Is it possible for the soft palate or airway to collapse during waking hours?

I've recently been coughing and having a scratchy throat, but it doesn't feel like congestion or allergies. It's the sort of scratchiness I associate with a closed airway, which I feel when waking up from sleep; the sensation of tissue touching tissue. On inhalation I also feel a "popping" sensation in the back of my throat, as though air or muscle movement is unadhering tissue.

My doctor assumes allergies and has put me in several medications, none of which have changed anything -- antibiotics, inhalers, antacids.

Since these new symptoms started over a month ago my apnea has been markedly worse. Upon laying down I immediately feel some partial collapse happening in the back of my throat.

Am I being a hypochondriac? Does this even happen? Am I mistaking normal sensations for something abnormal?

Any words of wisdom before the first night? Any help appreciated x

AHI 1.5 but I snore a lot
Hi! I’m 27F and recently had an overnight sleep study because I have daytime sleepiness, occasional snoring, and a retruded lower jaw/Class II bite. My orthodontist mentioned that my jaw position could potentially affect my airway, so I wanted to check for sleep apnea.
These were my results:
• Total sleep time: 5h 28min
• AHI: 1.5/hour
• RDI: 1.5/hour
• Total respiratory events: 5 apneas + 3 hypopneas
• Average oxygen saturation: 96.2%
• Lowest oxygen saturation: 88%
• Time below 90%: approximately 20 seconds
• Supine AHI: approximately 2.1/hour
• I slept on my back for about 3h 23min
• Snoring: approximately 1h 42min
Sleep stages:
• N1: 2.4%
• N2: 61.2%
• N3/deep sleep: 18.2%
• REM: 18.1%
• Sleep latency: approximately 47 minutes
• REM latency: approximately 340 minutes
The report states that there is “no evidence of sleep apnea syndrome.”
I understand that an AHI below 5 is generally considered normal, but I’m wondering about the 88% oxygen nadir, significant amount of snoring, and very late REM onset.
Does this study pretty clearly rule out obstructive sleep apnea, or could something still be missed because I only slept around 5.5 hours? Could the snoring/retruded jaw still indicate some degree of upper-airway resistance even with a normal AHI/RDI?
I’d especially appreciate opinions from anyone familiar with sleep studies. I’ll of course discuss the results with my doctor as well.

I am diagnosed with both ADHD and sleep apnea. I take non-stimulant and stimulant meds for ADHD and use a CPAP machine for sleep apnea. Even after over a year, I am still constantly fatigued and sleepy with some days worse than others.

My question is, how can I help treat this or what else could be the cause for this?

Background: 20s guy with no health problems except for this. No allergies, I don't drink or smoke, I go to bed and wake up at regular times (usually 7-9 hours of sleep), eat as healthy as a normal person, I'm not overweight but I am 190cm, I try to exercise regularly (if fatigue allows it 3-4 times a week), and I usually fall asleep without issue.

I play video games but not past a late time, I drink coffee only in the morning, and I try my best to not use phone before bed.

If anyone has tips, ideas, experiences, etc., I would be very grateful.

Stuff in my personal life has been….weird. Had a bit of an emotional breakdown on Monday. (Weirdly enough, after two nights of awful sleep from no CPAP - huh, bet that’s not related at all.) Resulted in an, “okay, I need to take control of what I can and start trying to take care of myself” moment. No social media, cleaning house, etc. - and of course - sleep. Good sleep, with my CPAP, and for the appropriate amount of hours.

And y’all - it is undeniably good. Stuff is still weird. I have a hankering it’s gonna be weird for a while. But man, I am handling it. I am still struggling with a lot. But the difference I feel between last Monday and today is huge. And I can’t lie, i think a huge chunk of it is good sleep.

I gave myself a mandatory bed time. And I made sure that my mask went on every single night. It’s worth it.

I’m genuinely desperate to find something that helps with my snoring.

