What is hypoventilation syndrome (OHS)?

As the name suggests, OHS usually affects people who are overweight or obese.

Hypoventilation means that breathing is too shallow or too slow. Because your body needs to work harder to breathe, your respiratory system becomes exhausted and you could end up with carbon dioxide levels that are too high and oxygen levels that are too low. A doctor or clinic can easily diagnose this with an arterial blood gas analysis.

If you have OHS you might be experiencing:

• shortness of breath
• Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS)
• morning headaches
• depression.

Around 90% of people with OHS also have Obstructive Sleep Apnea