The Symptoms Of Sleep Apnea Can Often Be Hard To Identify

Sleep apnea is an extremely commonly seen sleep disorder that affects over 12 million US citizens and nowadays is as commonplace as adult diabetes.

The commonest type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea which, as the name indicates, arises from an obstruction to your airways that produces difficulties with breathing. There is also another type of sleep apnea known as central sleep apnea, in which your brain does not control breathing adequately during sleep. Finally, many people suffer from mixed sleep apnea, which is a combination of both obstructive sleep apnea and central forms of the condition.

The symptoms of sleep apnea may appear at any time and, although they are most commonly found in overweight men over forty, they may be seen in both men and women of all ages and are increasingly being found now in children.

The most obvious symptom of sleep apnea is snoring which is unfortunately a hard symptom to spot yourself and generally has to be pointed out by your sleeping partner. There can be many causes for snoring and the presence of snoring is not by itself a sign that you are suffering from sleep apnea. It is the case nevertheless that the majority of will snore.

The second most obvious symptom is excessive daytime tiredness. Sleep apnea causes you to stop breathing frequently throughout the night and your body's instinctive reaction to this is to wake you just sufficiently to start you breathing again, but not sufficiently so that you are aware of the fact that you are being awakened. The result of this is that your sleep is very light and continually interrupted and you cannot enjoy the deep sleep which your body needs in order to recharge its batteries. As a result, in time, you find yourself becoming more and more tired and sleepy during the day.

If sleep apnea is left untreated its affects will start to become more and more evident and a range of additional symptoms will start to appear. These might include headaches (particularly early in the morning), petulance and perhaps depression. You may also notice yourself starting to put on weight.

One of the not quite so obvious symptoms of sleep apnea is increased blood pressure which can result in a variety of cardiovascular difficulties. This will be seen if you are among the growing number of people who now monitor their own blood pressure regularly at home but may not otherwise be detected until you undergo a routine physical exam at your doctor's office.

Another increasingly seen symptom is that of learning difficulties and difficultues with memory. Once more this is not something that is easy to detect yourself but other people may notice that you are not as quick on the uptake as you once were.

A few sleep apnea sufferers will experience a fall in sexual function and this could lead to impotency.

As is the case with with the majority of medical conditions individual symptoms by themselves could be a sign of practically anything. However, when you start to see these symptoms alongside each onther then you should think about consulting your doctor and consider being tested for sleep apnea.

A word of caution. Sleep apnea testing will often involve referral to a sleep specialist, preferably a specialist certified by the American Board of Sleep Medicine (ABSM), and may mean undergoing overnight sleep testing either in a special sleep laboratory or at home. Such tests can often cost more than $1,000 and you may wish to check with your insurer before committing yourself to any program of sleep apnea evaluation.