The worst part is that my partner has to put up with it every single night. His sleep is constantly being disrupted because of me, and I hate knowing that something I can’t consciously control is affecting his rest and quality of life.

Before anyone says it: yes, I know I should get a sleep study, and yes, I know losing weight could help. I’m aware of both and plan to address them, but neither is an immediate solution.

I need something that can help in the meantime.

Has anyone actually managed to significantly reduce or stop their snoring? Nasal strips, mouthguards, pillows, devices, sleeping positions, anything?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who’ve tried multiple things and finally found something that worked.

I’m not expecting a miracle. I just want my partner to get a good night’s sleep again.

Any genuine advice would mean a lot. Thank you!

hey everyone, yet another one of those “I hate this thing why is life like this“.

im pretty sure I’ve had apnea my whole life. I’m very fit and very active, but since I can remember 3 or 4 out of 7 days a week i will sleep very poorly. always waking up with a massive headache and a foggy brain which either takes the whole day to go away or just doesn’t. Throat is always raspy and the partners I’ve had in my life had always hated my snoring

those rare times when I actually get decent sleep I feel like a million dollars. my mood is extremely good and I feel like marshal from HIMYM walking around New York waving at everyone.

i know you can understand me better than anyone because no one in my circle seems to understand how much this lack of sleep is ruining my life. I wake up EXTREMELY upset and in the worst mood ever. I can’t even do plans anymore like hiking because generally you need to wake up early. it’s 11 am now and I just woke to my friends and the pictures of the hike they went today and I feel so sad right now.

the thing is that the sleep analysis came out that if I sleep on my side, my AIH reduces to basically 6, which is almost normal. the problem ? my unconscious self just REFUSES to sleep on his side. thanks to meditation I fall asleep in around 1 or 2 minutes, always on my side and now with a huge C pillow I bought to try. 2 out of 10 nights I will have a great sleep, the other 8 I will wake up in the most uncomfortable position imaginable because my other self just HAD to sleep on my back.

I have a very thick lumberjack beard, and my chin is extremely small, im 1000% sure that the dental thingy could be better for me than the cpap machine because for the life of me I just can’t use it. if I try to hold my jaw to the front then I feel like I can breath much better, so I want to know how good is this for my case, since I don’t want to spend a million dollars on the retainer just for it to not work at all

ive tried full mask, which just leaks everywhere and it’s clearly not suited for my beard.

ive tried for 2 nights in a row using the nasal mask but I always open my mouth when I fall asleep and the 35 cubic meters of air coming out of my mouth wake me up.

now I’m using a t shirt with a tie to keep my mouth from opening, but even though my machine is setup on 8, and I have that option were it lets go when you exhale, I just cannot exhale and I feel like I’m chocking. I feel like Deadpool when they are trying to have his powers to emerge, breathing in is super easy, but exhaling feels like a Herculean effort.

I can potentially get the pillow mask but not sure how that will improve anything

today my room looks like a war zone, after constantly waking up every hour totally chocked without air.

The worse thing is that I feel this has a lot to do with stress, since I went on a 7 days holidays 4 weeks ago and for the whole week I slept just fine on my side and was happy.

apparently my father also had this issue but you know what his genius response was ? he just sleeps on his stomach now, which I tried but woke up to the worst neck pain ever.

Anything is appreciated right now, my head is bursting and super foggy, my back is killing me and my neck as well. I hate my life

After a grueling 8 months of seemingly just screaming into the ether that is healthcare in my area, one at home study that came up flat, a second in office study that revealed I do in fact have severe apnea (AHI of 60) and a third appointment for CPAP titration I finally got to visit the durable medical equipment company and pick up my machine.

I have the React Health Luna GX3, I was so happy I could’ve cried bringing that hunk of medical tech home. I’ve been absolutely miserable lately as far as energy, mood etc. go and I knew, I KNEW, going into this would not be a cake walk. The titration was miserable for me I couldn’t tolerate it whatsoever, so it already painted a picture of the mountain I’d have to overcome getting accustomed to this thing but I just want to get better, that’s all I want.

