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Sleep Apnea? Acid Reflux?

Hi everyone, I'm not sure if I should be posting this in a sleep disorder forum or an...

Posted by pancakemeow

Hi everyone, I'm not sure if I should be posting this in a sleep disorder forum or an acid reflux forum or perhaps a totally different forum, as the problem is quite complicated.

My boyfriend has been having poor sleep quality almost everyday for the past 2 years. He has no trouble falling asleep but wakes up feeling unrested and is tired the entire day. Sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air. Even if he slept 10 hours the previous night, he is very sleepy by 10 pm. Being a guy, he didn't go to the doctor about this problem and tried to fix it himself by sleeping in different positions. Everytime he'd try something new, he would feel a little more rested the next day, but nothing worked in the long run.

He thought that it was sleep apnea at first, so he did some research and tried everything he could. Finally, he went to the doctor and took home a sleep study mask that would measure his breathing while he slept. The results were that nothing major was going on. We were both shocked. The results were not bad enough for the insurance to cover a CPAP machine!

I tried to put together more information to figure out what's causing this and suggested that it might be acid reflux. He had also said that he felt a lump in his throat whenever he swallowed. He went to an ENT doctor and he stuck a camera down his throat and said that there's a little redness and prescribed Omeprazole. After taking it for a week or so, the lump went away. Ever since he was little, his dad forced him to wolf down his food and would hit him if he ate too slowly. I suggested him to eat slowly and in smaller portions and with a healthier diet. He also bought a wedge to sleep on. All this improved his sleep quality from a 5 to a 9 most nights. However, he still felt tired the entire day, especially at night, and he is still waking up in the middle of the night gasping for air. He doesn't feel any acid coming up when he is awoken though, so I'm not sure why he's gasping for air.

Another thing to note is that he used to gag every morning after he woke up and felt very anxious, but this has stopped for the past couple months. I'm not sure if this has to do with his change in eating habits.

I'm still stumped as to why his sleeping isn't back to normal. And I'm also suspecting the take-home sleep study wasn't very accurate. Does anyone have any ideas as to what's going on?View Thread

Posted bypancakemeow

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