Un-ZZZZZ Me

December 2, 2015 6:54 AM

You-Are-Not-My-Sleep-Medicine-Specialist-filter: how can I best control my snoring, both in the short- and long-term? What was previously a "cute" little rasp has evolved into a cacophony that necessitates separate bedrooms, and we are desperate. More under the fold.

I'll make this as brief as possible. You are not my doctor, I have a doctor, I am calling the doctor as soon as I finish typing. HOWEVER, my doctor very much lets ME chart the course of my treatment, and I need to know where to steer this overly-loud little boat. The facts:

- Several years ago, my snoring was minor to nonexistent.
- Within the past two years, it has gotten REALLY LOUD, every night.
- This occurs no matter what position I sleep in; I am typically a stomach sleeper.
- This occurs no matter which bed I'm in (has occurred on multiple continents!).
- I have been at the same weight (+/- roughly 20 lbs.) during this time.
- I am chubby but not gargantuan.
- I do have sporadic heartburn.
- I did a SNAP test (at at-home apnea test that measures pulse ox, dB of snoring, chest movement, and a few other things). It apparently recorded NO instances of apnea.
- I have been tested for allergies and do not have them.
- Breathe Right strips and nasal sprays (e.g. Flonase) don't help.
- My tonsils have been examined and are tiny.
- My Epworth Sleepiness Scale score is very low.
- However, I rarely wake up feeling FULLY rested.
- Hard to explain, but: if I am awake and relaxed, my breathing feels vaguely "snore"-y at all times... e.g., I can feel some phlegmy-ness and/or soft palate movement, and it would be VERY easy for me to replicate the sound of snoring just by breathing particularly-deeply.

Let me know if there's any other info that would be helpful. I'm on the phone with my ENT right at this very second, but any ideas and/or anecdata would be extremely appreciated.

posted by julthumbscrew to Health & Fitness (18 answers total)

Anecdata: I stopped snoring when I lost weight.

+/- 20lbs is a significant range, so I would start there.
posted by SpacemanRed at 7:02 AM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

Does a decongestant help - the real pseudoephedrine stuff that requires showing ID to the pharmacist?

Separate from the decongestant, have you tried sleeping with a mattress wedge or other incline so you're not completely flat (probably not going to work on your stomach though)?
posted by Lyn Never at 7:05 AM on December 2, 2015

Try a Sleep Angel device that is soft fabric to bold your jaw closed. Or sleep with a pillow you hug, and keep under your chin to hold it closed. Sleep on your side. Sometimes you can put on five pounds, and it goes to the inside of your throat. Imagine that, a board certfied neurologist told me that. But you can do abdominal curls, mini situps that just barely work the rectus abdominus. With your hands behind your head, but not supporting your head, you work the front of the throat. If you do fifty of these, each morning, exhaling on exertion, it also strengthens your breathing, it may mitigate throat relaxation and collapse that results in snoring. The range of motion of the rectus abdominus is small, your head may come off the floor eight or nine inches.
posted by Oyéah at 7:13 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

ENT is the first place to go, but if they don't find something, I'd go back to the sleep doctor for an in-lab sleep study. Mild sleep apnea and Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS) do not typically show up on the home sleep test.

If you do a re-test in a lab, make sure it's a lab that looks for UARS as not all of them do. My understanding is that UARS patients tend to have lower ESS scores than apnea patients but still have other significant symptoms (like waking up feeling crappy and poorly rested).

Also, have you tried sinus rinses (e.g. NeilMed)?
posted by pie ninja at 7:14 AM on December 2, 2015 [10 favorites]

Seconding real pseudoephedrine if congestion is part of the problem, although it can keep you awake and is not a long-term solution.

I had sinus surgery seven or eight years ago (deviated septum, chronic sinus infections caused by poor drainage, etc.) and a nice side effect was a reduction in my occasional snoring.
posted by bassomatic at 7:17 AM on December 2, 2015

I have severe sleep apnea. I didn't register on the Epworth sleepiness scale, but I did suffer from intractable insomnia, major depression, and lack of motivation. A home sleep test was inconclusive, but I lobbied hard for an in-lab sleep test and that, more sensitive, test showed that I had bad apnea. I stopped breathing something like 65 times an hour! My pulmonologist said "oh my! You have SEVERE sleep apnea!" when he saw the results.

One CPAP machine with heated humidifier later, and I'm a whole new woman. All the antidepressants and mood stabilizers I used to take? No more! I was not depressed or suffering from bipolar (!), I was just EXHAUSTED!

Please, try your hardest to get a prescription for an in-lab sleep test, as that can diagnose things that the home tests miss. I have a friend who has UARS (upper airway resistance syndrome), and she, too, had to go to a lab to get that diagnosed. She snored bad (husband complained) and never felt rested. She has a CPAP and feels so much better.

