Well, here I am. It’s around 4 am and my husband’s snoring has once again driven me out of our bed. I’ve Googled and looked at various remedies - nothing too helpful there.
Every night we go throught the same thing. He starts snoring as soon as he falls asleep and the volume increases as the night wears on. I usually nudge him multiple times every night with my foot - heck, multiple times every hour. Neither one of us gets good sleep, except for on the weekends when he sleeps on the sofa or living room floor to give us both a break.
Every day after work he takes a two hour or so nap. Right now my work schedule is light, but it used to be really miserable when I had to get up early every morning - my sleep really suffered. As it is now I can sometimes sleep in to catch up and get a little rest. A few nights ago his snoring was so loud that I could hear it clearly from downstairs, with the bedroom door about a foot ajar. I had to go upstairs and poke him; it was the loudest I’ve ever heard it. The noise travelled down the stairs, through the living room and into the family room where I was watching TV. Quite a distance, actually.
I’m making him a doctor’s appointment. I can’t take it anymore. Home remedies, everyone? We’ve tried nose strips, throat spray, and lots of nudging. He isn’t overweight, maybe a tad out of shape but not overwhelmingly so.
This issue is complicted by the fact that I am very sensitive to noise around me. My husband is so used to that (and nice enough about it) that he automatically reaches for the remote when I enter a room to lower the volume. It may be just a tad loud, but usually is well within the normal range. Same with the car radio; if it is even at a normal level I feel like a cat must when you rumple its fur… decidedly uncomfortable. That might, however, have more to do with the music then the noise level.
Sometimes even his heavy breathing is enough to wake me up (and keep me up.) It isn’t even a snore exactly, just heavy, slow breathing. Sometimes he tells me that he’s lying awake and will feel me nudge him. We’re not sure if I’m so conditioned to nudge him that I do it out of habit, or what the deal is with that.
I don’t really have a lot to offer except sympathy and a recommendation for good earplugs. I’m a bit of an insommniac anyway and my girlfriend snores like a sawmill with rocks in.
The disposable foam ones rated SNR 35+ (try for SNR 39) are pretty good and usually last a week or so each.
Yeah, you don’t necessarily have to be overweight to have sleep apnea. My only concern is how you would adjust to what ever device that they might give him (cpap, etc.) because even though there’s been a world of improvement over the years, they still aren’t silent.
My husband and I are pretty much the same way. I sleep on the couch. Between the fan and the snoring, I never get restful sleep. Also, I’m a TV sleeper and he’s not. It’s kind of a drag, but we’ve gotten used to it.
Heh. I do have earplugs - my husband brought me a set home from a few weeks ago. I actually only use one, in the ear that isn’t against my pillow. That does really help except for when I need to get up early. I don’t hear the alarm clock so well when I have an earplug in. It has helped me to stay asleep some nights, which is nice.
My husband is a TV sleeper and I’m a keep the light on and read until I fall asleep gal. I often leave the light on. Those issues aren’t so bad because he sets the sleep timer on the TV and my light is very low-watt so it doesn’t disturb him - he’s used to it. Sometimes I ask him to watch TV downstairs and he’ll either set up camp down there, lower the volume and put the captioning on, or turn it off when he’s done watching in a few minutes. He doesn’t usually care about the light, but will rarely ask me to turn it off.
We used to have a flat screen 42 inch in there and that was difficult to deal with. It was kind of big for a bedroom when you’re trying to fall asleep beause it was brighter, especially with the commercials. It’s downstairs now, so that works.
I sympathise wholeheartedly! 'im indoors snores, sometimes extremely loudly and sometimes less so, but almost every night now. I use foam earplugs and have found them quite effective - the problem I have is that I’m a very light sleeper so I wake up at the slightest noise. He’s the opposite, he has lots of trouble getting to sleep but once he’s asleep, virtually nothing disturbs him.
We’ve not found a ‘cure’ for his snoring but there are a few things we have found that help us cope with it. For starters, there’s my earplugs - if I’m asleep when he gets into bed and starts snoring, I am less likely to be disturbed by it.
Also, he was diagnosed with asthma by the doc and given inhalers - we think these alleviate the problem somewhat and although it might not stop the snoring, it’s less loud when he uses the inhalers.
We’ve also looked at the positions he sleeps in because in some instances he doesn’t snore if he lies on his side with his head at a particular angle, supported on his arm. Obviously it’s difficult to get him into that position, but at least we know there are some positions in which he doesn’t snore. I have to prod him to get him to roll over if he is sleeping on his back because that’s absolutely the worst!
Finally, we know that his snoring is worse when he’s had a drink so any night when we know we’re going to the pub or something, we sleep in separate rooms. It’s not ideal on the relationship front, but at least we can each get a few hours’ sleep.
Definitely get him checked out for sleep apnea. You definitely don’t have to be overweight to have it; most of my father’s side of the family are bad sleepers, with that as part of the problem, and most are thin. My machine isn’t very quiet, but it’s a thousand times better for my husband than my snoring, and it’s basically white noise: a constant quiet fan-like sound.
