The Symptoms Of Sleep Apnea May Not Always Be That Easy To Spot

Despite the fact that sleep apnea is an extremely common disorder nowadays the real number of suffers is hidden by the fact that sleep apnea symptoms are frequently difficult to recognize.

Sleep apnea is an extremely common sleep disorder that affects more than 12 million Americans and today is as commonplace as adult diabetes.

The most commonly seen form of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea which, as the name implies, results from an obstruction to your airways that produces difficulties with breathing. In addition, there is another form of sleep apnea called central sleep apnea, in which your brain cannot adequately control your breathing during sleep. Finally, many people suffer from mixed sleep apnea, which is a mixture of both obstructive and central forms of the condition.

The symptoms of sleep apnea can arise at any time and, although they are most commonly found in overweight men over the age of 40, they can be found in both men and women of all ages and are being seen increasingly nowadays in children.

The most obvious symptom of sleep apnea is snoring which is unfortunately a hard symptom to spot yourself and frequently needs to be pointed out to you by your sleeping partner. Snoring has several different causes and the presence of snoring is not in itself a sign that you have sleep apnea. It is the case nevertheless that the majority of do snore.

The second most obvious sleep apnea symptom is abnormal tiredness during the day. When you suffer from sleep apnea you stop breathing regularly throughout the night and your body's instinctive reaction to this is to wake you just enough to start you breathing again, but not enough so that you are aware that you are being awakened. The result is that your sleep is extremely light and often interrupted and you cannot enjoy the deep sleep which your body needs in order to recharge its batteries. As a consequence, in time, you find yourself becoming ever more tired during the day.

Left untreated, the affects of sleep apnea will begin to become more and more evident and further symptoms will begin to appear. These could include headaches (particularly first thing in the morning), irritability and possibly depression. You may also notice yourself starting to put on weight.

A not quite so obvious symptom of sleep apnea is an increase in blood pressure which can result in a number of cardiovascular difficulties. This will be spotted if you are one of the increasing number of people who now monitor their blood pressure at home but otherwise may not be spotted until you call in for a routine physical exam with your doctor.

Another increasingly seen symptom is that of learning difficulties and difficultues with memory retention. Again this is not something that is easy to spot yourself but others might well notice that you are no longer as fast on the uptake as you used to be.

Finally, some sleep apnea sufferers will notice a decline in sexual function and this may ultimately lead to impotency.

As is the case with with many conditions individual symptoms by themselves could be a sign of just about anything. However, if you begin to notice these symptoms alongside each onther then you ought to think about talking to your physician and consider being tested for sleep apnea.

One word of warning. Testing for sleep apnea will normally mean referral to a sleep specialist, preferably one certified by the American Board of Sleep Medicine (ABSM), and may mean undergoing overnight sleep testing either at home or in a specialized sleep laboratory. These tests can often cost more than $1,000 and you may wish to check with your health insurer before you commit yourself to any program of sleep apnea evaluation.

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