Regular snoring versus sleep apnea

This is something I've tried figuring out. What's the difference between just regular snoring and sleep apnea. I'm trying to figure this part of whether it is sleep apnea or something else causing the sleep disturbances that I have. According to cessation of breathing as one obvious sign. In my own records in effort to find out with my phone, for 2-3 hours, I haven't noticed any cessations, only clear snores. I know this is crude and doesn't compare to a real test( I had a home test and it came out negative, but i'm not sure if it was false negative, some doctors say that home tests aren't good for detecting mild sleep apnea ). But doesn't it give you a hint as to whether you have the condition or not. The snoring i have sounds like regular one. I do have an oximeter. But i'm not sure it records consistently and accurately.

I have tried to get people’s opinion on this very subject and on this forum. I hope you have better luck than I did. People will tell you that snoring is a precursor to apnea. WOW! Snoring is real bad for you. It gave my gerd. A tech at our sleep lab told me that they can see you O2 level decrease when you are snoring.

If you tell us what brand and model oximeter you have, we can tell you if it can record your overnight saturation level and help you interpret the results.

tiredandscared wrote:This is something I've tried figuring out. What's the difference between just regular snoring and sleep apnea.

it's quite simple.

snoring is not apnea, apnea is NOT BREATHING, you can't NOT BREATH while snoring.

now, you can have snores in between apneas. the two frequently go hand in hand, but not always.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gie2dhqP2c

bwexler wrote:If you tell us what brand and model oximeter you have, we can tell you if it can record your overnight saturation level and help you interpret the results.

tried to get it working , lots of good advice. No dice, tried pretty much everything to get the software working. It was a contex with a recording ability.

According to our PSG's, I snore louder than my dainty spouse.

Snoring is not an apnea ... but it sure can mess up your sleep... every time I snored. my wife would kick me ... and that sure messes with you sleep pattern

tiredandscared who is active on this thread lives in Sweden where the time zone is 6 hours ahead of NY.

avi123 wrote:tiredandscared who is active on this thread lives in Sweden where the time zone is 6 hours ahead of NY.

so what?

avi123 wrote:tiredandscared who is active on this thread lives in Sweden where the time zone is 6 hours ahead of NY.

And you avi live in lala land...where time doesn't matter.

palerider wrote:

avi123 wrote:tiredandscared who is active on this thread lives in Sweden where the time zone is 6 hours ahead of NY.

so what?

Maybe they snore differently in Sweden?

postitnote wrote:

palerider wrote:

avi123 wrote:tiredandscared who is active on this thread lives in Sweden where the time zone is 6 hours ahead of NY.

so what?

Maybe they snore differently in Sweden?

well, presumably, they snore earlier in Sweden

When snoring you are getting less air. That should be obvious to everyone. If you snore heavily over a long period of time....it's dangerous....say 10 years. Also snoring can mean that you never reach all sleep stages and stay there long enough. So snoring should not be ignored by the professionals....unfortunately it too often is. If you call it flow limitations....then a lot of people get interested.

I still snore if I am dead tired and fall asleep sitting up without my mask. Even before CPAP I used to snore heavily and my wife would kick me. Funny thing, is I used to fall asleep all the time at family events and would actually wake myself up when I started to snore. I would look up and see the glare of my wife across the room. Only place it was safe to sleep in public was in the back of a noisy jet where nobody could hear anything anyway.

Nowadays, at night with the machine, I rarely ever snore unless I have some congestion and even then it is fairly light. I suspect anything you do hear would be more likely a mask leak instead.

Falling asleep during family events, work boring meetings and driving any distances doesn't happen any more, well... some family members can put anyone to sleep.

Regular snoring easily stops when you move position. Apnea snoring often does not go away with position movement.