The crazy thing about sleep apnea is that many of the sleep apnea symtoms can be misconstrued to be something that they aren’t. For example, one of the classic symtoms of sleep apnea is depression. However, when you’re feeling depressed you generally go to a therapist, not your primary care physician. As a result, the therapist will work with you to treat your depression, but no matter what he or she does, the root cause of it will be untouched. As a result, the sleep apnea will continue and you’ll continue to experience the depression. Moreover, as the apnea progresses you’ll start to feel more and more depressed, with no real hope of feeling better until you find someone who can make the connection to the sleeping disorder.
Unfortunately, depression is only one of the many sleep apnea symtoms that confuse doctors. Anxiety, irritability and other behavior changes all are signs of sleep apnea. However, when a psychiatrist is presented with these symtoms, he or she may reasonably think that the patient is bipolar or schizophrenic. Again, the treatment that will be given in these cases will have nothing to do with solving the actual problem. That said, how does one know whether or not they’re really depressed or bipolar, as opposed to when they’re just experiencing the side effects of sleep apnea?
The answer to this question isn’t an easy one. The best way to go about answering it, however, is to look for these symtoms to be coupled with other sleep apnea symtoms. Signs to be aware of include decreased sex drive, getting up frequently in the middle of the night to urinate, headaches, loud snoring and esophageal reflux. Also, if you’re sweating heavily at night it may not have anything to do with the temperature of your room. Heavy sweating is yet another symtom of sleep apnea.