An illustrative story

[serinde]

Me: *zzzt* *snork* . o O ( goddammit, 7am, I had better get up )
audiovile: *zzzzt* *snork*
Me: *poke* Um, Steve, shouldn't you be up?
Him: I'm working from home today. I'm exhausted and I barely slept.
Me: I, and my own exhaustion from being unable to fall asleep due to your snoring, beg to differ.
Him: ... really?

Formerly, Steve only really snored when he had a cold or a severe allergy attack. However, in the past oh, 4-6 months, it's pretty much every night; and not just some heavy breathin', but the kind of loud snerking honks that make me think hardly any air is getting into his system. And this in spite of the fact that he's been on Allegra since March or so (which he says is making a difference for him during the day, at least). Is this that sleep apnea thing of which dire tales tell? I'm getting somewhat worried, not to mention tired of my choices of a) tossing & turning half the night with a pillow over my head or b) crawling into a bed at the top of the house...WHERE I CAN STILL HEAR HIM.

Comments

[naudia.livejournal.com]

I think there is a little bit of apnea in there..You can tell because sometimes the noise stops all together for a little while, but this train like snoring is more likely due to his terribly narrow sinuses and open mouthed approach to sleeping. Not sure why the change though. We could try the breath right strips??

[marietta-sca.livejournal.com]

Has he called his doctor? He should go in for an overnight sleep study.
If he is exhausted and thinks he barely slept, then whatever it is could be a danger to him and others, if he has to go out and drive after a night of restless sleep.
He should call his doctor... today.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

Happily he doesn't drive to work (and I do almost all of our local driving), so that's not much of a worry; but yes, I'm encouraging him to make an appointment forthwith.

[lillilah]

I can't speak on sleep apnea, but I've noticed that those 24 hour medications don't tend to go for the whole 24 hours. If he doesn't want to do the whole elaborate overnight testing thing, perhaps he could get two twelve hour pills instead of one 24 hour one.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

He actually started taking it in the evenings after the first couple weeks, because he was hoping the worst of the sleepiness side effect would then hit when he, well, should be sleeping. :) So I presume the antihistamine action would be in full swing, too...

[lillilah]

Yeah, it sounds like you are right about the antihistamine effects. Allegra made me totally nervous. Is there any chance that it is screwing with his sleep? I'm guessing no if he had sleepiness side effects, but I thought I'd ask.

[nancaurelia.livejournal.com]

I vote for a doctor's visit too. Sleep apnea can be dangerous, and if nothing else, you want to rule it out.

[naudia.livejournal.com]

Conversation with snore boy reveals that he hasn't been taking ANY of the allergy medication.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

Snuh? He told me last week he was taking the Allegra again.