Central Sleep Apnea Symptoms.

Learn the Signs and How it differs from Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Central Sleep Apnea Symptoms differ from the symptoms of Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

The symptoms of Sleep Apnea vary depending on the types of Sleep Apnea. E.g the symptoms for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) vary to that of Central Sleep Apnea. In case you‘ve never heard of OSA, it’s a type of Sleep Apnea that involves obstruction of the upper airway, hereby causing you to snore loudly almost immediately after sleeping and it is common among older adults.

What’s the difference between Central Sleep Apnea and Obstructive Sleep Apnea?

In theory Central Sleep Apnea and OSA vary, but you can differentiate them effectively by their symptoms. With CSA your nervous system does not send signals to your body to continue breathing during sleep, whilst with OSA you nasal cavity or airway is blocked for different reasons.

Central Sleep Apnea Symptoms include but are not limited to:

• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Snoring ( can be associated with CSA and also obstructive Sleep Apnea),
• Difficulty staying asleep
• Shortness of breath when sitting up,
• Chronic fatigue.

Other signs of Obstructive Sleep Apnea include:

• Loud snoring
• Observed episodes of breathing cessation during sleep
• Abrupt awakenings accompanied by shortness of breath
• Awakening with a dry mouth or sore throat
• Morning headache
• Frequent urination at night

If these symptoms do not subside, my advice would be that you go for a diagnostic test, especially if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms.

• Waking up with shortness of breath,
• Difficulty staying asleep,
• Excessive daytime sleepiness,
• Continuous pauses in your breath while you are sleep.

A Sleep Test should confirm Central Sleep Apnea or otherwise.

Testing for Central Sleep Apnea

• You could ask your doctor or sleep disorder specialist to provide you with a home device to help test yourself at home if you do not wish to stay in the clinic. He/she can provide you with a portable device that helps you measure the amount of airflow and breathing patterns.

• Night time Monitoring:- This test, involves equipments that monitors your heart, lungs and brain activity, breathing patterns, arm and leg movements, and blood oxygen levels while you sleep. This test can help your doctor or therapist to narrow down your sleep disorder, to Insomnia or narcolepsy or any other sleep disorder if it is not CSA.


• There is also the Arterial blood Gas Testing. This test helps to monitor both oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood to help check correct diagnosis and evaluate the severity of your condition.

  It usually involves drawing blood from an artery. This test is common for infants and an apnea alarm is usually used to detect Central Sleep Apnea in Infants.

Now that you have learnt about CSA Symptoms, lets move on to the issue of treatments and medications.

NEXT: Central Sleep Apnea Treatment and Drugs.

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