Husband snoring every night Post Reply

[FLH03]

My husband snores really really badly, every night, and I mean every night, whether he is lying on his back, front, side, whether he has had loads or a few drinks, or nothing, whether he is tired or not, or has a cold or is in perfect health. He was quite overweight but has lost a stone in the last half year, and has got much fitter over the last two years, and it hasn't made any difference. The snoring noises he makes are not consistent (light snoring/grunts/wheezing, extremely loud snoring) so it is not even a sound I can just get used to. I don't want to wear ear plugs as I don't like the thought of not hearing the children or an alarm clock, and I don't find them comfortable. His legs also twitch - is that connected?

He is coming up for 50, is this just something that happens in middle age? Is there anything that can be done? I have a few friends who's husbands have had laser throat surgery because of bad snoring, and in each of those cases it did not work and the snoring resumed after a few months.

I have to try and be asleep before him, this puts me under pressure and has the opposite effect of keeping me awake and not relaxed. I am a normal sleeper, not particularly light, and he wakes me up with the racket he makes, if I have to get up for a child then I can't get back to sleep and it makes me tired and grumpy and cross at him. I nudge him, elbow him or even kick him, fully waking him, he stops for seconds then starts off again. I have to climb in with the children to get back to sleep, or have gone to the spare room. Again not ideal.

He doesn't seem bothered, and doesn't seem to want to do anything about it. I have recorded him and played it back, the children have told him what a racket he makes. His parents are terrible snorers, his father has sleep apnoea and wears an oxygen mask in bed at night - I don't really want him getting into this state if I can help him, and he clearly is not getting a good night's rest either. It has definitely got worse over the last 5 years.

I picked up a card at my GP's for a Snoring Clinic - has anyone tried this or have any suggestions.

Thanks

[safesound]

I know what you are going through and two years ago I gave in and moved into the spare room which has now become my room and I LOVE it. I love having my own space. It smells nice, it is clean and tidy and I can shut the door and do what I like in my space and I will NEVER give it up. the problem we have is if we go on holiday - 2 separate rooms is expensive!!

[Azalea]

I know I"m using ear plugs for 7 years! 3M yellow ones are the best

[Club Creche]

I am so following this thread!! very tired following the usual woken up by my husband going to bed later than me and quickly falling asleep. My night continues he sleeps and snores whilst I feel like putting a pillow over his head and try to get back to sleep. Have woken him, to try and roll him over and shut him up and he denies snoring and says he's been awake all along!! Alas no spare room as four children and two adults in our house. keep looking at the cheap and cheerful Holiday Inn Express ( maybe they do discounts for local mums with teething children and snoring husbands!)
Good luck dear ladies do let me know if any lightbulb moments occur!
Love Mel x

[supermaman]

My dad was the same. He was completely fine with snoring but my mum was getting very annoyed. He had a surgery whereby they removed the uvula at the back of the throat. He doesn't snore anymore. He was of similar age to your dad when he did it. His sleep is even better now as it turned out that he was a little bit in apnea when he was snoring.

[FLH03]

It is a real comfort to know you other ladies are going through this, lying there at night having murderous thoughts and kicking your other halves. Thank you for posting lovely sympathetic and helpful replies, I am left feeling slightly down knowing there is no perfect answer.

I feel increasingly resentful as the non-snorer that I should have to move out of my lovely bed, our spare room is just not so inviting. I know there are people who have awful medical complaints, but after having gone through getting up for babies and toddlers, and now being a bit older, I just want a good night's sleep! Husband is out tonight and I am really quite excited and looking forward to being asleep before him, which is crazy.

Of 3 people I know who "made" their partners have that laser op, they are all 3 back snoring, it had a small short term effect, but within 6 months to a year they were back at full grunting and snorting levels. Plus the recovery is very painful, (more so than childbirth apparently (according to the men, yeah right)) and so there was a lot of TLC needed. One of those husbands has now been permanently moved to the spare room.

There is an possible serious problem with sleep apnoea though, so I am going to get my husband to see his GP, his father had problems with his blood oxygen levels, which led to a period of very bad health, irregular heart pattern and breathlessness, and it was a vicious circle. But the thought of wearing an oxygen mask in bed at night in your fifties and sixties sounds terrible. Husband doesn't see it as an issue at all (I also get the "but I was awake" comment), so if he is not going to help me help him, then a spare room redesign is on the cards.

Do you think George Clooney snores?

[mommyg]

I sleep with BioEars earplugs - they're amazing and very comfy. Completely different to normal sponge earplugs. made from silicone which you shape to the outer ear instead of the ear canal. About £5 for 3 pairs at Boots. This lasts me a month.
I still have a baby monitor in my toddler's room. I can't hear every sound, but the earplugs let in just enough sound so that I know when she's awake. If I don't hear her, my husband let's me know!
My father in law also had the op a few years ago. Stopped the snoring for 2 weeks!

