Obstructive Sleep Apnea Symptoms

• Snoring
• Daytime sleepiness/falling asleep at the wheel
• Chronic dependence on caffeine or energy drinks
• Depression/irritability
• Poor concentration/memory/focus problems
• Morning headaches
• Poor job performance/attention deficit disorder
• Obesity

Diagnosing OSA

So how is OSA diagnosed? To diagnose OSA you should undergo a formal sleep study at the comfortable Woodinville Sleep Improvement Center. The overnight test is easy and preliminary results for the test are available as soon as the following day. We analyze different parameters like breathing, heart rate, brain waves, limb movements etc. while you sleep. This way we can determine what is fragmenting your sleep.

Speech and OSA Diagnosis

If you’re human, and you can talk, then you’re susceptible to breathing problems at night, even if you don’t suffer from any apneas. The reason is that complex speech and language development unprotected our upper airways, and everyone’s tongue can fall back and obstruct your breathing at night, especially when you’re in deep sleep, due to muscle relaxation.

Associated Medical Conditions

• 50% greater incidence of high blood pressure (HTN)
• 1½ times more likely to have heart disease
• Diagnosed depression- 18 times more likely have OSA
• Increased risk of Type II Diabetes

Central and Complex Sleep Apnea

Besides insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common sleep issue for men and women. However a significant number of people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may also have central sleep apnea or complex sleep apnea (CSA) which is a combination of the two. CSA is thought to be a condition that’s associated with a number of different neurologic problems, as well as heart or kidney failure.
During the night, people with CSA stop breathing when signals in the brain that tells the body to breathe do not work properly. Exhaling during sleep could also become problematic and may result in dangerous Co2 retention. To make matters worse for those who have CSA, no effort is even made to inhale. In contrast, with OSA, an effort is made to breathe in and out, but because of collapse in the upper airways, air can’t get into the lungs.

Treatment

Unfortunately, treating some cases of CSA is more of a challenge than treating OSA. The most effective method of treating challenging CSA conditions is to use a variation of CPAP as a respirator. This breathing machine is called an assisted servo-ventilator (ASV). When the ASV senses that you’re not breathing, it literally breathes for you, rather than applying constant positive pressure for obstructive events.