Your physician has identified you as a good candidate for a sleep study. It is important for you to get tested because you may have possible sleep disordered breathing. Having a sleep study performed will give your physician a complete understanding of your breathing while you sleep and how your overall health is being affected.
Very often patients do not get screened for sleep apnea because snoring and breathing pauses are seen as normal and as a result of not getting help to treat sleep disordered breathing the patient continues to suffer with commonly associated symptoms such as:
Sleep
Frequent snoring
Gasping or choking for air
Episodes of Insomnia
Poor sleep quality
Awake
Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS)
Inability to remain awake and alert during the day resulting in unintended lapses into drowsiness or sleep.
Feeling tired upon awakening
Cardiopulmonary
Increased breathing effort and pulmonary artery vasoconstriction
Hypoxemia and hypercapnia
Increased sympathetic activity
Increased heart rate and arrhythmias in some patients
Oxidative stress
Inflammation
Neurologic
Sleep disruption
Hypoxia
Oxidative stress
Inflammation
Neuronal injury
If you are experiencing symptoms associated with sleep disordered breathing please don't hesitate to contact your primary care physician to discuss this further.