Do you have trouble sleeping at night? Do you often wake in the morning feeling unrefreshed? Have there been comments about your snoring? These are symptoms of a serious condition called sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can become a serious issue if left untreated as it can exacerbate other conditions and even cause some conditions to develop. If you suspect you have sleep apnea, your first step is to talk to your Physician.

What Is Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a relatively common condition where you cease breathing one or more times during the night. Many sleep apnea patients can stop breathing hundreds of times during the night. This deprives your body both of oxygen and deeper levels of sleep, both of which are necessary for your body to heal. Many people with sleep apnea find themselves fighting sleep during the daytime. Other symptoms of sleep apnea include morning headaches, memory problems, concentration issues, Irritability, depression and mood swings are also seen with sleep apnea. Untreated sleep apnea can raise your risks of having a heart attack, stroke, and high blood pressure. Sleep apnea can wreak havoc on diabetes as sleep is needed to balance hormones and blood sugar. Untreated sleep apnea can be dangers so it is best to go to your Physician as soon as possible if you have suspicions that you might have sleep apnea. The most common route for a Physician to go is to order an In-Lab Sleep Study for you.

What Will Happen During Your Sleep Study

The purpose of a sleep study is to get a good overview of your sleeping habits and gather data about the quality of the sleep you get every night. When you arrive for your sleep study, you will be greeted a registered polysomnographic technologist. The technologist will go over the plans for the test, any relative paperwork, and get you hooked up to the machines that will conduct the test while you sleep. You will have electrodes attached to your body in various places, including on your head to measure your brainwaves while you sleep. You will have monitors attached to various places on your body to measure your breathing including a monitor attached to your finger to monitor your overnight pulse oximetry.

Your pulse oximetry measures the oxygen saturation in your blood, when you have sleep apnea, your pulse oximetry will show that you have lower levels of oxygen in your blood. Belts will be wrapped around your chest to measure your breathing effort while you sleep. Monitors will be attached to each leg to record leg movement while you sleep. A small microphone may even be attached to your throat to monitor snoring. It may seem overwhelming or even impossible that you would be able to sleep with all of this machinery attached to you. Most patients do get enough sleep to gather enough information as to be useful for your physician.

Treatment for Sleep Apnea

Sleep Apnea is treatable. Once your physician finds credible evidence of apnea through your sleep test, you will be eligible for oxygen therapy at home at night. The home oxygen qualification means that you will like utilizes a continuous oxygen machine during the night which generally consists of a mask and a machine. The machine will keep air flowing into your body during the night which keeps your airways open and also delivers extra oxygen. This will limit or even erase issues with your pulse oximetry, your blood should retain oxygen at normal levels allowing for healing. Some machines even have monitors attached that record your nocturnal pulse oximetry.

Move Toward a Diagnosis

If you suspect you have sleep apnea, the faster you notify your doctor, then the closer you are to a diagnosis and a plan of treatment. The only way of avoiding the complications that can follow with sleep apnea is to treat the condition. By educating yourself about the condition, the testing procedure, and the treatments, you are helping yourself get on the right path. The sooner you obtain your diagnosis the faster you will be having restful and refreshing sleep at night.

VirtuOx is the leader in home sleep tests and pulse oximetry.