It is important to observe all the signs and symptoms and explain them to your specialist in detail.
This will help your specialist diagnose the type of sleep apnea correctly. Your specialist may guide you to visit a sleep specialist if he detects some sleep disorder and the sleep specialist would perform certain tests like nocturnal polysomnography, oximetry or portable cardiorespiratory testing to get a confirmed diagnosis.
Nocturnal polysomnography
This test involves monitoring of your lung, heart and brain activity with the help of equipment which also measures your breathing pattern, movements of your legs and arms and oxygen levels in blood while you are asleep. This test helps a sleep specialist to draw an accurate conclusion as the treatment and tests for other sleeping disorders like insomnia or narcolepsy differ.
Oximetry
In this screening method your oxygen levels while you are sleeping can be measured with the help of a small machine. This can be carried at home during the night period by fixing a simple sleeve over one of your fingers (it fits without pain) to collect right information.
The results would vary depending on if you have or don’t have sleep apnea. There would be a drop in the oxygen level during an apnea if you have sleep apnea, followed by sudden rises with awakening.
To confirm the diagnosis your specialist may also perform polysomnography in case if the results are not normal. But in any case (even if the results are normal) your specialist may perform polysomnography as oximetry does not detect all the cases of sleep apnea.
Portable cardiorespiratory testing
Your specialist may give you a device to measure your oxygen levels while sleeping or to measure your breathing pattern while sleeping at home.
These are simple tests to diagnose sleep apnea used by a specialist under certain circumstances.
Depending on the diagnosis that is if you are diagnosed to have obstructive sleep apnea or central sleep apnea, your sleep specialist would further recommend another specialist to treat your condition.
In case of obstructive sleep apnea, he would recommend an ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist or otolaryngologist to correct the blockage in your throat or nose and if you have central sleep apnea he may refer you to a cardiologist (heart doctor) or a neurologist (nervous system specialist) to correct your condition.
To avoid any complications of sleep apnea, it is important to take appropriate treatment which would largely depend on the type of sleep apnea you are suffering from.
