Constantly wake up due to apnea

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?

Strongly advise you start using a CPAP. I have had months of what you experience, including dreadful nightmares, when my husband has to wake me several times each night. I've been using the CPAP for just two weeks with life-changing results! So much more energy - I now feel like a "normal" person during the day. Occasionally I switch off the machine to try and sleep naturally, but I go straight back into the gasping snoring and nightmares.

I have an oral device not the CPAP. Before I got the oral device I felt like I did not sleep at all. I would lie in bed for hours trying to sleep. I realize now, that as soon as I would start to fall asleep my apnea would wake me up. I tried a CPAP at the sleep lab and had no luck. It is a long story but a failure. No one even suggested the oral device. Finally, months later, the sleep doc said I could try a sleep dentist. I have slept every night since I got my device. It is heaven! I still snore or so my SnoreLab app records and probably have some apneas but for me just being able to sleep is awesome. I should probably go back to the sleep lab for an evaluation soon just to check things out.

I would urge you to use cpap or preferably apap if you have one, it truly is life changing if not life saving amd of course completely drug free. My story is somewhat similar :- I took early retirement from full time work because my Consultant recommended it after diagnosing diaphragm spasms whilst attempting to fall asleep and he thought that my work as an accountant was stressful enough to cause this - I awoke with a start gasping dozens/hundreds of times every night. This I would add was in the 1980's and my doctor was a Chest Consultant, this was a long time before sleep apnea was even heard of in the U.K. When the very first sleep clinic opened in Leicester England I went for a private sleep study in a tiny broom cupboard room and wore a special vest with electric cables sewn in designed by the first sleep doctor, the clinic was within a university teaching hospital. Although he was able to show me the next morning how many incidents I had experienced and for how long his only suggestion was to take anti-depressants to help me fall asleep quicker. Anyway, nothing helped despite many other sleep studies in various NHS hospitals until I went to Harley Street in London in 2006 and was diagnosed with O.S.A. and equipped accordingly, I took to cpap (apap actually) really well and most problems are managed well. Recently however the diaphragm spasms have returned on trying to get to sleep, not many but they are frightening because you literally wait awake for the next one. That's the story - I take Valium for muscle twitching and I know this is often recommended for diaphragm spasms but probably not with cpap. I say this because obviously Valium is a muscle relaxant and this could cause the apap machine to increase pressure to compensate. In the same vein I have always suffered from fairly bad insomnia and have talked to both my GP and sleep doctor about this and they said try sleeping tablets (Nitrazepam) and see if they do any good but I am not filled with confidence because it is patently obvious that after twelve years of cpap I know a lot more than the sleep doctor does who refers me for everything to his nurse and my own GP does not even know what O.S.A. is. I would be interested to hear from anyone who hgas tried sleeping tablets whilst using cpap and did it help? Thanks. Eric

I would highly suggest giving cpap another go. If too high of a pressure is an issue there is always bipap as well which will help with that. Like any medical device it takes getting used to. Some people take months to fully acclimate. But it is very important to treat the respiratory issues you are having because they cause a lot of damage internally from the low oxygen and strain on the heart. Exhaustion is minimal compared to the damage it is doing internally over time. Sleeping pills will only exaggerate sleep apnea. If cpap is just 100% not an option for you than at least try an oral appliance. They are usually only used for mild sleep apnea but if it is all you can tolerate than it is better than nothing. I am a sleep technologist so I deal with it with patients on a daily basis. Usually after using it for so long they go from hating it to never wanting to be without it. Hope your journey to better sleep is around the corner.