Sleep Apnea Symptoms Can Be Harder To Diagnose Than You Believe

Last week I went with my girlfriend to get her hair done. She had spent a considerable amount of time driving me around while I was getting my car worked on, so I kind of owed her. It's one of those give and take things that are necessary for a healthy relationship.

The problem was when I started falling asleep while the lady was giving the beginning instructions. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't keep my eyes opened. Which seemed strange because I went to bed the same time as always the night before, and woke up the same time on that day.

Her dad for the longest time had this problem when she was a kid. He would always snore, keeping the whole house awake. Finally her mom convinced him to go see a doctor about it, and it turned out he had sleep apnea. Snoring is one sleep apnea symptom. The worst part is that people that snore usually don't know that they snore. It takes some courage to confront them with this.

The doctor went over all the symptoms with the family. Common ones are sleepiness during the day, headaches, frequent waking up to go to the bathroom, and so on. Lucky they were able to find a solution. Most people don't know about the dangers that come with undiagnosed sleep apnea.

My girlfriend was concerned because I was so tired even though I thought I spent the whole night sleeping the night before. We don't sleep together, so she doesn't know if I snore or not. We went to the doctor to get me checked out. One of the big sleep apnea symptoms is feeling tired when you are bored, even though you think you've gotten a good nights sleep the night before.

So our next stop was the doctor. He said that it was too early to tell without more information. He told me to keep a sleep journal, and record everything whenever I wake up, and to collect as much information regarding possible symptoms as possible. That way it will be much easier for him to suggest a treatment.