Alright ladies. Someone please share the secret with me. I need to know how to stop my husband from snoring.
The snoring is not simply heavy breathing. Its wall vibrating, ground shaking, rumbling type of snoring. To make matters worse, he suffers from sleep apnea which causes him to stop breathing and then he kind of snorts to start up again. Its a very jarring noise that will wake even the heaviest of sleepers. Is it possible for me to fix his snoring? These are a few of the ideas that I have tried.
Make him go for testing
After searching online for “cures for snoring” I came across “sleep apnea”. Turns out sleep apnea is when a person repeatedly stops breathing and starts breathing throughout the night, which was exactly what my husband was doing. With heavy protest, I sent him in to get tested. He needed to be monitored overnight, so they could test his breathing patterns.
He DID have sleep apnea! Dr. Google works!
They prescribed him a CPAP machine. This machine which would push air into his airway all night so he could get a better sleep. It consisted of a mask that he strapped to his face, over his nose and mouth which would keep air flowing. This would cure his snoring as well as give him a very restful sleep. Or so I thought.
I woke up on the first night to a terrible thunder storm. The high winds and thunder were so loud that I could hear it throughout the house. Well, that’s what I thought – until I looked over at my husband. Thunderous snoring as usual, but what happened to the miracle machine? The CPAP mask was now sitting on his cheek. The air blowing from the machine was making a strange whooshing sound that sounded like high winds. I tried to put it back on him which he swatted off his face. He tried this method for weeks but looked more and more tired as the weeks went on. He was not getting a good night sleep. Eventually he stopped using it. For others, I have heard this was the best thing they had ever done.
Tennis ball in the PJ’s
This one made me laugh. My doctor told me to try this. She said one of her patients had sewn a tennis ball in the back of the shirt of her husband’s pajamas. That forced him to sleep on his side at night. Whenever he rolled over, the tennis ball got in the way which forced him to roll back on his side. I laughed and told her that my husband does not wear pajamas to sleep. She laughed and told me that her patients’ husband was in his eighties so I had an option to look forward to later.
Breathe Right strips
I had really hoped this one was going to work. I went to Walmart and picked up a box of these strips. These little strips would pull the nostrils open so that the person can have a clear pathway to breathe. Therefore reducing the need to snore. I put one on him and he went to sleep. Seemed to be working. Problem is, my husband touches his face a lot when he sleeps. This was the main problem with the CPAP machine, and this was also the problem with the Breathe Right strips. These little strips are quite sticky so I thought for sure this would be okay. Unfortunately, I found it in my hair the next morning. Searching for these little strips the following morning was a chore. These only worked until he pulled them off in the middle of the night.
Sleep in a different room
Yes, are you wondering why you have to move? Why am I the one sleeping on the couch? He’s the one with the noise problem AND he gets to sleep in the comfortable bed too? Doesn’t seem fair. At some point, this option was the best one short of smothering him with the pillow.
Yeah, it also doesn’t work. I can still hear his snoring from ANY room in the house. Maybe I will try the garage next. The car might be comfortable…
Help! How do you handle it? What else can I do?
I’m so tired…
