One Patient’s Story—SNORING—Part 1

The doctor said I could die after he found out that I snored.   It was just another routine physical, but it was the first time a doctor had asked me about my snoring.  He said I might not make it to my next birthday if I didn’t get it treated.

It devastated my wife and me!!  I had snored as a kid.  As a young adult, I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) but it was left untreated because I didn’t feel it was that important.  What a stupid thing to do.  Here I was assuming that I knew more that the doctor and that I knew what to do—nothing.  I suppose some of the reason I didn’t seek treatment was that it was going to cost me some money.  Of course, if it was new tires for my car so that I wouldn’t have an accident and get killed, I would come up with the money right away!

When I got married, my new wife told me that I sounded like a chainsaw at night!  It was causing frequent arguments because we were both short on sleep due to the snoring.  But my snoring just didn’t have an “off” switch.  Finally, we started sleeping in separate rooms—a practice that snoring causes about 50% of couples to do!  But we called it a “temporary solution” while I looked for ways to stop the snoring.

I tried mouth guards, chin straps, throat sprays, CPAP (which I was intolerant to), online devices, tongue devices, and even nasal surgery without results.  Our sex life suffered, of course, and to make things worse, my medical bills were climbing.  Talk about stress!

And then it happened.  I got a friend request on Facebook from a high school buddy named Joe.  It turns out that Joe had become a doctor and had specialized in sleeping disorders.  I immediately thought that he might be able to help me since I thought that snoring might qualify as a sleep disorder.  I “friended” him right away!

Since Joe lived local, I got together with him for coffee.  He thought it was to rekindle our high school relationship, but I had a different motive—how could I stop the snoring??!!

Next week we will see what Dr. Joe had to say–

Remember, snoring/OSA are treatable.  Make an appointment for a free consultation to discuss your questions and see the treatment options that are available as well as how you can find out if your snoring is an indication that you have OSA.  Call our office at 208-667-4551.