Snoring, sleep apnoea, not overweight. Any suggestions?

[WarmSummerEvenings]

My boyfriend has chronic insomnia. He claims that he lies in bed for hours without sleeping and rarely gets more than 3 hours a night when he eventually does sleep.

However, I know from sleeping with him that he does fall asleep but he will sleep for 5 mins before snoring, stopping breathing and waking himself up. This goes on for hours.

He doesn't snore badly - its occasional and not loud enough to wake me if I'm already asleep and he's not overweight.

He does smoke and occasionally has a drink before bed but only one or two.

Is this enough to cause it?

There are different types of sleep apnea. He needs a referral to a sleep clinic to be tested to see what the problem is.

He needs to get sleep studies done.

There isn't any real cause for sleep apnoea - anyone can get it. My ex husband ( slim, a smoker) has it severely and has to wear a mask to bed. My best friend ( slim, never smoked, fitness fanatic) also has it severely and wears a mask to bed. Hers was picked up on her Fitbit and her doctor said it was the worst case he'd ever seen.

He needs to talk to a GP and get referred for a sleep study. It would help a lot if you both filled in a diary for a week or two with times, observations etc.

Sleep apnoea is really dangerous untreated, so he needs to see a GP next week and start to get it sorted

He should also stop driving, sorry.

Could be enlarged tonsils or adenoids?

Thanks for the responses. His GP wasnt hugely helpful the last time he went. He was prescribed a short course of sleeping tablets for the insomnia but told that wouldnt be repeated so he hasn't been back. Nothing else was suggested but this has been going on for years apparently.

I'd just accepted the 'insomnia' until I spent more time with him and realised that he is falling asleep but its interrupted. He finally drops off in the early hours but then his quality of sleep is still quite poor and he is never fully rested. Think I might need to encourage him back to the GP. Thanks.

Oh and no, it's not adenoids or tonsils.

Also, whenever I've looked into sleep apnoea, it is characterised by a lack of breathing for 10 seconds or more. He never goes anywhere near this long- usually only 2 or 3 at most but it's enough to disturb his sleep. Would this still be considered SA?

He needs to take a sleep diary and insist on a referral.

They test for SA - they won’t just go on what you or he think he’s doing, there’s equipment you can use at home that they lend you.

You can’t really fully tell what’s going on when someone is asleep - that’s why he needs sleep studies etc so they can take some readings.

unfortunately GPs often lack any training on sleep and it can take a bit of pushing to get referred

My DH has incredibly bad OSA - they cut his sleep study short as it was so severe. But its been like that no matter his weight, and he still stopped breathing when he was underweight.
Your boyfriend needs to go to the GP (with you ideally) and ask for a referral to a sleep unit (not a head and neck surgeon) for assessment

It might be worth him trying the sleepio site/app?

Alcohol before bed is not good. I am being tested because of huge tonsils but I have been on the sleep website and taken advice which includes stopping all alcohol before sleep.

It doesn’t need to be osa to make him tired he could have central sleep apnea. He doesn’t have to stop driving unless he sleepy behind the wheel or the GP stops him. Please get him referred rather than guessing as life is too short to be chronically sleep deprived.

Mine's bad but because I've been on my CPAP for years I have very few snoring events and only have intermittent apnoea attacks. However when I had a general anaesthetic my larynx collapsed.

@SnowyMouse

It might be worth him trying the sleepio site/app?

If he is stopping breathing he really just needs to be referred.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. They've been really helpful. I'm going to talk to him about it today.