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Dr. Woods, who is board certified in internal medicine, practices at 207-B Stonebridge Boulevard.

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At-home test diagnoses sleep apnea

Dr. Woods shows a patient how the at-home test for sleep apnea is a simple wireless device that is worn around the head.

Hard to stay awake as you work at your computer? Falling asleep in front of the TV at night? Feeling tired all day?
It's possible you have obstructive sleep apnea, says Dr. John Woods, a board-certified internal medicine physician. "Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common undiagnosed chronic disease in the United States. It is associated with obesity, hypertension and type II diabetes, which are all on the rise in this country."

That's one reason why Dr. Woods has invested in an easier and less expensive way than an overnight stay in a sleep lab to find out if you have sleep apnea. Dr. Woods now offers patients the option of being evaluated at home with the Apnea Risk Evaluation System (ARES), a home sleep test that is FDA approved.

Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep-related breathing disorder that causes your body to stop breathing during sleep. It occurs when the soft tissue in the back of your throat collapses and blocks the airway. This keeps air from getting in to the lungs. It happens because the muscles inside the throat have lost their tone and relax as you sleep. Gravity then causes the tongue to fall back and block the airway. Blockage of the airway can happen a few times a night or several hundred times per night.

"The person wakes up constantly (many times not realizing it) and never gets a full night's sleep," Dr. Woods explains.

Many times patients know they may have a problem because their spouse complains about their snoring. Other indications are fatigue because their body is not getting enough deep sleep.

"Historically, it's been difficult to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea with certainty unless the patient is monitored overnight at a sleep lab," says Dr. Woods.

The introduction of the ARES adds another option. The patient takes the ARES home and puts it on at night to monitor their sleep patterns.

The wireless physiological recorder, worn on the forehead, collects and stores up to three nights of data. It measures blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate, airflow, snoring levels, head movement and head position.

The next day, the patient brings the device back to the clinic where the information is downloaded on to a computer and then evaluated.

"The device is not only convenient for the patient, it also provides a better profile of a patient's breathing during sleep as the patient is in his or her normal sleeping environment," says Dr. Woods. He'll then use the data collected by the ARES to more accurately diagnose the presence of and severity of obstructive sleep apnea in the patient.

Use of the ARES is roughly one-fourth the cost of an overnight sleep test at a lab, says Dr. Woods. Medicare will cover the cost. Even if your insurance doesn't cover it, the cost is within the bounds of most people's finances, he adds.

If you have sleep apnea, Dr. Woods will arrange for you to get a CPAP machine from a home health agency. The machine forces constant air into your lungs to keep your passageway open. Losing weight also can curtail the problem.

Other options include going to the dentist to get an appliance that repositions your jaw and keeps your air passage open.

Surgery is suggested in extreme cases.

"Lack of treatment does shorten your life," he says. As it worsens over time, obstructive sleep apnea can affect your overall health. For example, people with sleep apnea are 2.5 times more likely to develop diabetes. They are five times more likely to have serious car crashes. "And sometimes," Dr. Woods adds, "there's a percentage of people who just don't wake up when they need to breathe."