Alright, so my husband has been complaining that I've been snoring at night. At first, I didn't believe him but then (the little sh*t head) he actually RECORDED me sleeping one night and showed it to me the next day. So a few months pass and more and more complaining about how my snoring is getting worse and yadda yadda. A few more months pass and he now can't even get to sleep in our bed because of my snoring. He did an impression once and it sounded like i was quiet for a while and then i let out a loud 'snore' sound. (can't describe it very well, lol.) The last few nights he's been sleeping on the couch, he says my snoring has gotten so bad. He actually suggested that maybe I have sleep apnea. Huh? I thought that was where you stopped breathing...??? And wouldn't I wake up or something? Or not have a very restful sleep if I kept waking up? I really have no idea, but he wants me to go to the doctor about it. How would they be able to tell? Would they have to monitor me while I sleep or something? And isn't 'sleep apnea' a weight related issue? If so then DANG I gotta keep losing! I'm only 22 and the health issues due to excess weight are creeping up on me! already got me some pre-hypertension....ugh...
I don't know everything about it but I do know that when I was at 330 pounds, I had sleep apnea. I use to wake sometimes not able to get my breath for a minute and my boyfriend use to say he worried because I would stop breathing while sleeping quite often. Since I have lost a significant amount of weight so far, I have not had any episodes where I wake struggling to breathe and my boyfriend says I rarely snore like before and I don't stop breathing at all anymore.
You can have snoring without sleep apnea. So a proper sleep assessment would be in order.
And don't forget that your DENTIST can make something called a "snore appliance" for you, which will keep your jaws aligned so that the back of your throat will remain open and your snoring will be stopped. I'd go see my dentist if this was a case of snoring, and not sleep apnea.
Let us know how it goes!
Kira
Yes it can be weight related or genetic- my dad has it and so do I- I'm hopefully it'll go away with weight loss.
I know when I had sleep apnea I was tired throughout the day and just wanted to go to bed when I got home.
I think if you have developed snoring then you may have it.
You don't need to be watched. When I was diagnosed I went to see my primary with my husband- we spoke to her about it and filled out information. Then a company came over to my house with a kit, showed me how to hook it up, then I put it on and went to sleep with the recorder on. When I got up I put the kit all back together then they came and picked it up. A few days later they confirmed I had mild sleep apnea. I went to this place, got fitted for a mask and was given a machine calibrated to the settings I needed. Since then life has been so much better for me- I wake up ready to face the world. I come home and am not as tired, and so on.
Sleep apnea is VERY bad for your heart and blood pressure- you can DIE from complications due to sleep apnea- so please get checked out.
if you scroll down you can see it takes either mask. I use the nose mask, not the full face one because mine is very mild.
I would stop breathing 12 times per hour for 10 seconds at a time, and no I wouldn't wake up- all my body would do is go out of REM sleep so it'd stop then go back into REM sleep but because I was messing with my cycle I wasn't getting proper sleep.
Thanks Michelle! I haven't noticed anything like you described, but I'm sure it was VERY scary for you! I'm glad you no longer have that problem! And it's amazing how much weight you've lost so far! Congrats.
I'm kinda stubborn when it comes to seeing doctors about stuff.....If i do have sleep apnea, they're just going to tell me to lose weight which I'm working on so I don't see the point really.
But does sleep apnea actually cause you to snore? I don't remember people ever telling me i snored before, so my excessive snoring is probably due to my weight i'm guessing?
Kira, that is something i didn't know! Intersting. Thanks!
beerab, very informative! Thank you! I think I'm re considering getting checked out....your tale scared me a bit! But thank you very much for the info, i'm not so clueless anymore.
Hi there!
Here is a link to a good article that shows the difference between snoring and sleep apnea and why you should get checked out: http://www.helpguide.org/life/sleep_apnea.htm
Here's a link to snoring. It shows the treatments available. http://www.helpguide.org/life/snoring.htm
A sleep appliance from your dentist takes a little getting used to, but is way cheaper and more easily adapted to than a CPAP machine (which has a mask and all). Sleep appliances are basically a double piece of acrylic, like a mouth guard you would wear if you grind your teeth at night, with a little adjustable springy thing to keep your jaws apart.
Just keep it away from the dog, because for some reason, dogs LOVE to eat these. Seriously...
Hope this helps!
