Experiences of sleep apnea

[Bemyclementine]

Im pretty sure I have obstructive sleep apnea.

I snore, badly. This has increased a lot recently. I have regained some weight lost last year. Pretty sure the snoring reduced significantly when I lost weight so obviously thats a priority. I wake up with a dry mouth snd a fat tongue. I don't have a partner so no ideaif Im gasping/stopping breathing, I haven't noticed that I am. Im tired.

Im just looking for others experiences of anything else thats helped. I see pillows suggested, mouthguard type devices that pull your lower jaw forward a bit.

Anything that anyone has found that helps.

Same here.

@Bemyclementine you need to see your GP and ask to get a sleep study done. Obstructive sleep apnoea is high risk for high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, heart attack and stroke. It can affect your ability to drive safely and ability to operate machinery.

We don't know whether DH's stroke was cause by sleep apnoea or his stroke caused the sleep apnoea. His sleep study showed that he had 50 non breathing episodes an hour and the consultant said it was the worst he had ever seen.
He doesn't know why DH has it and thinks it is neurological as he is really skinny.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sleep-apnoea/

Sleep apnoea should ALWAYS be taken seriously.

Honestly, get a referral from GP to a sleep clinic. If you have sleep apnea a CPAP machine will be life changing.

The pillow has arrived, I would be delighted if it helps even a little bit.

Fingers crossed 🤞 It took me several days but now I feel it supports my head and neck in a position that helps.

Interesting observation...I was drinking too much wine. I have stopped,no wine at all, and I am now waking up multiple times a night (previously slept through) and feel like maybe the wine sleep was masking the snoring/waking.

Didnt notice a change last night with the pillow but early days.

I do have a cold of some sort which isnt helping but have also noticed I am waking with a very dry mouth and fat tongue

@theturtleswims no noticable difference with the pilliw, sad to say. I did though buy the ring. First night last night and these results seem fine to me?

So maybe it is "just" snoring, or very mild sleep apnea?

That's such a shame about the pillow. I really see a difference with mine now, but I suppose we're all different. Your ring results look good though. And interesting, because my apnea is also at its worst in the morning shortly before I wake up, as yours was.
But those results are way better than mine, and my apnea is apparently mild to moderate. And only moderate when on my back. I was told they only treat moderate or worse. I'm sorry I don't have any other suggestions for you. Or me! Mine has also been considerably worse since I put weight on so I'm trying to work on that, but it's not going well so far. I just wish I could tolerate CPAP treatment as I get considerably less sleep with it than I do without it, yet I feel I have to "comply". It really isn't always the magic bullet some think it is.

Interesting experiences here. I went private for my diagnosis and was shocked that my results showed I had stopped breathing or partially stopped breathing 83 times. If I remember correctly, 5 incidents is normal and anything over 30 is severe. I haven't got the machine because my insurance covered the diagnosis but not the hardware and the recommended one they were going to provide was £1,000 + but I have new job so new insurance which covers the hardware and not the diagnosis so will go back.

As already mentioned, I am overweight though and I have started losing weight and whilst I still snore it has got better, though far from where it needs to be. I do fall asleep in the day, even in a a busy cafe which is what prompted me to go and get checked as it was impacted day to day life.

Good luck OP. I am going to check out these pillow.

Thanks so much for your reply. I have really been quite worried about this, having not realised just how bad it is.

Im pleased the ring results look ok. And I actually like the pillow so will persevere with it. I am committed to losing some weight too and I know that will help

Nowto decide whether to try a mouth guard! I have seen one with good reviews, which appears to help straight away.

I have been making little notes in my ring app. E.g. I have 1 soft pillow and my apnea is always way worse when I use it - but it's my 'headache pillow' which I use when in bed with a headache because it's really comfortable. I'm perhaps going to need to rethink that! But I only realised because of the app. I think mine is also different depending on how tired I am when I go to bed. If you keep using your ring, you might be able to find patterns that help you identify things that make it better or worse. Knowledge is power, and all that 😁. It will be interesting to see the difference if you get a mouth guard. But good luck with it, and I hope you find things that help.