Husband Snores A Lot - but no apneas

[Jersey Girl]

Dear Friends,

I sent my husband to the sleep doctor for a sleep study. He snores sooooo Loud! Can you hear him EVERY night like I do? It wakes me up all hours of the night. Well, he doesn't have sleep apnea; he just snores really loud so, the doctor said no mask for him. He will just keep on waking me. He wears a denture, so I don't know if a dental appliance will work for him. The denture comes out a night and then he snores on and off all night long.

I finally got my machine, but even with the pleasant white noise of my cpap, and earplugs, nothing wipes out the sound of his very loud snoring.

Help! Any thoughts?

Jersey Girl

[dtsm]

Dear Friends,
Help! Any thoughts?

Are you sure you want suggestions?

[BlackSpinner]

I sent my husband to the sleep doctor for a sleep study. He snores sooooo Loud! Can you hear him EVERY night like I do? It wakes me up all hours of the night. Well, he doesn't have sleep apnea; he just snores really loud so, the doctor said no mask for him. He will just keep on waking me. He wears a denture, so I don't know if a dental appliance will work for him. The denture comes out a night and then he snores on and off all night long.

I am really surprised at the doc. I have a friend with the same problem and he got a machine and mask in order to keep the health of the relationship going. The snoring IS a problem if it is keeping YOU awake.

[fiberfan]

Did they look for Respiratory Effort Related Arousals (RERAs)? I don't think the cats minded my snoring but the RERAs were clearly messing up sleep quality.

[Gerald]

Jersey Girl.......

My money is on the bet that your husband has been mis-diagnosed.....and that his blood O2 saturation levels are below 93% while sleeping.

The best way to know for sure is to purchase or borrow a recording oximeter....and convince him to wear it for (10) nights. Gather the data from (10) nights.....and you'll know if he's "OK" or not.

Gerald

[Huffer]

I can't afford Resmed shares so maybe I'll invent a human muffler. I have a wife that could give it a good test run. It's kind of strange that she only snores for about half an hour right after going to sleep, and then thats it. So all I have to do is wait it out and I'm good to go.

[Jersey Girl]

Dear Friends,

Here's the scoop from his sleep study (I told him to ask for a copy of the summary report):

He was monitored for 383.8 minutes and slept for 310 minutes, resulting in a sleep efficiency of 80.8%. Latency to sleep onset was 23.5 min. REM latency from sleep onset was 86 minutes.

Stage N1 9.2% AROUSAL STATS: 180 AROUSALS: 16 respiratory, 12 PLM, 66 spontaneous,
Stage N2 70.6% 86 RERA/UAR arousals with a REA index of 19.7. The RERA/UAR Index is 16.6
Stage N3 5.5%
REM 14.7%

RESPIRATORY DATA:
A total of 17 respiratory events were observed during the analysis period as follows: 2 obstructive apneas, 1 central apneas, 14 hypopneas.

The apnea/hypopnea index was 3.3/hr sleep.

The AHI was 1.3 during REM sleep and 5.9 in supine position.

The lowest oxygen saturation recorded was 91.0.

Snoring: Light to VERY LOUD.

IMPRESSIONS: Uppr Airway Resistance syndrome.

The nurse pratitioner said that based on this the insurance company will recommend a dental appliance, which I think is stupid since he has dentures.

[Jersey Girl]

Oh, I left out one more thing from my husband's sleep study:

Patient's snoring was light to VERY LOUD with occasional CRESCENDO pattern.

You know, the snoring gets louder, and louder, and louder....

And yes, dtsm, if something isn't done soon, I will absolutely have to resort to other less healthy methods!

HELP!

Jersey Girl

[fiberfan]

My RERA index was less than your husband's but the cpap is clearly making a difference. My doc's only concern was that my insurance might not cover cpap for RERAs. The doc estimated $1000 for a machine out of pocket and it took me just a few seconds to decide that I didn't care if my insurance covered the cpap and be grateful I already had my tax refund and that it was enough to pay for my machine.

[magicland]

Sorry to be a bit OT, but who did he ask for a copy of the summary report, the sleep lab, or your doctor? I've recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea (moderate, managed to get a prescription for a CPAP, pressure of 10), but I've got no idea of what the results of my sleep study actually were. I'd like to get this information so I can compare it against the results of my therapy, but I don't know which of the two to ask for it.

[Jersey Girl]

Dear Magicland,

My husband and I both asked the Nurse Practitioner at my sleep doctor's office for the report summary. I wanted to review it so that I could become more knowledgeable. They didn't mind copying the reports for us at all.

Regards,

Jersey Girl

[Sleeprider]

I think you need to give the appliance a fair trial. The results you posted don't meet the criteria for sleep apnea in spite of some signs of mild apnea. This is really not comparable to dentures as it is designed to move the jaw and throat structures in a way to reduce the occlusions that lead to snoring. As your husband ages, this condition should be monitored because it could develop into sleep apnea very easily.

[JohnBFisher]

... I think you need to give the appliance a fair trial. ...

The point is that the since her husband has dentures, he is probably not a good candidate for a dental appliance which essentially uses the teeth to help hold the lower jaw in a more forward position.

However, I am *not* a dentist. A dentist might note that a dental appliance shaped to the jawline may work instead of dentures. So, I would rely on the sleep doctor and a dentist to sort that one out.

... Sorry to be a bit OT, but who did he ask for a copy of the summary report, the sleep lab, or your doctor? ...

Either should provide it to you. If you live in the US you are entitled via the federa HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) law to anything from your medical record (though you might have to pay to have it copied). Though you can ask for the full sleep study, the summary is normally all you need.

Hope that helps

[DoriC]

JerseyGirl, hope you get this sorted out quickly, you need your sleep, but I've found that if my husband occasionally naps without his cpap and he's NOT wearing his denture he snores like crazy and of course if he has any events I wake him right up. He doesn't snore at all if he happens to nap with his denture in place and rarely has an apnea at that time. He only naps for an hour/day. He's changed his daily routine and sleeps with his denture at night to prevent leaks with his FF mask. BTW, I can hear him snoring down here in Ocean County! Good luck.