Kira
Thanks Michelle! I haven't noticed anything like you described, but I'm sure it was VERY scary for you! I'm glad you no longer have that problem! And it's amazing how much weight you've lost so far! Congrats.
My husband snores when he's lying on his back.
Is yours in any certain position??
Could just be sinus problems. Are you feeling any sinus symptoms?
Best wishes
I have to say your description sounds very much like sleep apnea. Having been on the other side of it (my husband was the snorer with apnea) I can sympathize with your husband not being able to sleep through it. My husband got a mouth appliance after a sleep study--all covered by medical insurance even though a dentist made the appliance, because it's a medical problem. Other posters are right on--sleep apnea is one of the leading causes of heart disease and can really be serious, so I hope you won't ignore it! Some people successfully get rid of it though by losing weight, so here's some added motivation. You and your husband will feel so much better when you're getting better sleep. My husband of course didn't believe it, but when he finally got the mouth piece he s aid he had never felt so good on less sleep Good luck!
Sleep apnea isn't something you would necessarily notice. I had no idea that I had it (though my husband did often wake me up to tell me I was snoring).
I think that the quiet between snores that you describe sounds very much like sleep apnea (my thin sister snores, but doesn't have apnea, and her snores do not have more than a second or two gap between, it's definitely as regular as her breathing).
If you have sleep apnea, a doctor isn't "just going to tell you to lose weight," because losing weight will take a while, but significant apnea needs to be treated promptly. Untreated apnea, as beerab mentioned can cause very serious health problems, even death. I've had doctors suggest that years of untreated sleep apnea, may have contributed to my fibromyalgia and autoimmune disease.
I was experiencing fatigue by the time I was tested, but who knows how long I had the apnea before it was found. I suspect that I've had it since my weight first exceeded 360 lbs (because it disappeared at around that weight), so that's been at least 14 years.
When I had the sleep study done, it found that I was having 90 periods of apnea per hour. Like you, I asked the doctor, "wouldn't I wake up and notice?" and he said that I was waking up, but it was so brief that I wasn't waking up enough to remember in the morning.
Being overweight can cause sleep apnea, but it can happen to thin and underweight people too. My sleep apnea disappeared (determined by another sleep study) after losing only about 40 lbs. I do tend to gain weight last and lose weight first in my head and neck, and for my weight have a relatively small double chin, so I think it's a matter of literally the fat that was in my neck/throat area.
Because the health consequences can be very severe (and don't necessarily take a decade to develop), I would beg you to go see your doctor. Take the tape of your snoring with you.
If they do order a sleep study, they'll tell you to wear what you're most comfortable sleeping in, and bring your own pillow or whatever you think will help you sleep better. Sometimes the room is a standard hospital room, but often it's made to look more like a nice home or motel bedroom. They'll stick little sensors to your head, and body. I thought I didn't sleep a wink, but I slept enough for them to get the data.
My husband snores when he's lying on his back.
Is yours in any certain position??
Could just be sinus problems. Are you feeling any sinus symptoms?
Best wishes
Just asked my hubby and he said it doesn't matter what position i'm in, it doesn't help. And one of the big reasons I didn't believe him at first, was my throat never felt sore and my sinuses felt fine. I was always under the assumption that if you snored, that either your throat or your sinuses would hurt the next day....
I was always under the assumption that if you snored, that either your throat or your sinuses would hurt the next day....
Often sleep apnea is symptom-free until it starts to cause secondary health problems. That's why it's so dangerous, it can go undetected and untreated for years.
I have sinus issues, but they were allergy-related, not related to the apnea or the snoring. My husband snores very severely (I strongly suspect he has sleep apnea, but while he encouraged me to get treated, he refuses saying there's no way he'd ever be able to get used to the CPAP machine. It frustrates me, because I don't want him to be putting his health at such severe risk, but there's nothing I can do to prevent him from being stupid).
If anyone would suffer pain in the morning from snoring, it would be him (yikes, it's loud enough to wake the dead), but he doesn't. No sore throat or sinus pressure.
Alright, I am going to make a doctor's appointment right now! I'm a bit scared but I'm glad you guys talked me into getting checked out. I made it for wednesday the 15th. I will let ya know how it goes! Thanks for all your info and advice! Big help! 's to all
Sleep Apnea??????
Scared, but thankful!
