Are you sleepy, irritable, inexplicably gaining weight? Does your partner complain about your snoring or restless sleeping habits?

You could be one of millions of Americans suffering with sleep apnea.

Sufferers of sleep apnea stop breathing at night, usually for around 10 to 30 seconds at a time.

The disorder has been linked to reduced quality of sleep, irritability, lack of focus and reduced work or school performance. In recent years, researchers have also linked sleep apnea to increased risk of diabetes, heart attack, heart failure, hypertension, stroke and more.

Dr. Shripal Shrishrimal, Medical Director for Pulmonary Medicine, Sleep Medicine and Respiratory Therapy at Butler Health System, said the disorder is “highly under-diagnosed” and can have wide ranging implications for a person’s quality of life.

“The first initial symptoms are snoring and daytime tiredness and sleepiness. But there are a lot of other symptoms a patient or spouse or family member may notice,” Shrishrimal said. “They have very disturbed sleep in the night. Some patients complain of choking or gasping for air.”

Patients also have to go to the bathroom often in the night, and many struggle to pay attention or focus during the day.

The condition is not only found in adults.

In children, obstructive sleep apnea can go unnoticed,” Shrishrimal said. “The complications in children: they don’t function well in school, they are irritable, impulsive, sometimes labeled as ADHD, but they could have underlying sleep apnea.”

He said children with sleep apnea will see a drop in grades and performance at school.

If you notice these symptoms in yourself or in somebody else, the next step is to see a doctor for testing.

“Once a patient presents these symptoms, the doctor then orders a sleep study,” Shrishrimal said.

This can be done at home or in a sleep lab, though the lab will produce more detailed results.

If the test comes back positive for sleep apnea, the patient can than begin to weigh their options.

“A sleep doctor like me confirms that and communicates with the doctor or patient and we can start on the treatment based on severity,” Shrishrimal said. “Sleep apnea can be classed as mild, moderate or severe.”

The most common and effective treatment is a positive airway pressure device, such as a CPAP.

“What this does is it opens up your collapsed airway and keeps it open in the night,” Shrishrimal said.

But this type of treatment is not for everyone.

“There are some people who can’t bare the CPAP,” Shrishrimal said.

This is often because of the discomfort it causes in some people who use it.

For those people, there are several alternatives, including a mouthguard and even surgery, though this is typically most effective in children.

“(It’s) not so widely available (and) doesn’t work as well, but it may be one of the things that could help,” Shrishrimal said. “In children the most common reason they have sleep apnea is enlarged tonsils and adenoids.”

He said once tonsils are removed, sleep apnea in children typically subsides.

Shrishrimal also recommended lifestyle changes to combat the effects of sleep apnea.

“Along with these we recommend weight loss,” he said. “(It’s) one of the risk factors for sleep apnea. As you gain weight your risk of sleep apnea increases.”

Drinking alcohol is also discouraged.

Some risk factors, however, are out of one’s control.

Men, for example, are three times more likely then woman to experience sleep apnea in their lives.

Older folks are also more likely to develop the disorder. Even the shape of a person’s head can affect their likelihood for developing sleep apnea.

“Facial structure can put someone at risk. Smaller or regressed jaws,” said Shrishrimal.

While the disorder can be effectively diagnosed and treated, it remains highly underdiagnosed.

“The prevalence is quite high, it’s highly underdiagnosed,” Shrishrimal said. “We have good treatment options ... If you have kids not doing well at school, irritated, definitely get (them) evaluated.”