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Sleep Apnea
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sleep test

Posted by concerned on August 31, 2007 at 10:19:29:


.To begin, let me state that I am well aware of the seriousness of sleep apnea and its direct effect on the heart. If I have this problem, I want to do something to reduce the effects of this apnea. My concern is the extent of the problem and the necessary steps to resolve it.

I have absolutely none of the classic symptoms of sleep apnea and with the exception of a trip to the bathroom; I fall asleep quickly and sleep all night.

Last year I had an overnight study for sleep apnea which indicated that I had what was determined to be “mild to moderate” sleep apnea. I am planning to be tested again and would like to have a better understanding of these tests.

I have several questions.

The apnea/hypopnea index was 15 per hour. I understand that an apnea is an occurrence when you stop breathing and hypopnea is a 50% reduction in air flow. It would seem to me that stopping breathing would be more serious that a 50% reduction, but I was told that they do not break these out. Isn’t this important?

The report also showed that there was a sleep fragmentation and oxygen saturation from a base line of 94.5 to a low of 87%. If this means that a reduction to 87% was the worst case; is this serious?

Snoring.
I was told that I had moderately loud snoring through out the whole test. I questioned this and was told that the snoring test was objective rather than subjective. This raised concern about the entire test since I do not normally snore. My wife, who spends hours in bed and can‘t sleep says I do not snore. I used a tape recorder on several ovations set for 3 hours and no snoring was present. Only once in the past 6 months was I noticed to be snoring for a few minutes and that was when I was sleeping on my back. This raises the question. did I, with all the monitors all over my chest, sleep on my back (something I rarely ever do)? If this is the case and it was the cause of a high AHI index, the solution would be simple. Is it reasonable to ask the body position be checked when these apnea events occur?

Sleeping pills.
At the time of the test, I had an ongoing problem with my right hip (the side I normally sleep on). I had been taking a Tylenol before bed and on the night of the test I took a Tylenol PM to insure I had a better night sleep. I now know this was not wise as Tylenol is a sleeping pill with 25mg. of Dpehenhydramine. This is probably the first sleeping pill I had taken in 10 years. Could this have increased the apnea events?

I would appreciate any information on these concerns.



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  • Sleep Deprivation due to Sleep Apnea and insufficient sleep are common and can present as insomnia, narcolepsy, or idiopathic hypersomnia. In infants and children sleep problems commonly present themselves as ADD or ADHD.


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