Do you find yourself constantly exhausted despite getting what seems like adequate sleep? Are you struggling to stay alert during the day, fighting to keep your eyes open during meetings, or feeling like you need a nap by mid-afternoon? You should not accept this persistent fatigue as part of modern life. Patients' lives are transformed once they address the real culprit behind their exhaustion – and often, that culprit is Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).
Obstructive Sleep Apnea is one of the most common yet underdiagnosed sleep disorders in America, affecting an estimated 22 million adults. Despite its prevalence, up to 80% of moderate to severe cases remain undiagnosed. Why? Many people don't realize that the symptoms point to this serious condition.
OSA occurs when the muscles in the back of your throat relax too much during sleep, allowing soft tissue to collapse and block your airway. This blockage causes breathing to stop briefly – from a few seconds to over a minute – before your brain partially wakes you to resume breathing. These episodes, called apneas, can happen 5 to 30 (or more) times per hour throughout the night.
Here's the crucial point: Most people with sleep apnea don't fully wake during these episodes and have no memory of them in the morning. Instead, they only experience the consequences – profound, persistent fatigue that doesn't improve with seemingly adequate sleep.
Schedule your comprehensive sleep assessment at Sleep Analysts today. Call us at (573) 334-9095 or visit www.sleepanalysts.com to book your consultation.
Located in Cape Girardeau, MO, our team of sleep specialists is committed to helping you breathe easier, sleep better, and live healthier.
While chronic tiredness is often the most noticeable symptom that brings patients to our Cape Girardeau clinic, OSA typically presents with several other indicators:
Loud, Chronic Snoring: The most visible sign often reported by bed partners. Not everyone who snores has sleep apnea, but most people with sleep apnea snore. The snoring is usually loud and may include gasping, choking, or snorting sounds as breathing resumes after an apnea event.
Morning Headaches: Oxygen deprivation during the night can lead to morning headaches that typically resolve within a few hours of waking.
Cognitive Difficulties: Many patients report "brain fog," trouble concentrating, memory problems, and reduced productivity at work or school.
Mood Changes: Irritability, depression, and anxiety can all stem from the disrupted sleep patterns caused by OSA.
High Blood Pressure: Particularly if it's difficult to control with medication.
Dry Mouth or Sore Throat Upon Waking: Repeated breathing through an open mouth during sleep can cause this.
Decreased Libido or Sexual Dysfunction: The hormonal disruptions caused by poor sleep can impact sexual health.
Frequent Nighttime Urination: Sleep apnea can increase urine production during the night.
Many patients at Sleep Analysts come to us after years of suffering, having dismissed their symptoms for various reasons:
"I'm just getting older" – While energy levels can change with age, severe fatigue is not a normal part of aging.
"I'm overweight, so being tired is expected" – Though weight is a risk factor for OSA, the fatigue comes from the sleep disorder, not simply the weight itself.
"I get 8 hours of sleep, so I can't have a sleep problem" – It's the quality, not just the quantity of sleep that matters. Eight hours of fragmented sleep can leave you more tired than four hours of continuous, restorative sleep.
"I don't fully wake up at night, so I must be sleeping well" – Most people with OSA don't remember the brief arousals that occur with breathing disruptions.
"Only overweight, older men get sleep apnea" – While OSA is more common in men and those who are overweight, it affects people of all ages, genders, and body types. Even children and slim individuals can develop sleep apnea, particularly if they have certain anatomical features like a recessed chin, large tonsils, or a small airway.
Left untreated, OSA doesn't just leave you tired—it can severely impact your overall health. The repeated drops in blood oxygen levels and the stress of frequent microarousals put tremendous strain on your cardiovascular system.
Research has definitively linked untreated OSA to:
Cardiovascular Disease: Sleep apnea increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, and abnormal heart rhythms like atrial fibrillation. The oxygen drops during apnea events, stressing the heart and blood vessels.
Type 2 Diabetes: OSA disrupts insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism, increasing diabetes risk even in otherwise healthy individuals.
Weight Gain: The hormonal imbalances from disrupted sleep affect hunger and satiety hormones (leptin and ghrelin), making weight management more difficult.
Liver Problems: People with OSA are more likely to develop nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and scarring of the liver.
Metabolic Syndrome: This cluster of conditions includes increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol levels.
Complications with Medications and Surgery: Sleep apnea can make anesthesia riskier and complicate recovery from surgery.
Motor Vehicle Accidents: Daytime sleepiness significantly increases accident risk. Studies show that severe sleep apnea patients have accident rates 2-3 times higher than the general population.
The gold standard for diagnosing sleep apnea is a sleep study, or polysomnography, which we conduct at Sleep Analysts in Cape Girardeau. During this overnight test, we monitor:
This comprehensive assessment allows us to diagnose OSA and its severity definitively by calculating your Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI)—the number of breathing disruptions per hour of sleep. We can also identify other potential sleep disorders contributing to your fatigue.
For some patients, we can offer home sleep testing as well, which may be more comfortable and convenient, though less comprehensive than in-lab testing.
The good news about OSA is that effective treatments exist and can dramatically improve your quality of life, often starting from the very first night of therapy.
CPAP Therapy: Continuous Positive Airway Pressure remains the gold standard treatment. A CPAP machine delivers gentle air pressure through a mask, keeping your airway open throughout the night. Modern CPAP devices are quieter, more comfortable, and more user-friendly than ever.
Oral Appliances: Custom-fitted dental devices that reposition the jaw and tongue can be effective for mild to moderate OSA or for those who cannot tolerate CPAP.
Lifestyle Modifications: Weight loss (including through GLP-1 medications for qualifying patients), positional therapy (avoiding sleeping on your back), treating nasal congestion, and avoiding alcohol and sedatives before bedtime can all help reduce OSA severity. GLP-1 medications have shown promising results for weight management and for directly improving OSA severity in many patients, even before significant weight loss occurs.
Inspire Sleep Apnea Device: The Inspire implantable device offers an innovative alternative for patients who cannot tolerate CPAP therapy and meet specific criteria. This FDA-approved neurostimulation system monitors your breathing patterns and delivers mild stimulation to key airway muscles, keeping them open during sleep. Unlike traditional surgical approaches, Inspire is minimally invasive and controlled by the patient with a simple remote control.
At Sleep Analysts, we've seen remarkable transformations in our patients' lives after addressing their sleep apnea. One patient, a 42-year-old teacher, came to us after falling asleep while grading papers every evening. Within two weeks of starting CPAP therapy, she reported feeling "like a new person" with energy levels she hadn't experienced since her twenties.
Another patient, a commercial truck driver at risk of losing his license due to daytime drowsiness, not only saved his career through treatment but also discovered that his treatment resolved his long-standing high blood pressure, allowing him to reduce his medication.
Chronic fatigue doesn't have to be your normal. If you suspect you might have sleep apnea—or if you're simply tired of being tired—a professional sleep assessment can be the first step toward reclaiming your energy and improving your health.
We provide comprehensive sleep evaluations at Sleep Analysts in Cape Girardeau using state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment. Our team specializes in making the diagnosis and treatment process as comfortable and effective as possible, with personalized care plans designed to fit your unique needs and lifestyle.
Don't let another day of your life be diminished by preventable fatigue. Quality sleep isn't a luxury—it's a fundamental pillar of good health and a fulfilling life.