sleep Disorders PDF

Preface

The prominence of sleep and sleep disorders medicine has increased significantly in recent years. This greater awareness necessitates an improved knowledge of sleep disorders by all physicians, particularly primary care providers. Although sleep specialists are available to care for these patients, the high prevalence of sleep disorders dictates that non-specialists be adept at managing these disorders as well. This book was written with these practitioners in mind.

Many excellent comprehensive sleep texts currently exist. However, their thorough nature limits their practical usefulness in a busy clinic. We sought to create a text covering the breadth of clinical sleep medicine using a symptom-based approach that could be referenced ‘‘on the fly'' in clinical practice. As such, we created chapter headings that are descriptive of symptoms rather than specific disorders. We further listed symptoms at the beginning of each chapter, along with the responsible disorders. We relied heavily on tables and figures to make the book friendly and a quick reference, and generally limited discussion of disease pathophysiology to those elements necessary to help patients understand their afflictions. Our goal was a readable book, whether from cover to cover or table to table. We strove to leave out nothing necessary, while keeping in nothing superfluous. We hope this book facilitates primary care providers and non-sleep specialists as they care for patients with sleep complaints.

The first two chapters, one reviewing the general approach to patients with sleep complaints and the other covering diagnostic tests, provide the foundation for the diagnosis of all sleep disorders discussed in this book. Chapters 3 through 9 address specific sleep disorders and common sleep related issues. These chapters provide practical information regarding the diagnostic evaluation and therapeutic management of patients with these disorders. Chapters 10 and 11 consider special groups of patients with unique sleep related challenges, while Chapter 12 speculates regarding future directions in the field of sleep medicine. We believe these chapters will provide busy clinicians with the framework to successfully identify and manage patients with sleep disorders.

We carefully followed the current International Classification of Sleep Disorders diagnostic headings and criteria in an effort to facilitate a common language between sleep specialists and non-sleep specialists alike. Some topics are addressed in more than one chapter, more a function of the diverse nature of sleep disorders than undisciplined writing. When appropriate, the reader is directed to the primary chapter for the topic of interest.

Each of the contributing authors was chosen based on their authoritative and unique understanding of their particular topic. The energy and enthusiasm they brought to their work is clearly evident in their respective chapters. Without them, this book would not have been possible and we sincerely thank them for their efforts. We encourage our readers to share with us their experiences and thoughts regarding this book. Only in this manner will we be able to continue to move forward the field of sleep disorders medicine.

In closing, we would like to thank Jinnie Kim, Dana Bigelow, and the editorial staff at Taylor & Francis for their unwavering commitment and enthusiasm for this book. We would also like to thank our families, for without their support and encouragement this work would not have been possible. As such, we dedicate this book to them: Phyllis, Benjamin, Karen, Heather, Courtney, and Jennifer.