Loud Mouth Breathing

I record my sleep every night on snorelab.

My breathing sounds quite awful. But it is loud mouth breathing. It is very rare that I snore. Rather it is loud and uneven sounding mouth breathing.

Is this likely to be sleep apnea? When I look at sleep apnea stuff or listen to sleep apnea videos its always loud snoring. Never just loud mouth breathing;

I did a sleep study test and it showed no sleep apnea, AHIs of 4 per hour came under the limit. Although I am skeptical as to the accuracy.

I did a sleep study test and it showed no sleep apnea, AHIs of 4 per hour came under the limit. Although I am skeptical as to the accuracy.

Why are you skeptical? Did they measure your oxygen levels as part of the sleep study?

Mouth breathing can be apnea (i.e. air hunger) or it could be nasal congestion. Have you tried steps to clear out your nose so you can breathe with your mouth closed (suggest neti pot or Neil med nasal lavage rather than antihistamines) and see how you do?

Janknitz wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:32 pm

I did a sleep study test and it showed no sleep apnea, AHIs of 4 per hour came under the limit. Although I am skeptical as to the accuracy.

Why are you skeptical? Did they measure your oxygen levels as part of the sleep study?

Mouth breathing can be apnea (i.e. air hunger) or it could be nasal congestion. Have you tried steps to clear out your nose so you can breathe with your mouth closed (suggest neti pot or Neil med nasal lavage rather than antihistamines) and see how you do?

I definitely have nasal congestion. Blocked nose every single night. I have deviated septum and englarged turbinates also from that. Have tried antihistamines and neil made, everything under the sun. Scheduled for septoplasty. Just wondering whether the deviated septum is really my sleeping problem or if its sleep apnea.

Im skeptical of the study as I feel like I didnt sleep a lot that night so it might have diluted my AHI'ss over more hours than I actually slept. Im not sure about oxygen levels. Is that what they normally measure?

Im skeptical of the study as I feel like I didnt sleep a lot that night so it might have diluted my AHI'ss over more hours than I actually slept. Im not sure about oxygen levels. Is that what they normally measure?
Top

They measure many things, including oxygen levels, blood pressure, etc. and if you are all wired up they can see the stages of sleep. Ask for a full copy of the report (not just the summary) as it may have some useful information.

Look up RERA's (respiratory effort related arousals) "It is a breathing disorder characterized by obstructive upper airway airflow reduction (which does not meet the criteria of apnea or hypopnea), associated with increased respiratory effort that resolves with the appearance of arousals (RERAs)." A CPAP can sometimes help with RERA's even if your AHI is low.

If your deviated septum is responsible,
perhaps you should consult with an ENT about possible correction.
Nose breathing is way healthier than mouth breathing.
You might like it.

sleepcrapnea wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 12:32 pm

I did a sleep study test

Is that a home study? In which case, there are no EEG leads, so the study results do not know how long you were sleeping and how long you are awake. Will you post the summary of the report in this thread? Redact identifiers such as your name, doctor and facility.

sleepcrapnea wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:35 pm

I definitely have nasal congestion. Blocked nose every single night. I have deviated septum and englarged turbinates also from that. Have tried antihistamines and neil made, everything under the sun. Scheduled for septoplasty. Just wondering whether the deviated septum is really my sleeping problem or if its sleep apnea.

Please be more specific about the scheduled surgery. It sounds like, in addition to correction of the deviated septum, you may need turbinate reduction.

Janknitz wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:42 pm

They measure many things, including oxygen levels, blood pressure, etc. and if you are all wired up they can see the stages of sleep. Ask for a full copy of the report (not just the summary) as it may have some useful information.

Look up RERA's (respiratory effort related arousals) "It is a breathing disorder characterized by obstructive upper airway airflow reduction (which does not meet the criteria of apnea or hypopnea), associated with increased respiratory effort that resolves with the appearance of arousals (RERAs)." A CPAP can sometimes help with RERA's even if your AHI is low.

Interesting about RERAs. I just looked that up. Maybe that is what I have.

I will have to see what other information I can discover about my sleep test

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 06, 2021 10:03 am

If your deviated septum is responsible,
perhaps you should consult with an ENT about possible correction.
Nose breathing is way healthier than mouth breathing.
You might like it.

