Apnea Test
Saturday, August 14th, 2010Apnea Test
Sleep apnea is a complaint which disrupts your rest while you’re attempting to sleep. There are several distinct forms and while they are not normally life threatening there are circumstances where it may cause serious health problems and expose you to life threatening dangers. This is why it is essential to acquire a sleep apnea test if you have an inkling that you’re hurting from this sleep disorder.
Several methods are available for determining if you are suffering from sleep apnea, and many who have sleep apnea also have a number of other symptoms in which sleep apnea is a side effect. For instance ,fatigue, gaining weight, and mental tiredness all of which are aggravated by sleep apnea, and they also might have dry mouth or a sudden panic attack upon waking up.
Insomnia may be a part of your sleep disorder but the only true way to discern whether or not your symptoms are caused by sleep apnea is to take a sleep apnea test. This test is usually administered at a center for sleep disorders but can be given in a doctor’s office where overnight facilities are available.
The first thing to do is have a physical exam which consists of a good hard look at your mouth, throat and sinus areas. To better understand your problem there will be an interview with questions showing your sleep quality, sleep patterns and feelings about how well you are sleeping. The very next step in the process 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 a polysomnogram or PSG, which can be given via two methods. The first type of test is the overnight sleep test and is comprised of supervising various activities such as your heart rate, your breathing pattern, your eye movement and also your brain activity.
The second testing type involves a home monitoring version where a skilled technician attaches the proper electrodes and allows the patient to monitor their results at home through a polysomnograph. What the doctors are looking for in determining the results of the test is a common measure called the respiratory disturbance index of RDI.
Numerical terms express the number of times you experience a negative breathing pattern which disrupted your breathing over the entire test. The following values are usually used when diagnosing a patient with sleep apnea. If the total amount of interruptions over an hour is more than twenty the doctor can diagnose the patient with a form of sleep disorder, possibly sleep apnea.
There are additional tests which may be requested such as a multiple sleep latency exam which figures out how poorly you are actually sleeping. Normally, a person requires more than 10 minutes to fall asleep so those who fall straight into a deep sleep in under five minutes should get some intervention. There is also a strip test that may be used just before the sleep apnea test to see of further testing is needed.