THE CONDITION

Obstructive sleep apnea, and how to find out if you have it.

Your airway closes while you sleep, over and over, and you never know. The test to find out takes one night in your own bed and costs $199.

Request my sleep study Call 706-613-6990

Warning signs

You need several of these, not all of them. The single most useful one comes from whoever sleeps next to you.

At night

Loud snoring, most nights, loud enough to be heard through a door
Someone has seen you stop breathing
Gasping, snorting, or choking yourself awake
Getting up two or more times to urinate
Restless, sweaty sleep, or waking with your heart pounding

During the day

Waking unrefreshed no matter how long you were in bed
Morning headaches or a dry, sore throat
Nodding off watching television, reading, or at a red light
Irritability, low mood, or trouble concentrating
Blood pressure that keeps climbing despite treatment

Sleep apnea without snoring is real

It is missed most often in women, in people who sleep alone, and in people whose main complaint is insomnia or exhaustion rather than sleepiness. Central sleep apnea in heart failure frequently happens with no loud snoring at all. If the daytime symptoms fit, get tested even if nobody has ever complained about your snoring.

READING YOUR RESULTS

What the AHI number means

Your apnea-hypopnea index is the number of times per hour your breathing stopped or became dangerously shallow. It is the headline number on every sleep study report.

Severity is only half the picture. How low your oxygen fell, how long it stayed there, and what your heart is already dealing with all shape the plan.
AHI (events per hour)	Category	What it usually means for you
Under 5	Normal	Sleep apnea is not the explanation. We look for the real cause.
5 – 14	Mild	Treatment depends on symptoms and cardiac risk. An oral appliance or positional therapy is often enough.
15 – 29	Moderate	Treatment is generally recommended, especially with high blood pressure, AFib, or daytime sleepiness.
30 or more	Severe	Treat. The cardiovascular stakes at this level are substantial and the benefit of treatment is clearest.

TREATMENT

What we can actually do about it

First line, moderate to severe

CPAP

A quiet stream of air splints the airway open. It works when it is worn. Modern machines and masks are far better tolerated than the ones people remember from a decade ago, and most CPAP failures come down to a fixable mask or pressure problem rather than a person who cannot do it.

Mild to moderate

Oral appliance

A custom dental device holds the lower jaw slightly forward, keeping the airway open. Good option for mild or moderate apnea, for positional apnea, and for people who genuinely cannot tolerate CPAP. Fitted through a dental sleep colleague.

Adjunct

Positional and weight therapy

Some apnea occurs almost entirely on the back. Some improves substantially with weight loss. Neither is a throwaway suggestion — we will tell you specifically whether your data shows a positional pattern worth acting on.

Cardiac

Treating the heart underneath

When central apnea or Cheyne-Stokes breathing is present, optimising heart failure therapy is part of the sleep treatment. This is where holding both certifications changes the plan rather than just the letterhead.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Sleep apnea, answered

What happens if I just ignore it?

Untreated obstructive sleep apnea is associated with atrial fibrillation, resistant high blood pressure, worsening heart failure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and depression. The most immediate danger, though, is drowsy driving. If you have nodded off at a wheel, treat this as urgent.

Am I going to be stuck on CPAP forever?

Not necessarily. Substantial weight loss, treatment of a contributing cardiac problem, or switching to an oral appliance all change the picture for some people. We retest rather than assume. What we will not do is tell you the machine is temporary when the data says otherwise.

I tried CPAP years ago and hated it. Now what?

Come in anyway. Most of the reasons people quit — the wrong mask, pressure set too high, no humidifier, a blocked nose nobody treated — are fixable in one or two visits. Machines and masks in 2026 are not what they were in 2012.

Can I be tested at home if I live alone?

Yes. The device is designed to be applied by the patient. If you are worried about managing it, bring someone to the setup visit and we will walk you both through it.

Does sleep apnea affect my commercial driver’s license?

DOT medical examiners can require evaluation and documented treatment compliance. Getting tested and treated is how you keep the certification, not how you lose it. Tell us at your visit that you hold a CDL and we will document accordingly.