One of the hardest sleep conditions to diagnose is sleep apnea. Even a number of blood tests or a sole consultation with your personal doctor may not show that you are suffering from it. The best way to recognize if you have sleep apnea is to ask your bed partner or housemate about the sounds you make when you're asleep, and of any time period when breathing seems to pause or cease for a while. The account of your bed partner can be utilized by the physician when he forms a diagnosis, but he will use other tests too.

Be prepared when the doctor starts asking you about your own as well as your family's medical track record. It will be foremost if you will be as honest as you can and start keeping a sleep diary even for simply a week or two. Calculate the number of hours sleep you get every night and other periods when you feel drowsy and list these in the diary. It will be better if you inform your physician of any sleep apnea record in your family since the complaint is hereditary. The next option or step to diagnosis of sleep apnea is personal examination. The presence of large tissue in your mouth, nose or throat, will be searched for throughout the examination. The physician will also check out the bone structure of your head and neck as it might have a bearing on airway.
 
In grownups, there could be an enlargement of the roof of the mouth, or uvula, which is the small tissue that hangs conveniently from the rear of your mouth's mid section. In some cases, enlarged tonsils are to blame.
 
Last, sleeping observation is so far the most accurate diagnostic examination for sleep apnea detection as it can capture your breathing pattern when you sleep. Evidently you have to be asleep while this takes place, generally in a special sleep center designed for this kind of testing. So you are able to be observed via camera in addition to equipment, you will have to spend the entire night at the center. All activity from respiration rate, heart rate, eye motion, blood oxygen level, muscle activity and the airway to your lungs are all observed while you're asleep.
 
Do not worry because a polysomnogram is generally pain-free. You will be induced to go to sleep, though there will be sensors attached to your face, limbs, fingers, chest, and head. It might expose any presence of the complaint, the type, and even seriousness of the condition.