What are Sleep Apnea Symptoms?

Sleep apnea (AP-ne-ah) is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep. Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes.

Have you experienced this? Or were startled awake during the night because you couldn’t catch your breath? You may have sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea can occur upwards of 30 times per hour. Often times, breathing will resume its normal rhythm, usually noticed by a loud snort or choking sound. Sleep apnea can range anywhere from mild, moderate, or severe, and may be triggered by a number of different things. Unfortunately, many of the conditions associated with sleep apnea are also associated with conditions that overweight patients often possess.

Cause of Sleep Apnea May Include:  

1. High Blood Pressure. If you have high blood pressure, as many of our patients do, sleep apnea can transform from mild to severe rather quickly. Because sleep apnea causes you to consistently wake 2 – 5 times per night, your body will react by becoming stressed. Your blood pressure will heighten, and because you are losing sleep each time you wake up, you will have lower oxygen levels reaching your blood stream. Receiving treatment for sleep apnea often times improves the patient’s blood pressure as well.
2. Varied forms of Heart Disease. If you are living with heart disease, your level for heart attacks greatly increases if you are living with sleep apnea as well. Do you feel your heart flutter? Strokes and atrial fibrillation are linked to patients that have heart disease and sleep apnea.
3. Weight Gain. Whether you are struggling with your weight, or are noticing that you are gaining weight, extra gain increases your chances of sleep apnea, as well as the ability to lose the weight in a quick manner.
4. Living with Type 2 Diabetes. More than 80% of patients that have Type 2 Diabetes are also diagnosed with sleep apnea. Not enough sleep prevents your body from utilizing the insulin it is producing, which is linked to Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis.

Do any of these symptoms resonate with you? It could be linked to your weight. If you would like to find out if you are eligible for bariatric surgery, give Western Bariatric Institute a call and speak with our patient advocate. We make sure that our patients actually need the surgery, and will walk them through the steps before taking the final plunge.

If you believe, or have been diagnosed, with any of the above symptoms, or think you may have sleep apnea, don’t wait. Call WBI today.