Does the overnight sleep study test for only OSA, or other..

Does the normal overnight sleep study test only for Obstructive Sleep Apnea, or does it also test for Central or Complex Sleep Apnea, or other breathing problems?

I've had this problem for quite awhile, where I find that as I'm drifting off to sleep or just laying there, it's almost like I forget to breathe. My body will suddenly jerk a bit and then I inhale. But it's like my body just decides to stop breathing! It's not like there's an obstruction. I just quit breathing.

I got diagnosed with OSA after a sleep study and got a CPAP machine (level 9), and I have not noticed any improvement in this problem. It seems like the machine only blows air when I'm inhaling, and so when I exhale, it sort of waits for me to inhale before blowing again. I'm not sure if that's really what it's doing, but that feels like what it's doing. So when I just don't inhale, the machine isn't doing anything.

I do have asthma. But I'm wondering if I may have something else too, like Central Sleep Apnea or something. But wouldn't the sleep study have tested for that?

I also have this problem where I have to struggle to get air all the way down into my lungs. I have to purposely yawn in order to get a good breath.

heronbythesea wrote:Does the normal overnight sleep study test only for Obstructive Sleep Apnea, or does it also test for Central or Complex Sleep Apnea, or other breathing problems?

I've had this problem for quite awhile, where I find that as I'm drifting off to sleep or just laying there, it's almost like I forget to breathe. My body will suddenly jerk a bit and then I inhale. But it's like my body just decides to stop breathing! It's not like there's an obstruction. I just quit breathing.

I got diagnosed with OSA after a sleep study and got a CPAP machine (level 9), and I have not noticed any improvement in this problem. It seems like the machine only blows air when I'm inhaling, and so when I exhale, it sort of waits for me to inhale before blowing again. I'm not sure if that's really what it's doing, but that feels like what it's doing. So when I just don't inhale, the machine isn't doing anything.

I do have asthma. But I'm wondering if I may have something else too, like Central Sleep Apnea or something. But wouldn't the sleep study have tested for that?

I also have this problem where I have to struggle to get air all the way down into my lungs. I have to purposely yawn in order to get a good breath.

Central apneas during transition to sleep are usually considered normal. I experience those breathing pauses quite often during that period, and my sleep study showed no central apneas during sleep. They do test for them.

From the book Sleep Apnea: The Phantom of the Night, by T. Scott Johnson, M.D. et al., page 69:

"Small numbers of central apneas are seen in virtually every normal and abnormal patient that is studied in the sleep lab and are usually a normal part of the transition to sleep.

....

"With the onset of sleep, the sensor mechanism that detects levels of carbon dioxide in the blood becomes slightly less sensitive and accepts higher levels of carbon dioxide..... This change in sensitivity occurs quite suddenly as we drop off to sleep from a normal awake breathing state, and we suddenly do not have enough carbon dioxide in our blood to drive regular breathing during sleep. For this reason, at sleep onset and after arousals there is often a pause in the effort to breathe that may last as long as 10 to 15 seconds. These events may be normal."

I hope that information helps, but you could always discuss this with your doctor if you're still concerned.

~ DreamOn

I am assuming you are referring to an in-lab overnight sleep evaluation and xPAP titration PSG?

I make it a practice to request a copy of the doctor's dictated results AND the full scored data summary report w/condensed graphs from ANY in-lab PSG whether for sleep evaluation or for xPAP titration. You would do well to do the same as those two reports, especially the second (also sometimes called the full disclosure report) will quite likely answer your questions.

And in-lab PSG will most likely detect or indicate any or all of the some 80+ sleep disorders. Of course, some of them require a particularly astute sleep technician and/or a particularly astute sleep doctor and some of these so-called sleep specialist doctors don't appear to be any too astute or particularly interested in you beyond moving you thru the doors to make room for the next patient.