Could Your Symptoms Be Sleep Apnea?

Many of us go through our day-to-day lives without even knowing we suffer from sleep apnea. I had several of the symptoms below, but never thought it might be apnea related. I thought I was getting older. Here’s what to discuss with your doctor.

What were my symptoms?

Loud and frequent snoring

You can’t figure this out on your own, but if your partner wakes you up and tells you to stop snoring often, this might be a problem worth investigating.

Before my diagnosis, my snoring was heavy and loud. I often spent the night on the couch because my wife couldn’t get any rest. My snoring was that loud and annoying.

Headaches

If you wake up after a good night’s rest with a pounding headache for no reason, this is another symptom to talk to your doctor about.

I would get 7-8 hours of rest which should have allowed me to feel refreshed in the morning. Often, I would wake up and have a crushing headache. I would need to take medication and go back to bed, it was that bad.

Extreme fatigue

As a writer, I spend a lot of my morning hours writing in my chair. Before my sleep apnea diagnosis, I would often fall asleep in the middle of writing for no reason. I would have extreme fatigue and pass out. On a few occasions, I fell asleep with my phone in my hand reading emails.

If you suffer from extreme fatigue, even after a regular night of rest, you should discuss this with your doctor because it’s a symptom of sleep apnea.

Lack of energy

Along with fatigue comes a lack of energy to perform normal activities. When you have apnea without a diagnosis, you may find even simple tasks seem harder than you realize.

When I went for groceries, for example, it seemed harder than normal to shop and get the groceries back to the car. Walking out to our mailbox took a lot of effort. I thought this was all age-related, but it was undiagnosed apnea.

Brain fog and lack of concentration

With poor sleep comes brain fog and a lack of concentration. Undiagnosed sleep apnea may leave you feeling run down and you won’t feel as sharp as you would normally feel without apnea.

I would often struggle with writing because I couldn’t get my thoughts together. I felt slow and sluggish whenever a sat down to write. Sometimes a cup of coffee helped, but often it didn’t. I had an undiagnosed condition I knew nothing about.

What to do if you experience these

Ask your doctor about any of these symptoms because the only way to tell is through a proper sleep test. You can snore or have fatigue without any apnea present. These symptoms need to be addressed, so get checked for apnea if you have any of them.

If you suffer some of the symptoms above on a regular basis, your doctor will ask you to take a sleep test. This might be done at a sleep clinic or at home. My test was done at home with a sleep monitor. I was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea.

How am I doing now?

I no longer fall asleep writing, and I can get through a regular day with regular energy. I go to bed at a regular time and wake up feeling refreshed. Things aren’t 100%, but I feel a lot better thanks to my CPAP therapy.

Sleep apnea has many symptoms, and you can’t tell if you have it without a sleep test. Talk to your doctor about your symptoms and get a test done. You’ll sleep better and have a better quality of life.