Stevef

My apnea has worsened lately (not using CPAP at the moment). Very soon after I fall asleep, I wake up snoring, like “exhaling a snore”. This can happen many times, for hours on end, until I eventually am so exhausted that I fall asleep and stay asleep for a few hours. Has anyone else had this experience?

Hi all,

I will summarise my situation in bullet points.

• I suffer from OSA, which has worsened over the past few years, as I have gained more weight.
• I had an in-hospital sleep study done 3 years ago, however that night (Murphy's Law) I had the best sleep of my life, and the test therefore only showed an AHI of 12, whereby previous in-home sleep studies showed between 32 and 36. I believe it is way more now.
• I tried to onboard onto an APAP machine, however could not get used to it.
• I have 3 problems:
• "Usual" OSA, which also causes loud snoring and disturbance of my wife, even when I lie on my side.
• Sleep onset apnea. Although not officially diagnosed, I have trouble falling asleep (been persisting on an off for 5 years) whereby as I am about to transition from an awake state to an asleep state, I stop breathing, and have to wake up to breathe, therefore being alert, and having to start the whole sleep transition process over again. This is really torturous, can persist for hours, and can usually only be address by taking a sleeping pill. It is unknown as to whether this is an obstructive problem or a central problem. When I was onboarding onto the APAP, the machine did not help at all with this problem.
• Staying asleep. Until recently, once asleep, I only used to wake up once or twice to use the bathroom, and then was able to return to sleep fairly easily. Lately however, I have difficulty returning to sleep, and it seems to be related to point 2, however it feels more obstructive now. In other words, as I am able to transition from an awake state to an asleep state, I end up choking, and then have to breathe and become alert again, and restart the sleep transition process again. This also keeps recurring, often for hours.

I consulted a sleep specialist here, and he advised that I should try the machine again, which I am willing to do, but concerned that it will not address all of my problems. I also am starting to diet and exercise to lose weight.

Would appreciate any thoughts, or sharing of experiences that may assist.

Thanks, Steve

Hi Joe,

I suffer from exactly the same problem. I have consulted 3 sleep specialists and they have never heard of this. Very frustrating. Have you had any progress?