I did a sleep study last night. I failed. Then again, I knew I would. I have snored for years. Decades. When I spoke to the doctor a couple of weeks ago he had a list of questions. I said yes to almost all of them.

Questions like:
Do I want to take a nap after lunch? (Really who doesn't?)
Do I fall asleep watching tv? (I said it depends on the show.)
Do I get sleepy while driving on long trips? (Every time. Scared the heck out of my wife. I was trying to be the man and take on the burden of driving. She has never been impressed about it.)
Do I fall asleep when I am a passenger on a trip over an hour? (I really try not to but I nod off a few times. My wife complained that she and her sister went to Tennessee for their grandmother's funeral. Her sister slept the whole trip and my wife had to do the driving. I try not to do the same thing.)
Do I want to sleep during a meeting or at the movies? (I said that is two different things. Meetings, of course. A good engaging movie, no. She didn't ask but I have been known to sleep during baseball games too.)

20 years ago I had a sleep over for my son's scouting camping trip. Two years in a row I got second lace for the loudest snorer. I was actually louder but not as regular. My son loved it but even then I knew it was not a good thing. Over Christmas I was at my son's place. When I got up in the middle of the night I heard my daughter in law's cousin snoring in the next bed room. It was so loud I was sure the wall was falling when I first heard him. I decided if I am anything like that, I have a real problem.

This morning I had to complete a survey. How many times did I think I woke up? How long did I think I slept? Did I get a better night's sleep? Things like that. At the bottom there was a place to add any comments. I wrote that it would be nice if they recommended that men shave their chest hair. It was the worst part of the whole experience. I felt like I was Robin Williams. It hurt so much that I removed the 4 from my chest but forgot to get the two off my side. SOUVENIRS!

The reason for this post is to tell you, if anyone has expressed concern over your snoring, get it checked out. Speak to your primary physician. In a simplified explanation, you are swallowing your tongue and the body is trying to wake you up. Over time you get used to the nudges the body sends you and it is harder and harder to wake up and open your air way.

I am sure Nonstopdrivel has a better explanation and I yield to him.

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I have the same problem. But I figure I wake up 10 to 15 times a night to pee anyway.🤪 So I'm awake anyway.

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Thanks goodness you got tested wpr. My first job after University was working at a sleep disorder clinic and saw many sleep apnea patients. Depending how bad you have it, it can be quite frightening. I once had a patient stop breathing for almost two minutes. His blood oxygen level went down to levels where alarms were going off and then his heart would just race as he jerked back awake.

I have a few buddies with CPAP machines to treat their sleep apnea and it will really help you once you get used to it. Your energy levels and sleep quality will get better. Many lose weight as well as they have more energy to do things.

Good luck

I have been dealing with sleep apnea for almost 30 years.
I'm on my third cpap machine.
It's difficult getting used to the air being forced down your throat every night but I do sleep better with the machine.
Cleaning it was always a pain but now I have a SoClean machine that cleans it daily for me.

I've been diagnosed with sleep apnea, less than a year ago, as I kept getting so tired after lunch, I felt like I was brain dead, and couldn't seriously concentrate for more than 10 minutes.

I agree that they did a down right horrible job of letting you know what to expect before the sleep study. I wasn't expecting so many wires

At first the machine was down right horrible, but that was due to two issues.

1) I tried to go with the nose pillows... and those absolutely don't work for me. And I was waking up needing to air burp and wasn't getting any sleep, I needed a full mask as I guess I'm a mouth breather when sleeping and when coming in via the nose it would go down the stomach pipe instead of the lungs pipe.

2) Because with untreated sleep apnea it's worse when you sleep on your back (gravity puts more pressure on your pipes while sleeping), I got used to sleeping on my side/stomach and side of my face in the pillow. Well, with the full mask, it's harder to keep it sealed when your face is up against something, so I've had to slowly learn to sleep on my back which was so unnatural since that position is so hard to sleep without the machine.


Though I still need to make other life habit changes and it's a life struggle.

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It's interesting to see everyone's experiences. When I was young I slept on my back. After years of my wife rolling me over (or at least trying to.) I started sleeping my my side.
With apnea I always felt like I was going to choke if I was on my back. I felt as if the muscles around my trachea were relaxing causing it to collapse.
I suspect I will move off my side to my back again. I won't mind it because both hips hurt by morning. I think it's bursitis but it is not diagnosed. I suppose I could spend thousands of dollars on a fancy mattress but one thing at a time.

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