Sleep Apnea Symptoms

What Are The Symptoms Of Sleep Apnea?

There are several symptoms to the sleep disorder sleep apnea. Among those are:

• Loud Snoring: Some types of sleep apnea are caused by a complete blockage to the airway partially due to excessive tissue at the back of the throat. When the brain awakens the patient to start breathing again, they initially take in a large breath of air. As a result, the excess tissue vibrates, therefore making the loud snoring sound.
• Awakening Suddenly To Restart Breathing
• Brief Periods of not breathing; Repeated silences from your side of the bed are observed by the sleep partner.
• Gasping or choking to get air into the lungs while sleeping
• Feeling un-refreshed after a nights sleep
• Dry mouth, sore throat or headaches after waking up in the morning.
• Daytime sleepiness due to the brain waking the patient throughout the night to breathe. Thus making the patient sleep very lightly as well as having fragmented and poor quality sleep.
• Waking up in a sweat in the middle of the night
• High blood pressure
• Leg swelling in cases where the sleep apnea is severe
• Performing actions by rote (automatic behavior)
• Problems with concentration and memory, feeling tired and irritable, as well as personality changes are experienced.
• Sour taste in the mouth or heartburn at night

Symptoms in children with sleep apnea other than those mentioned above might include:

• Failure to thrive such as weight loss or poor weight gain
• Behavior and cognitive problems in the say time due to the lack of sleep which will lead to struggling in school.

When I Snore At Night, Does It Mean That I Have Sleep Apnea?

While loud snoring is one of the symptoms of sleep apnea, snoring itself doesn't mean that you have sleep apnea. Snoring is basically a loud sound that you make when there is any obstruction in your airway while you sleep. While this is harmless, sleep apnea, on the other hand, deprives the patient of oxygen due to a complete blockage of airway. This complete blockage is harmful and can have a major impact on the health of the patient.

***DISCLAIMER***
This site is meant only to provide information and resources about sleep apnea and sleep disorders. It is not meant to diagnose any sleep problems. If you suspect you may have some sleep disorder, then please, see your doctor, and get his professional opinion and advice.