Diagnosis

Your doctor might evaluate your condition based on your signs and symptoms or refer you to a sleep specialist in a sleep disorder center.

A sleep specialist can help you decide on your need for further evaluation. That might involve overnight monitoring of your breathing and other body functions during a sleep study called polysomnography.

During polysomnography, you're connected to equipment that monitors your heart, lung and brain activity, breathing patterns, arm and leg movements, and blood oxygen levels while you sleep. You may have a full-night or split-night sleep study.

In a split-night sleep study, you're monitored during the first half of the night. If you're diagnosed with central sleep apnea, staff might wake you and give you positive airway pressure for the second half of the night.

Polysomnography can help your doctor diagnose central sleep apnea. It can also help your doctor rule out other sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea, repetitive movements during sleep (periodic limb movements) or sudden attacks of sleep (narcolepsy), which can cause excessive daytime sleepiness but require different treatment.

Doctors trained in nervous system diseases (neurologists), heart diseases (cardiologists) and others might be involved in evaluating your condition. You might undergo imaging of your head or heart to look for contributing conditions.