by Carrissa Hankins, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, Hello Sleep Health & The Sleep NP LLC
When I teach other healthcare providers about signs and symptoms of sleep apnea, I'm usually harping on visual clues.
These are things you might be able to see that would raise suspicion for sleep apnea and provide of point of entry for a conversation about it.
There's one clue that even I often miss.
In order to appreciate it, you need to have a before & after of a person with sleep apnea: before treatment and after it has started.
What's the clue?
The clue is glistening or somewhat sweaty skin (aka the "other kind of hot"). It's the kind of thing you'd expect to see if you're starting to wilt from the humidity, but haven't fully melted.
I was seeing it in my sleep consultations - before treatment - even if no one else in the vicinity was hot at all.
Fast forward to after treatment
I started taking mental notes about this other kind of hot state of being. And I noticed that once treatment for sleep apnea was onboard, the glistening skin wasn't noticeable like before.
Background theory
The sleep health community as a theory: untreated sleep apnea causes the release of excess catecholamines. Basically, it's part of the workout to nowhere that happens when sleep apnea isn't treated. Just like you don't stop sweating the moment you aerobics class ends, if your sleep apnea is giving you a work out overnight (to keep you alive) the sweaty, hotness can continue into the day. Come night time, the cycle repeats.
If we can get rid of the work-out-to-nowhere, the sweatiness doesn't have as much reason to be there either.
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