ENT disorders causing sleep apnea?

Hello,

I started CPAP for severe sleep apnea a few days ago. It appears to be working, but I’ve had chronic subtle symptoms of “ears nose throat” problems that I probably should have mentioned to my doctor.

Obviously I’ve arranged an appointment now to discuss with my doctor, but I was wondering if anyone has heard of this. My throat has signs of chronic inflammation when observed, which could possibly be due to post nasal drip, nasal polyps etc. I have a constant cough, find it hard to breathe at times and my tonsils (including the ones at the back of my tongue) are slightly enlarged, which has been a problem for years.

I read online that enlarged tonsils can cause sleep apnea. I’m a male in my 20s that is not overweight. Have you heard of these symptoms being associated to sleep apnea? I know I’m asking non doctors but I was curious to know some info before my doctor appointment.

In the meantime, I’ve been having issues with getting used to CPAP with nasal pillows due to the mouth breathing and other symptoms, but it appears to be slowly working because my AHI has been going down to 1.

Thanks!

Corrections: I just got the updated results of my last nights sleep and AHI was 2.6

It is quite common for untreated apnea to contribute to ENT disorders.
Apnea is most often a result of anatomy--internal things that cannot be dieted or cut away.
Cpap is the gold standard of treatment.
Go with that.
You might be surprised.
Many of us have observed this truth.

Chronic inflammation in any part of your body is not a good thing, so I'm glad you're getting checked out by an ENT.

Anything that constricts your airway could contribute to sleep apnea, and enlarged tonsils could fill the bill. Whether removing them would get rid of the apnea is another question, and you'd need a post-healing-from-surgery sleep test find out for sure.

It's good to hear you're already making progress getting used to CPAP, and your results sound excellent. Here's a long disquisition on mouth breathing; maybe there's something in there that might help. Oh, and when you have a chance, could you fill out your profile with information about your machine and mask? That way it'll be there whenever people read your posts. Disquisition:

1. Tongue position. Try putting the tip of your tongue behind your upper front teeth. Then position the main part of your tongue up against your upper palate. Finally, give a little suck or swallow to create a bit of suction. You should now be able to open your mouth while breathing entirely through your nose. Practice this during the day, and see if you can get it grooved in deeply enough to help while you are asleep at night. For some people, this is really all it takes to avoid mouth leaks.

2. Collar. If your jaw tends to drop down during the night, pulling your mouth open, then a soft cervical collar, or a firmer snore collar, can be a big boon.

3. Tape. Some people (including me) rely on tape to keep the lips from opening. (I can't rely entirely on the tongue thing.) When the lips open, all too often that eventually leads to a noisy and disruptive mouth leak. To see whether tape would be feasible for you, I recommend that you invest in a box of Somnifix strips. They are very gentle on the skin but hold very well. Be sure to curl your lips inward per instructions before placing the strip. If these work for you, then you can experiment with lower-cost options.

Note about tape: Some people avoid it, for two reasons. (1) If you suddenly need to vomit in the night, the tape could lead to your aspirating some vomitus, which would be bad. However, you can sacrifice one strip to see for yourself how well you can pull you mouth open in an emergency using only your jaw muscles. (2) If there is a power failure and your machine goes off while you're sleeping, you won't be able to do the natural thing and open your mouth to breathe. As for that, out of an abundance of caution, I've put a circuit alarm in a plug on the same circuit as my machine. It will wake me up immediately if I lose power to the machine.

Wow thanks for the help guys, I appreciate your kindness and support.

dbebz wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 17, 2020 9:55 pm

Wow thanks for the help guys, I appreciate your kindness and support.

miss e excels at both!