You could be suffering from sleep apnea and not even know it - since it happens only when you’re sleep. And if you live alone, it is even harder to detect..

The symptoms of sleep apnea

While there may be no visible symptoms of sleep apnea, feeling tired an worn out all day and falling asleep during the day are good indicators. This is because sleep apnea iliterally robs you of sleep as it can cause you to stop breathing — as many as 50 or a 100 times during the night. And these interruptions take their toll.

Diagnosing sleep apnea

If you do feel tired and fatigued all day, you absolutely should see a doctor. He or she will do a physical exam and take a medical history. This history typically ncludes asking you and your family questions about how you sleep and how you function during the day. You doctor will most likely check your mouth, nose, and throat for extra or large tissues. such as your tonsils, uvula, and soft palate.

Your doctor may also order a sleep test. This test is often done in a sleep center or sleep laboratory, which may be part of a hospital. You will probably stay overnight., although sleep studies can sometimes done in the home. The most common sleep recording used to find out if you have sleep apnea is called a polysomnogram or PSG.

This PSG records:

Brain activity

Once this test has been completed, you doctor will review the results. If it is clear that you do have sleep apnea, your doctor will work with you and your family to develop a treatment plan.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 5:53 am and is filed under Sleep Apnea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.