MY DH stops breathing when he is asleep...suggestions for what this is?

[Pavlovthecat]

Over the last few weeks I have noticed that at night time my DH will stop breathing for about 20 seconds or so, completely, then start breathing suddenly, usually snoring quite badly with it. Over the last few days, it has happened, possibly twice a night, that I am aware of.

He usually snores anyway, and this is getting worse, but he does have a cold and a bunged up nose right now so think this is why its getting worse.

I am a bit worried about the not breathing though. Is it common? Is there a reason for it? Can he do anything about it? Is it dangerous for him?

DH didn't suffer from what he viewed as excessive tiredness - 7 hours was fine for him, never fell asleep during the day etc.

When he went onto CPAP, he realised that actually he only really needed 6 hours sleep, and that he felt totally different in the morning. Hes now really full of energy in a way I have never seen him before.

When he first went to the sleep clinic, a bloke came out of the consultants room, sat down to wait for his next appointment to be made, and fell asleep within 10 seconds. Now that was excessively sleepy !

OSA increases your chance of having a heart attack or stroke because it can cause very high blood pressure at night due to the adrenalin released to restart breathing. There was a big study published recently on this.

cmotdibbler - it makes a lot of sense actually, what you are saying.

DH i not his best in the mornings, and whilst he is not tired, he has little motivation to for example exercise or do anything energetic, gets physically tired more easily than me.

Its a catch 22 situation isnt it? He is a little oerweight, and wants to address it, but less energy to do things make it harder to do the things he needs to do.

We have had a good chat generally about his weight, which he brought up, and led, and as of now, well next week as we are only just back from USA, we will be swimming twice a week and going for a good long walk on the moors once a week, and he is going to try to walk either to work or back again (which is half hour).

I have been anxious about him addressing his weight as concerned about blood pressure/cholesterol/strokes - and this sleep trouble has just made it even more appropriate to address his health now, he is only 34 so plenty of time to get himself in shape!

I hope DH never needs less sleep though, as he comes to bed later than me as it is!!! He used to need less, was not unusual when we first met for him to come to bed at 2am and still function perfectly, now we have DD, thats no longer possible!

Zippi - did you do anything about it?

yep, DH's consultant was telling him last week that it is really typical that you just can't loose the weight, even with the best will in the world until the OSA is dealt with.

When we had DS, and had really interupted sleep, that was what got DH to go to sort it out. That and the fact that I was going mad trying to get back to sleep with him snoring !

ol! I often roll DH over when he is asleep. He also has this annoying habit pf putting his hand under his head when he sleeps, and this makes his snoring worse!!!! It drives him nuts too as I often have to get him to roll over or move his hand. He thinks I am just a fussy sleeper....which I am too!

thanks for advice. I hope he will listen to me.

Sounds like classic obstructive sleep apnoea.

It tends to occur mostly in men who are overweight. It can be made a lot worse by smoking and alcohol consumption too.

In the first instance, as well as seeing his GP, he would be advised to lose weight and cut down on the fags! All of this tends to be a lot more 'curative' than CPAP!

Does he have daytime symptoms? Drowsiness? Poor concentration?

If he tends to sleep on his back, sew a tennis ball into the back of his pyjamas, so that he's forced to sleep on his front!