Besides, if he does have it, it’s not very good for his health.
If that’s not the problem… I hate to suggest it, as it would drive me crazy, but maybe have separate bedrooms.
I sympathize, too! I sleep through everything - earthquakes, kids playing, sirens, everything - but I just can’t sleep through his snoring. It’s guaranteed to wake me up. Making him sleep on his side helps, but honestly, I’d go the doctor if it’s that bad.
Earplugs, yes. Sleeping in separate rooms when you have to, yes.
I third (fourth?) the earplugs idea. I have some foam ones I got at the shooting range - they’re pretty fantastic. Even though I have sensitive ear canals, these don’t bother me. Also, if hearing the alarm is a problem, you might try one of those “simulated dawn” light-up style alarm clocks. Just a thought.
They do make watches with alarms that vibrate instead of beep. I’ve never seen them but I know someone who does, for when they wake up hours before their SO.
Ditto, ditto, ditto. I was recently diagnosed with SA and went on a CPAP machine. My health has improved and so has SWMBO’s because we are both sleeping better at night due to my not snoring like a warthog in heat any more.
My husband can snore as loud and as long as anyone I have ever heard! I thought for sure he had severe sleep apnea. We also tried everything before sending him to the Dr. It turned out that he did have mild sleep apnea. He uses an oral appliance instead of a C-pap machine. It works wonders!
So, a year after he got diagnosed, I had trouble sleeping. I never snored a lot, but increasingly more as my weight has gone up. And it has gone up a lot in the last 5 years since I had my son. Off to the sleep clinic I went. And UGH, I am the one with some major sleep apnea. Well OK, not major, but much worse than the hubby. So I have a C-pap machine now. It isn’t too noisy, but when I turn a certain way in bed and face my husband he gets a nice jet of air blowing on him. It can be pretty irritating for him.
It is also not very attractive, and can scare small children. Ask my son.
Good luck…I hope the Dr. has some ideas.
Remember to ask about Oral appliances if he does have sleep apnea, they are relatively new, and much more affordable and so much easier to use. It just looks like a retainer.
I snore and I now use a CPAP machine. It’s great. It makes a little noise but much less than snoring.
Oh the “I was awake” thing is something that snorers say. The thing is, his is in this half awake/asleep state. He can be snoring and not know it, thinking he is awake.
What color are they? I’ve been trying different foam brands, and differentiate them based on color… so far, the purple work best, though I have to get them in really deep.
These are AoSafe or AoSafety (don’t remember exactly). They are a light neon green, very slightly tapered and rounded on the end you put in your ear. NRR of 33 (the highest possible for in-ear protection).
When my husband told me that my snoring had gotten louder, more frequent and really annoying, I went to the doc. Found out that my deviated septum was the problem. I had 2 surgeries to fix it (and other issues in the nose) and my snoring has gotten much better. I also have a large uvula (hangy down thing in the back of the throat, which the ENT guy says is also causing some of the trouble.
After the 2nd surgery, I also developed a Silent Reflux problem, which makes me snore again. If I minimize the caffeine, red wine, and food within 2 hours of bedtime, the snoring is all but gone. There are just some days, I WANT MY RED WINE, and deal with it.
I also take allergy meds, to keep the swelling down in the nose, so I can breath better, without the noise.
If you’re interested in the oral appliance, dentists can provide them. I learned about them in a round-about way. I grind by teeth at night, which wears out the teeth and bunches up my jaw muscles so that the teeth don’t align well. I also snore, or at least I did.
After I got the CPAP, my teeth seemed to line up better. I noticed that the mask was pressing against my lower teeth and pressing my jaw back. It was a nice relief.
When I mentioned it to my dentist, who has seen me through several crowns and a couple of bite guards due to the grinding. He said, “great, that’s just what our snoring appliances do.” I had never thought to mention snoring to my dentist.
When I menioned the dental appliance/mask thing to my kids, they said “yeah, we don’t hear you snoring any more.” So I guess the CPAP mask is acting as an oral appliance.
Which means that it’s a good thing that I can’t breathe through my nose at night. During the second sleep study, the one where you wear the CPAP to prove that it will fix your desaturating, I was first fitted with the new and popular nose mask. But I couldn’t get enough air through my nose once I laid down. So we switched.
Good for me. Hope you have good luck fixing your snoring problem.
My husband has sleep apnoea so badly that CPAP and surgery are both useless options. He’s basically deformed. Sleep studies showed he stops breathing eight times a minute. After sixteen sleepless years we bought a memory foam topper* and the snoring stopped. It stopped.
*toppers are a lot cheaper than a mattress and just as effective.
As soon as I figured out that my cell phone has an alarm (which virtually all cell phones do) I realized that my problem (earplugs making me miss the alarm) was solved – I set the cell phone alarm on vibrate and put it in my pillowcase. Perfect! And you don’t have to spend a million dollars for alarms for the deaf, etc.