[TupeloHoney]

I have had this problem! My husband has, until very recently, been a TERRIBLE snorer, but because it doesn't bother him, he just didn't care very much. I am not a great sleeper myself, so if I was woken up by his snoring I'd find it almost impossible to go back to sleep. He was famous amongst his friends for his snoring, and on boys weekends away would have to pay for his own room because nobody would share with him

Anyway I recently put my foot down and told him enough was enough. I hounded him daily until he went to the pharmacist and was given throat spray and nasal strips. The nasal strips are useless, but the throat spray worked for a couple of weeks. When I noticed that he was starting to snore again, I sent him to the GP, who prescribed a nasal spray to use in conjunction with the throat spray. And hey presto, we have a snore free house! In fact, apparently it's ME keeping HIM awake now

[hotpinkwinkwink]

Hi Guys,

My name is Gary and my wife has asked me to reply, .

I'm 33, 6ft and 13stI, I'm fairly fit (going to the gym 3 times a week and play rugby) I have snored quite badly for a long time, and as my wonderful wife believes that if she is not getting a good night sleep, nobody is, and as we have just got married in May, so she would not let me sleep in the spare room, I had to get something done about it.

I tried sprays and strips, but to no avail. I went to the doctor who sent me to a specialist. He noticed my nasal passage was bent (probably from an rugby injury) it was only slightly bent and not that noticeable to look at. He sent me for a septal rinal plasty (basically breaking my nose again and re setting it).
This works for some people, but unfortunately not me.

I was then sent for a sleep study and was found that I had sleep apnea, I was stopping breathing 38 times per hour and having to wake myself up to catch my breath. I really thought that this just affected fatties, but that is not the case. I know have to sleep with a pressurised mask for the rest of my life.

It is quite an embarrassing thing to talk about and I know I used to get a bit grumpy when my wife talked to me about my snoring. But this could be because I wasn't getting much sleep anyway.

The stats are that 1 in 10 men have it.It puts a lot of pressure on your internal organs, heart and lungs etc. And can cause things like stroke, heart attack, but also things like depression and weight gain.

The mask is a pain in the ass to get use to, and I still find it hard to sleep the full night with it on, but it works 100%.

Sleep apnea is where the muscles in your airway collapse when you sleep, making breading like sucking through a floppy straw. The snore is caused by the huge effort trying to breath through this.

The symptoms are.
Loud snoring
Jumping while asleep
Having a dry mouth in the morning
getting up to wee allot
feeling tired the next morning
Feeling irritable.


I hope this helps.

[Ferrywind]

Thanks Gary- that's really helpful.
Do you mind me asking how you got involved in the sleep study? Do you ask for a referral at the GP?
My husband snores loudly every night - also has jumpy legs, and we've tried sprays and strips with no luck and want to make sure that we get somewhere with the GP...
Thank you

[hotpinkwinkwink]

Hi,

I was refereed from our GP to the ear, noes and throat section in Charing cross hospital and they refereed me from there. I went this route first because they hoped my wonky nose was the issue. I go to the green surgery in Twickenham and say a Chinese man doctor, he was good but I think he has moved to Feltham. A bit of advice here, if you use this practice don't get your husband to visit the two older female doctors, as they wont give a monkeys trump about this problem, and as it is a bit embarrassing if he gets a knock back now, he may find it hard to mention it later. There is another lovely female doctor there called Dr Bernard.

If you tell your GP that your husband snores loudly, is jumpy in his sleep and you suspect apnea and you would like to get it checked out, I'm sure they will. I was able to tell them, my wife notices I stop breathing while asleep (not for long, just about 6 - 10sec at a time).

[hotpinkwinkwink]

P.S One last thing.
When I was diagnosed with apnea and told I had to sleep with the mask, I was obviously a little annoyed. I asked what sort of operations I could have, but was told the operations were a waste of time. and the mask was the only way to stop snoring. I have private medical, so it wasn't a case of being fobbed off.

[jasbro]

For your own sanity until this is sorted try earplugs. I use foam earplugs made by Quies (from the chemist), and I will still be woken by my children crying in the other room and would definitely hear my alarm go off, but they dull the snoring enough to make it possible to get off to sleep.
For years I could not bear to wear earplugs as I thought I would not hear my children, but having worn them through the last year and a half including after the birth of my baby last year I must say they have improved my quality of life immeasurably. As mums we are supertuned to wake at the sound of our children, and I really have never missed a cry that was loud enough to mean anything!