my husband has suffered from excessive daytime sleepiness for about 18 months.  It is not unusual for him to wake at 9.00 am after 10 hours of sleep and then be asleep again by 1.00 pm for another 2 hours.  He also snores excessively and is very restless.  He cannot concentrate on anything and is very irritable.  He always wakes with a headache (for which he takes OTC medication on a daily basisi) Finally in the last two months he has had three episodes where he has been literally choking in his sleep and cannot catch his breath at all....very frightening for both of us.

However an at home sleep study by Kaiser showed only 5 apnea episodes (of 10-13 seconds) and an overall AHI of 4.2 (averaged over 7 hours).   These numbers are considered normal but it does not seem that this is normal sleep pattern.  Are these studies ever flawed?  He did take an Ambien to help him sleep...could this have affected the numbers?  What should be our next step?

Thanks!!

Hi Christinag,

I'm not so good at answering many of your questions.  It sure sounds like he has sleep apnea.
Will the insurance cover a full sleep study lab study?
And what kind of doctor does he have?  Does he have someone who specializes in sleep apnea or sleep disorders?
This might be a pulmonary physician or a respiratory therapist.  Some general practitioners may be experienced in this.

It's possible there could be another sleep disorder happening, but what bothers me is your description of typical sleep apnea symptoms:  choking/gasping in his sleep, grasping for breath, morning headaches, snoring and daytime exhaustion.  They all are the most typical of symptoms.  He really ought to have a full polysommography testing at an overnight sleep study lab, in my opinion.  Perhaps you can get a good doctor to verify this opinion and authorize a full study.  I don't know if a home study can be flawed.  And I don't know if Ambien can affect the numbers, but an experienced sleep study doctor should know, or at the very least, give a reasonable opinion.  Was an oxygen test given?  That's another indicator as well.  Yes, this is frightening, and you should be able to get some answers to those questions.  Contact your doctor or find one that can help answer these questions.  Let us know how things go.

Does he have any other symptoms as well?  Has he developed high blood pressure, any thyroid problems, depression or brain fog, sudden weight gain?  He needn't have all of those to have sleep apnea, but it would be good to know.  The following link is to a topic in our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section giving possible symptoms and other information:
Click here for link to FAQ topic


Linda