In case your physician suspects that you’ve got obstructive sleep apnea with out different severe well being situations corresponding to coronary heart illness or lung issues, they might suggest that you just use a conveyable sleep check system in your house, says Dr. Capasso.
If the check exhibits that you’ve got sleep apnea, your physician could possibly prescribe therapy with out additional testing. But when your check outcomes are regular and point out that you just wouldn’t have sleep apnea, your physician could prescribe a sleep check at a lab, as a result of residence monitoring gadgets will not be in a position to detect all instances of sleep apnea. “A health care provider could order a sleep check that’s supervised at a sleep clinic [a polysomnography] for advanced sleep points,” Capasso says.
A polysomnography entails monitoring and recording sure physique features and sleep cycles and levels as you sleep to diagnose sleep issues, based on MedlinePlus.
Sleep assessments could be finished at residence or at a sleep problem heart. (Some main care medical doctors deal with sleep apnea, however in different instances it’s possible you’ll must see a sleep drugs specialist who has experience in treating sleep issues, together with sleep apnea.) The physician will in all probability ask you to not take any remedy or drink alcohol or drinks containing caffeine — something which will intrude with sleep — earlier than the check.
Detachable sensors hooked up to tools that screens your coronary heart, lung, and mind exercise, respiration patterns, and physique actions earlier than, throughout, and after sleep will likely be positioned in your scalp, eyelids, face, chest, limbs, and a finger. The sensors document such data as:
- Oxygen ranges in your blood
- How properly air flows out and in of your lungs and thru your nostril and mouth as you breathe
- How a lot effort you utilize to breathe
- Coronary heart fee
- Eye motion
- Mind waves
- Muscle exercise
- How usually you cease respiration for at the least 10 seconds (apnea) or expertise partly blocked respiration for at the least 10 seconds (hypopnea)
Most sleep facilities have snug rooms which are modeled after lodge lodging. You’ll almost definitely be requested to reach early, as a lot as two hours earlier than bedtime. Skilled healthcare suppliers will monitor you as you sleep, and in some instances, a video digital camera could document your actions as you sleep.
Typically, your medical doctors will schedule a follow-up appointment after the sleep examine to debate your outcomes with you, whether or not or not you could have sleep apnea, and in the event you do, your therapy choices.
