Which tests did you undergo before being diagnosed with sleep apnea?

Hello! I suspect my husband has a sleep apnea. He snores during the night (even our neighbors hear him) and he makes pauses of few seconds during sleep when he is not breathing at all. He is also very irritable and sleepy during the day. He sometimes falls asleep while talking to me and this lasts only few minutes. He is also not interested in sex activities any more. We decided to see his doctor but we don’t know which test he should undergo?

Hello! As I am informed, medical diagnostic tests are rather expensive and because of that they are not required for all people with suspected sleep apnea. But, if patient has other health risk factors such as heart disease and if apnea affects his quality of life or safety on the road the special tests are then required and sleep specialist will be consulted. The doctor usually takes medical and sleeps history of the patients and sometimes he asks the patient to keep a record of sleep as a kind of “sleep diary”. He also checks for physical indications of sleep apnea, including upper body obesity, wide neck measurement and abnormalities of the upper airways. Sometimes a polysomnography is preformed which records the brain waves and other sleep-related activities. Also some home diagnostic portable devices are useful in diagnosis of apnea.