Serious question
If you can't afford a sleep study (outright, or at least want some evidence to bring to your primary care doc before asking for a referral), the next best thing that you can probably do is get ahold of a saturated O2 meter with a recording function (or phone app). Wear it overnight and record the data. If your levels drop much below about 92%, you should talk to your doctor about a sleep study ASAP. If you hover around 95%, that's pretty normal.
This all depends on the accuracy of the meter, though, and consumer-grade ones aren't amazing. Still, if you see a drop to like 82% right before you suddenly wake up in the middle of the night with a huge spike in pulse, yup, that's an apnea/hypopnea event.
I'm assuming if I keep waking up super tired with a soar throat that's another sign
Not to play doctor, but I had similar symptoms and finally diagnosed with UARS (https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/sleep/upper-airway-resistance-syndrome.html) in an in-clinic sleep study. Before, I had taken an in-home version and my sleep score is too low to be considered sleep apnea and qualify for a CPAP machine. UARS is basically a mini sleep apnea. I never got choked up enough to stop breathing, have a dip in my O2 or wake up in the middle of the night grasping for air. However, I have a lot of "resistance" to breathe such that I wake up with severe sore throat and less restful sleep (but I'm spared from brain damage, increased heart pressure etc. associated with real sleep apnea). The solution is the same, to use a CPAP machine.
Moral of the story is to do in-clinic sleep study to conclusively determine your problem.
I put off getting a sleep study for over a year, because I'm a fucking idiot. Once I finally did one, it was life changing for the better. They have in-home versions, or (better, IMO) just get one done in an overnight clinic. It's super easy. There's nothing to fear. Just do it..
If you're waking up tired and snoring there's a good chance you do have it. Get an appointment with your primary care doctor, they will get a sleep study set up for you, either an at-home one or an in-clinic one depending on your preference. A clinical one is more likely to be conclusive, the at-home one is more convenient. Get this taken care of as soon as possible, untreated sleep apnea can cause a lot of health problems that will only get worse over time.
Yeah wake up not feeling rested enough and often have to nap throughout the day if I'm not at work.
Also wake up often with a sore throat.
I know my snoring is loud enough that it sometimes bothers people sleeping in the same room as me and sometimes people can hear me from outside the room
When my husband got his CPAP machine, all of that was fixed instantaneously. He was snoring at like, 60 dB peak, and was always having to take a nap after work. Now he sleeps silently and rarely if ever has to nap. Don't know anything about a sore throat but I can see how that would happen.
