Symptoms of OSA

You can probably guess one of the most common symptoms of sleep apnea – that’s right – snoring. 50% of chronic snorers have sleep apnea. Snoring is the Hallmark symptom of Sleep Apnea. It is important to note though, that not all Obstructive Sleep Apnea suffers will be snorers. Gasping or choking is often the action that directs the bed partner to seek help. The loud snoring wakens the bed partner; they will look over and see their mate is not breathing. This can go on for 40, 50, 60 or more seconds. It can be a very frightening thing to see. The literature refers to this as ‘Witnessed Apnea’.

In some cases of OSA, the patient will self awaken with palpitations or a racing heart. In this case, individuals think they are awaking from a panic attack - a spike in blood pressure and an increase in heart rate accompany this arousal. These symptoms can be misinterpreted as a panic attack. Daytime sleepiness is a good predictor or sleep apnea, but it is not very sensitive - many OSA patients little to no daytime sleepiness.

The same applies to the workplace. Chronic fatigue can also lead to personality changes. A common complaint of chronic OSA patients is that they get a full 8 hours sleep, but still wake up tired. Look at these last four symptoms; do they remind you of anything else? They look a lot like depression. Anytime there is a suspicion of depression in a person/patient, you should ask a few simple questions to see if the person/patient is a candidate for Obstructive Sleep Apnea diagnosis.

Depression and OSA are 2 very different diseases. Treating an OSA patient for depression does nothing, just as treating a depression patient for OSA does nothing as well. However, the symptoms of the 2 diseases do overlap, and it is important to rule both of them in, or out.