In the meantime, nthing pseudoephedrine. And make sure your sheets, pillows, and mattress are pristinely clean (sheets) and covered with allergy-proof covers (mattress and pillows). If your pillows are old, try getting new ones, and then popping them into the allergy-proof covers. Get a HEPA air purifier for your room, and banish any pets to the living room for the night. This might help reduce your symptoms until you can get a sleep test.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:24 AM on December 2, 2015 [17 favorites]

My experience is that if I am more than 170lbs, I have sleep apnea and snore more. Once I get below that threshold, the problem stops. I agree that the +/- 20 lbs could be the cause.
posted by jillithd at 7:38 AM on December 2, 2015

One more thing to check... your thyroid. When I was having snoring issues, it turned out to be due to an enlarged thyroid. I thought it was sinus, and went to an ENT. He's the one who noticed my thyroid. I also agree that your ENT is the first stop.
posted by kimdog at 7:52 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

my partner was prescribed a sleep check (night at the clinic) just yesterday, by a neurologist. i don't really understand why, but sleeping too much and snoring came into it somewhere, and she said "could be hormones". so that might be an alternative route (it sounds odd to me too, but there you go).

also, 20lb really is quite a bit. i know i may be making you feel uncomfortable, but if you're at the upper end of that, it could be contributing. sorry.
posted by andrewcooke at 7:58 AM on December 2, 2015

Have you tried a humidifier? In the case of Mr. Too-Ticky, it makes all the difference. Plus, it's an easy and cheap thing to try.
posted by Too-Ticky at 8:24 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

The only thing that ever caused or ameliorated my snoring was changing my weight. Not even that much, about 10 pounds, but that was significant. The Snores start to show up around 200 and are more or less nonexistant at 190. By the books, 175 is my ideal BMI-associated weight, but I've almost always been above that.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 8:31 AM on December 2, 2015

Yeah I agree to get an in-lab test because that seems like a pretty severe shift.

That said, my husband's snoring did get a bit better after losing about 20 lbs. He also isn't/wasn't "fat". He's also super phlegmy (I love him, but it's gross). In addition to the medical side, try an antihistamine, sinus rinse, drinking enough water - especially before bed - and avoiding things that can coat your throat before bed (milk, sugars, etc.) Also maybe evaluate your pillow situation and see if that can be improved in terms of position.
posted by Crystalinne at 1:34 PM on December 2, 2015

Best answer: You could try Provent patches. It's counter intuitive at first because we are always told to keep our mouths closed when we sleep, but I have much better sleep and only have mild apnea. And yes, get a proper sleep test done. Women are less likely to have apnea events than men but even a few in a night's sleep is an interference.
posted by honey-barbara at 1:53 PM on December 2, 2015

Cleansing the sinus cavities of built up mucus may provide some relief. It's a very gentle therapy, and nearly universally beneficial, so there's very little reason not to try. Neti pot with warm water and some type of mix to make the water saline, twice a day, every day. You can use fine ground himalayan (pink) salt, or one of the premeasured and packaged options from the drug store. Twice a day seems like a lot at first! It's easiest to include it as part of your toothbrushing routine.
posted by peterpete at 3:08 PM on December 2, 2015

Hard to explain, but: if I am awake and relaxed, my breathing feels vaguely "snore"-y at all times... e.g., I can feel some phlegmy-ness and/or soft palate movement, and it would be VERY easy for me to replicate the sound of snoring just by breathing particularly-deeply.

This can be due to inflammation of the tissues closing up your sinuses. This can occur as an allergic reaction or due to other systemic issues. The occasional heartburn may be related. I changed my diet to drastically reduce acidity of my tissues in order to control the inflammation my medical condition causes. I have a lot less inflammation closing up my sinuses these days. I used to snore fairly badly due to respiratory issues. That has improved as my health has improved.

But, also, treating for allergies may help. I have only ever been officially diagnosed as allergic to one thing (ragweed) but I react pretty badly to a whole slew of other things. You might try OTC allergy meds as well. Mild allergic reactions really cause my sinuses to start closing up badly.

Try cleaning your sleep area like it is spring cleaning time. Wash all bedding, dust like crazy, etc. Keeping my sleep space crazy clean helps and everyone I have suggested this to who acted on it was surprised at the difference it made.
posted by Michele in California at 4:37 PM on December 2, 2015

Playing the digeridoo has been shown to improve sleep outcomes related to snoring and apnea. Also singing.
posted by gubenuj at 8:00 PM on December 2, 2015

I forgot this too, an exercise. If you make a flat ah not ahhh, you can make the back of your throat close with it. That sound is an effective exercise for strengthening the throat closure. You can do a hundred of them and get some strength at the area of closure. You don't actually make the sound you, make the muscle contraction that would make the sound.
posted by Oyéah at 9:04 PM on December 2, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks, everybody - just wanted to provide an update. I will be attempting to lose some weight to see if that helps (story of my life, alas), but in the interim, I found an annoying yet effective solution. I ordered some Theravent strips off of Amazon. The little bastards REALLY AND TRULY WORK (assuming you are not a mouth-breather and can tolerate them). They are irritating and hard to get used to, but once you do, NO MORE SNORES. It's like night and day, noise-wise (I think I feel bit better-rested, too). If anyone has any questions about them, hit me up via MeMail - they are far from perfect and there IS a learning curve.
posted by julthumbscrew at 6:09 PM on December 14, 2015 [1 favorite]