I am scheduled for surgery next month

I wish I could breathe through my nose at night. I feel like my sleep would be much better and I would not wake up so often

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 06, 2021 10:16 am

Is that a home study? In which case, there are no EEG leads, so the study results do not know how long you were sleeping and how long you are awake. Will you post the summary of the report in this thread? Redact identifiers such as your name, doctor and facility.

Please be more specific about the scheduled surgery. It sounds like, in addition to correction of the deviated septum, you may need turbinate reduction.

Yep its an at home study. I will see what I can find for it.

The surgery is for both septoplasty and turbinate reduction. The deviated septum has caused turbinate enlargement as well.

sleepcrapnea wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 07, 2021 1:12 pm

The surgery is for both septoplasty and turbinate reduction. The deviated septum has caused turbinate enlargement as well.

Good luck with the surgery. Gramps had that done years ago, and he still says it was one of the best things he ever did for himself.

Has your ENT discussed with you his evaluation of your airway (in addition to what he is doing for your nasal passages)? The size of your tonsils and adenoids? The shape of your palate? Whether this anatomy makes you at risk for one of the forms of sleep-disordered breathing?

Do you have scalloping on the sides of your tongue? Do you have 28 to 32 straight, uncrowded teeth? Have you had braces?

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 07, 2021 4:52 pm

Good luck with the surgery. Gramps had that done years ago, and he still says it was one of the best things he ever did for himself.

Has your ENT discussed with you his evaluation of your airway (in addition to what he is doing for your nasal passages)? The size of your tonsils and adenoids? The shape of your palate? Whether this anatomy makes you at risk for one of the forms of sleep-disordered breathing?

Do you have scalloping on the sides of your tongue? Do you have 28 to 32 straight, uncrowded teeth? Have you had braces?

Thanks thats great to hear!

No I didnt really go into that level of detail with the ENT. I went and said that I have sleeping issues at night time and my nose is blocked at night and it causes me to wake up. ENT did a CT scan as well as stuck a camera up my nose and said there are lots of issues going on with it. Said septum very deviated, turbinates enlarged and there is sinusitis up the top of my nose. He recommended the surgery.

I dont have scalloping on the sides of my tongue. I have all my teeth. There is some crowding in the bottom row middle teeth. I have never had braces.

sleepcrapnea wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 08, 2021 12:44 am

I dont have scalloping on the sides of my tongue. I have all my teeth. There is some crowding in the bottom row middle teeth. I have never had braces.

It would be great if the surgery resolves your sleep-breathing issues. Avoiding back-sleeping may also help.

sleepcrapnea wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:35 pm

Janknitz wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:32 pm

I did a sleep study test and it showed no sleep apnea, AHIs of 4 per hour came under the limit. Although I am skeptical as to the accuracy.

Why are you skeptical? Did they measure your oxygen levels as part of the sleep study?

Mouth breathing can be apnea (i.e. air hunger) or it could be nasal congestion. Have you tried steps to clear out your nose so you can breathe with your mouth closed (suggest neti pot or Neil med nasal lavage rather than antihistamines) and see how you do?

I definitely have nasal congestion. Blocked nose every single night. I have deviated septum and englarged turbinates also from that. Have tried antihistamines and neil made, everything under the sun. Scheduled for septoplasty. Just wondering whether the deviated septum is really my sleeping problem or if its sleep apnea.

Im skeptical of the study as I feel like I didnt sleep a lot that night so it might have diluted my AHI'ss over more hours than I actually slept. Im not sure about oxygen levels. Is that what they normally measure?

I recently sought help for nasal congestion from an ENT doctor. The cause is a deviated septum. He recommended to use a nasal wash solution called Alkalol (https://www.alkalolcompany.com/our-products/) which is sold at CVS. Of course another option would be surgery.

He created his own procedure for the Alkalol. The package instructions involve using an included plastic device to lavage the nasal passage. Instead, he says to use a refillable container from an aerosol spray saline product (discard the original product conetnts) and fill with 100% Alkalol. Then spray in affected nostril(s) at minimum 4 times/day.

I have to say that the Alkalol really does work to open up the nasal passage. I am on CPAP and was recently struggling with getting adequate air from the machine through a nasal mask. Since using the Alkakol my nasal flow is far better and performance of the CPAP is markedly improved.

Had been using a hypertonic saline solution (Ayer) for several years, and just prior to Alkalol a product called Xlear (which was only slightly better than saline). In fact, I threw out the remaining solution of Xlear and filled the spray glass container with the Alkalol.