Sleep - snoring & shoulder/neck pain

[Dag]

I don't drink often, and when I do it makes me tired.

Me too. So I go to bed and two hours later I'm wide awake. And I have a headache.

[Charlie Davies]

I sleep best if I follow all the standard "sleep hygiene" advice:
* no alcohol w/in a couple hours of bedtime
* no caffeine after noon
* no heavy exercise w/in a couple hours of bedtime
* cold bedroom
* quiet bedroom, or white noise
* pitch-black bedroom (tape over all those fucking LEDs)
* don't look at TV/computer/phone or sit in brightly lit room w/in an hour of bedtime

[broseph]

To alleviate shoulder pain from side-sleeping:

Place a pillow under your armpit, and a bigger pillow (or 2 pillows) under your head. This is called an axillary roll and is designed to keep pressure off the shoulder.



A sleep study might be worth the trouble as well. As my bodyweight went from 175 to 220 my snoring got worse and worse, even with side lying sleep. Turns out I was having around 50 apnea/hypopnea events per hour. That's 400 times in an 8 hour night. Since the onset and severity is gradual, you don't really realize how exhausted you are. And you blame your morning headaches on your pillow, or lifting, or caffeine.... Turns out it's just because you haven't actually slept in years.

CPAP is annoying as fuck. But the benefits FAR outweigh the cost for me.

[Dave Lamb]

If CPAP is not your cup of tea, you should look into a TAP appliance. Find a dentist that is experienced with sleep appliances. Here is a good starting point: Patient

I am a dentist and use a TAP appliance. It is a game changer.

[God of Thunder]

I have CPAP, don't have sleep apnea any more. Sometimes it would be nice to sleep without mask, but when I nap on sofa for instance, I'm snorting myself awake straight away.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MattBraunstein]

Good idea to get checked for sleep apnea. However, snoring doesn't always mean you have it. A dental device only works if you apnea is caused by the tongue falling back closing the airway. CPAP works no matter what the reason, which is why it is the gold standard treatment.

It sounds like you have some reflux, based on having a stomach ache when lying on your right side and the fact that you have the head of your bed elevated. For this reason, you should sleep on your left side, if possible. But you will probably end up rolling around throughout the night anyway. There is a pillow called called or by medcline that allows you to sleep elevated on your side. It's expensive, but it supposedly works great for reflux, with some benefits for apnea. I tried it, but didn't work for me. My arm is long and it would shove my shoulder up. Plus I still slid down some on it.

I think you just have to try some things. They make pillows that you can move the stuffing around to make it as thick or thin as you want. Maybe you could experiment with that. Also, maybe your wife could wear earplugs?

[Aaron Montgomery]

She's tried earplugs, but apparently my snoring wakes the dead. I wonder if it's at all related to post-nasal drip from allergies, or increased neck size, and not just weight gain in general.

If my wife can fall asleep before I start snoring, she usually sleeps fine. So I've been falling asleep on my side, but end up moving around throughout the night anyways.

[Dag]

She's tried earplugs, but apparently my snoring wakes the dead. I wonder if it's at all related to post-nasal drip from allergies, or increased neck size, and not just weight gain in general.

If my wife can fall asleep before I start snoring, she usually sleeps fine. So I've been falling asleep on my side, but end up moving around throughout the night anyways.

My snoring used to wake my wife up...when I fell asleep on the couch and she in the bedroom...with the door closed. Going from 240 to 220 made it much better.

[broseph]

I have CPAP, don't have sleep apnea any more. Sometimes it would be nice to sleep without mask, but when I nap on sofa for instance, I'm snorting myself awake straight away.

Yeah, I try naps without it sometimes and end up choking on my own soft tissues right away.

She's tried earplugs, but apparently my snoring wakes the dead. I wonder if it's at all related to post-nasal drip from allergies, or increased neck size, and not just weight gain in general.

If my wife can fall asleep before I start snoring, she usually sleeps fine. So I've been falling asleep on my side, but end up moving around throughout the night anyways.

I think the post nasal drip causes some inflammation in your throat. Inflammation=swelling=smaller airway=more snoring/obstructing

[Dave Lamb]

A dental device only works if you apnea is caused by the tongue falling back closing the airway.

I don't agree. A TAP appliance works by advancing the mandible relative to the maxilla. This not only holds the tongue in an anterior position, but it keeps the soft palate and uvula forward because the palatoglussus muscle attaches the soft palate to the tongue. The soft palate has tension on it when the tongue is pulled forward. Gnome sayin