Sleep apnea is a serious medical condition that needs to be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible, so it’s important to know who to approach for help.
Who checks for sleep apnea? Your primary care doctor should be the first one to be consulted if you suspect that you have sleep apnea. After looking at your symptoms and your medical history, your doctor may refer you to a sleep specialist for further testing.
Of course, the kind of doctor you see would also depend on your condition. As your primary doctor discovers more about your specific case, you may be asked to see other specialists, depending on what’s causing your sleep apnea.
As you read further, you’ll understand what kinds of doctors you might potentially be dealing with as you try to have your sleep apnea diagnosed and treated. You’ll also find out more about tests you might be taking before being properly diagnosed with the condition.
What Types of Doctors Can Help You with Your Sleep Apnea?
The moment you suspect that you have sleep apnea, it is best to visit your doctor right away for proper diagnosis and treatment. Depending on what the root cause of your sleep apnea is, you may eventually be asked to see other specialists.
Here are some of the doctors you may expect to deal with.
Primary care doctors
Your primary care doctor may be a general practitioner, a family physician, an internist, or a geriatrician (for older people). Basically, this is the first doctor you run to when you have your usual colds or flu.
Your primary care doctor will most likely ask you about your symptoms and why you suspect you have sleep apnea. You may be asked to try and apply a few lifestyle changes first, like changing your sleeping position or cutting back on your smoking habit.
If the doctor sees that you need further testing, you will then be referred to a sleep specialist.
Sleep specialists
Sleep specialists, as you probably figured out from the name, are sleep experts.
Sleep specialists often start out as a different kind of doctor, like an ear, nose and throat doctor, or a neurologist. The moment they decide to concentrate on sleep-related conditions, they went through special training and testing to be certified in this specific field.
Your primary care doctor will give you a referral to a sleep center, which is where you can talk to a sleep specialist. They will look at your symptoms and find out why your doctor recommended that you visit a sleep center. From there, the specialist will recommend a test or two to find out how to proceed with your treatment.
Ear, nose and throat doctors
Otolaryngologists, otherwise known as ear, nose and throat doctors, specialize in conditions that involve your head or face structure. Since obstructive sleep apnea may sometimes be caused by structural issues around your nose, throat, or other parts of your airways, they may be able to help.
If you have a deviated septum, for example, the partition between your two nostrils could affect your breathing while you sleep. The same can be said if you have an unusually large tonsil or tongue. In both cases, an ear, nose and throat doctor would be the best person to help you.
Neurologists
One type of sleep apnea called central sleep apnea deals with failed or mixed signals from the brain to the muscles that control breathing. This can be caused by damage to the brain stem. If this is the type of sleep apnea you have, then you would probably have to deal with a neurologist.
Central sleep apnea can be an aftereffect of a stroke, but obstructive sleep apnea could also eventually cause a stroke.
Dentists
You may also talk to a dentist about possible oral appliances you can use to widen your airways, especially if it’s the structure of your jaw that’s causing the problem.
Dentists could provide a special oral appliance that pushes your jaw forward, leaving more room around your throat area for air to come through. The oral device would have to be fitted a few times to ensure that you’re getting the results you need, so your sleep specialist and your dentist would probably work hand in hand to get optimal results.
Mental health professionals
The state of your mental health can also greatly impact your sleep apnea. After all, a lot of the factors that affect your sleep are behavioral, like drinking, smoking, or overeating. With a psychiatrist or other mental health professional in the picture, you may be able to understand what’s stopping you from changing your lifestyle and work towards a solution.
Some of the effects of sleep apnea could also affect your mental health. The lack of quality sleep could negatively impact your mood and productivity during the day, which could eventually progress to depression or anxiety.
Surgeons
Once you start talking about treatments, one of the solutions that might pop up would be surgery. The procedures may vary from slight reductions to the tissues around your throat, to removing your tonsils and adenoids. In some cases, implants may also be advised.
How is Sleep Apnea Diagnosed?
How would a healthcare professional diagnose your condition?
The Symptoms
Initially, your doctor would have to base his next steps on your symptoms. Most probably, you’d also need the help of a roommate who can give you their observation on how you sleep.
Here are some of the most basic symptoms of sleep apnea:
- Loud snoring
- Pauses in breathing while sleeping
- Frequent episodes of gasping or choking
- Often waking up with a dry or sore throat
- Morning headaches
- Drowsiness or sleepiness during daytime
- Forgetfulness and lack of focus
- Mood changes and irritability
- A decreased interest in sex
If you show any of these symptoms, it’s important to reach out to your doctor right away so that they can give you advice on what your next steps should be.
The Tests
Once you have been referred to a sleep specialist, you will be asked to go through a test or two, depending on your symptoms.
Sleep evaluations are usually done overnight. Here are the two types of tests you may be asked to complete:
- Home sleep test. You can be asked to use a simple home sleep test that monitors your airflow, blood oxygen levels, breathing patterns, and heart rate while you sleep. The only problem here is that these portable home tests do not really detect all kinds of sleep apnea. So if your sleep specialist feels that the information returned by the machine is inconclusive, you may still be asked to take a more comprehensive test.
- Nocturnal polysomography. In the case of a nocturnal polysomnnography, you will be asked to stay at the sleep center overnight. You will be hooked up to a piece of equipment that will monitor your brain, heart and lung activity, as well as your arm and leg movements, blood oxygen levels, and breathing patterns.
Once these tests are completed, your sleep specialist and your doctor will be in a better position to recommend the right treatments for your sleep apnea.
To find out more about sleep apnea treatments, read this article.
Related Questions
What happens with untreated sleep apnea?
When left untreated, sleep apnea can lead to different serious health conditions that could shorten your life expectancy. The health conditions include heart failure, stroke, diabetes, and high blood pressure, among others. Your likelihood of being in an accident also increases because sleep apnea patients are often drowsy during daytime and lack focus. This makes their reflexes slower. One’s mental health could also be in jeopardy if sleep apnea is left untreated.
Will sleep apnea kill you?
Sleep apnea may not kill you directly, but the complications that the sleep disorder leads to may shorten your life. Suffocation is not an issue because our brains are programmed to wake us up the moment it notices that our blood oxygen levels are running low. But with the threat of heart failure, stroke, or diabetes, as well as the threat of possibly being in a car accident, the possibility of early death becomes higher.
