Apnea Test

A frequent sleep complaint is known as sleep apnea which induces a painful suspension in respiration while you’re in bed. There are several non threatening forms of sleep apnea but there are distinct circumstances where there may be challenging health issues and threaten your life. This is why it is essential to be administered a sleep apnea exam if you have a belief that you are enduring this complaint.

There are several ways you can determine if you have a sleep apnea problem, and many unfortunate people suffer from other symptoms or conditions in which sleep problems chronic. For example , weight gain, fatigue, and mental depression all of which may be caused by sleep problems, and they will also have cotton mouth or waking up often with a panic attack.

You may also experience insomnia but the only way to know if your symptoms are being caused by sleep apnea or are perhaps the cause of your sleep apnea is to spend some time to be tested for sleep apnea. This test is usually administered at a sleep disorder center but can also be administered at a hospital or doctor’s office where overnight facilities are available.

The first step is a physical exam and part of the test consists of a good hard look at your mouth, throat and sinus areas. There should also be a list of questions detailing the following subjects, sleep quality, patterns, disturbances and impressions. The next step is to keep you over night where a video record is made of how you slept.

The most common recording test used during this process is going to be a PSG which stands for a polysomnogram which can be given via two methods. The first type of test is carried out overnight and consists of monitoring the following activities; breathing patterns, heart rate, blood oxygen level, eye movement and brain activity.

The second testing type involves a home monitoring version where the technician simply connects the necessary electrodes and allows for more convenient monitoring of the patient at home through the standard PSG. What they will be trying to discern in judging if the test is positive or negative is something called the RDI or the respiratory disturbance index.

This method expresses in data form the number of abnormal events which may have disrupted your pattern of breathing through the night. Here is the list of values frequently used when deciding if someone has a sleep apnea issue. If the number of abnormal events in an hour is over twenty in number the doctor can diagnose the patient with a form of sleep disorder, possibly sleep apnea.

There are some additional examinations which could be called for like a multiple sleep latency examination which assesses the amount of fatigue which is caused by the lack of restful sleep. Normally, a person requires more than 10 minutes to fall asleep so those who fall asleep in five minutes are considered good candidates for treatment. A strip test can also be administered prior to the sleep apnea test to determine if one is needed.