Snoring
 

Do any of yall snore now with your MG? I never used it, and when my symptoms seem worse I apparently snore, though lightly, ,at night. I am thin, so I don't have the normal body habitus of a sleep apnea person. I am pretty sure it's related to my neurological issue... I have continued to have good energy since the IVIG.. until the last few weeks, and I am waking up with very very mild headaches... Not sure if this is from my neck pain or a sleep apnea headache.. Anyhow.. it worries me..

Hi bny806!
Yep you have described me to a tee!! haha I was waking up with a headache too every morning. Went for a sleep study, which you should consider doing, and
I don't stop breathing but do have issues with oxygen intake. I have a CPAP machine now and am getting adjusted to using it.

Hope this helps! :hug:

I snore too, but I noticed that it isn't only when I sleep. If I lay on my back my tongue falls back towards my throat blocking my breathing. If I lay on my side it doesn't bother me as much.

I think the perfect thing for you to do is to see a sleep specialist and have a sleep apnea test! ;) Pulmonologists are sometimes trained as sleep specialists and it might be useful to find one for MG reasons too.

Wow, that's really showing a common prejudice! :cool: Body habitus is only one thing that can cause sleep apnea! And some people who are overweight don't even have it. AND skinny people can have sleep apnea too. There are things like a deviated septum or other anatomical obstructions that can cause it. There's also "central" sleep apnea which is caused by damage in the brain.

The problem is that you can't hear what you sound like when you're sleeping, which is another reason to have a sleep study. You can also ask that they check your O2 while sleeping, which some places don't do.

Do you tense up when you sleep? Some MGers do and are astonished why they are weaker after sleeping. Sleeping normally makes us relatively stronger. There are a lot of things that can cause a headache. Do you have a good pillow that supports your neck?

I hope you'll find a doctor to discuss this with. A lack of oxygen while you sleep is not a good thing!

Annie

Thank yall so much, I appreciate your help!

Singer- do you feel like it's your MG to blame?? (if your able to tell), are you feeling better from your cpap?

Quandry- I noticed the same.. when I lie on my side it's not as bad.. but an old shoulder injury makes it hard to lie on my side all night, i always end up on my most comfortable position - my back..

Annie - i didn't mean any offense as far as the body habitus goes.. from what I know being overweight makes people more at risk for sleep apnea, so I was simply stating that I didn't have that particular risk factor for sleep apnea. I'm not sure about the tensing up when I'm sleeping.. I have gone through periods of time when I clench my jaw, but otherwise not that I'm aware of.. I have, however, noticed that I tense up when I am sitting down.. almost all of the time.. But, I do feel almost 100% in the mornings.. and then as the day goes on, my body goes with it!

I'll call my dr about a sleep study.. have yall ever heard of the kind done from home? I bet it's hard to sleep at one of those sleep centers!!

Hi again! Yes it is from the MG my body works overtime to get the air I need when I am sleeping. They saw this at the sleep study I had and it wasn't too bad to sleep there. I did ok despite the cords etc they hook you up to. I live in Canada so that's how we do it here. The U.S. does do things a bit more progressive in some areas of medicine then we do. Hope you find your answers. MG is a journey of learning. :hug:

I noticed that after I fall asleep, my jaw falls open and since I am breathing through my mouth, I snore or I wake up with a very dry mouth. I think MG causes my jaw muscle to let loose. I've been bunching up my pillow under my chin. It really helps.

I've started snoring extremely badly in the last couple of years. If I were you, I'd have a sleep study done. My doctor said apnea can make MG symptoms and diabetes worse, in addition to making you feel more tired during the day.

I'm currently on BiPAP with settings of 18/14 (very high). I was told they can do a minor procedure to make breathing easier for me and lower the settings...I'm a bit reluctant, though.

I digress. You should definitely have the sleep study done.

thank yall so much! I gotta find a way to work the sleep study into my schedule...
backwardpain - I hear ya.. it was a "minor" procedure gone very wrong that kicked off all of my symptoms almost 2 years ago now.. no procedure is minor in my book!

Kim- yes I sleep with my mouth open all the time now.. ugh! When my symptoms are bad, I can't keep my jaw shut.. I look lovely! :)

From what I've read, when they first developed this minor prcedure, doctors didn't understand how important the nasal structure they were opening up was and cut too much of it off causing Open Nose Syndrome. It wasn't until a couple patients actually committed suicide that doctors went back and looked at exactly what they were doing wrong.

I was told on another forum that every doctor is aware of what went wrong in the early days of the procedure and that techniques have changed drastically (for example, they now use a laser to cut micrometers of tissue, instead of a scalple), but I still don't want to do something that might add to my problems. On the other hand, if my breathing difficulty gets too bad, I might not have a choice.

Jeff

Why would your nose being too open cause you to commit suicide?

That was my question too. There's a doctor at Mayo clinic who did a whole research project on open nose syndrome to let doctors know they were doing the procedure wrong. I watched one of his presentations. He said that there's supposed to be some amount of resistance when you breath through the nose. By cutting off the tissue that both blocks air flow and moisturizes the air coming through sinuses, it created the sensation that they were breathing through their mouth 24/7. Most people just complained about how uncomfortable it was, but he said he found two cases of people who actually committed suicide after having the procedure because the openness bothered them so much.