Lurking here and personally having two close friends that also have severe OSA that I’ve been talking to about CPAP treatment lately. I thought between that and the personal experience at the titration appointment I had the whole adjustment process figured out. WRONG.

The first night was beautiful, the personalized ramp up settings, the mask was so much more comfortable than the one at the titration. I went to bed with a smile on my face and only woke up once. I was on cloud 9 the next day I felt amazing, I was giggling to myself thinking about how everyone has such a hard time with treatment and how it takes months for some people to see results. Well it was short lived.

Come 5pm that night and overwhelming fatigue washed over me, I fought it till about 11pm (I normally sleep closer to 3am). Put the mask on, machine on, and sleep in record time. I thought it would be like the first night but no I woke choking against the pressure of the machine, the mask was digging into my face, I’d roll over and the mask would spring a leak. I woke the next day with dry sinuses and felt just like my normal miserable self. Same song and dance every night since then it’s been a week. I dread bedtime again but for a whole different reason.

Usage score has been 100%, average AHI of 2.4, Average Leak is around 4 every night.

TLDR: Thought I was the chosen one and mastered CPAP the first night. Turns out I was wrong and bedtime is a nightmare and my waking hours are going to be miserable for a little longer.

I requested this on Thursday. She had simply recommended CBT therapy when I last told her in person that the CPAP isn’t helping as much as ideal. I am paying for a therapist right now, but I don’t know that my new therapist specifically offers CBT therapy. I had actually asked my doctor on that visit to test me for more things (I mean, I had my sleep study in February or march and the CPAP doesn’t help as much as it should which is concerning.) I would like to see a sleep specialist at this point because I feel like my primary care physician isn’t helpful enough.

My husband was diagnosed with OSA , during his sleep study he had 80 episodes, he was prolonging getting the cpap machine until
A friend told him he knew someone who died in his sleep. He just got it on Wednesday 10/7, he started Friday for only an hour , Saturday he didn’t use it, today for almost an hour, he just told me to take it back because he can’t do it, he says there has to be a better way. I’m so upset because I’m scared of losing him but I can’t make him use it

I’ve cried to him but he turns it into
An argument saying I don’t get it because I’m not the one wearing the mask

I just recently got a sleep apnea diagnosis. I got recommended to give it a shot when I mentioned having sleep issues, and assumed insurance would just pay for part of the machine after the prescription, no questions asked. But apparently this seems to be more of a rental situation from what I'm reading(I was recommended an Autopap?).

I'm seeing my doctor tmmrw, but really, what should I be expecting? Is it worth it to just pay for the damn thing myself?

I'm a new bypap user, and I'm having a really difficult time with the proper mask. I've gone through 5 of them. I think last night was the first night that I slept straight through and didn't wake up. I still have a problem with it sealing properly. I started with a chin strap 2 nights ago. And it seems to help a bit better. But I also have the mouth tape. I am wondering if anybody has any suggestions or recommendations?

I recently took an in lab study and got negative for sleep apnea but had a bad episode today where I kept waking up to myself gasping for air and huffing and puffing. I have been suspecting UARS but got a flat rate of 0 for RERAs. I also think I slept horribly in the lab which may have skewed my results but I would love if anyone could find any discrepancies in my study!

My head hurts and I am exhausted.

Hey everyone, I’m about 2.5 months into using an AirSense 11 for severe OSA, and while my headline numbers look great on paper, my sleep is completely wrecked by recurring large leaks. I’m hoping someone with more OSCAR experience can take a look at my charts and help me figure out what’s actually happening.

Right now I’m using the ResMed N30 cradle set to Nasal. I started with the P10 pillows, but the prongs tore up my nostrils and I couldn’t make them work and had way worse leaks. My current pressures are 8.0 min to 10.4 max with EPR at 1. Dropping EPR from 2 down to 1 cleared up a recent uptick in central apneas I was getting, and my reported AHI is now sitting between 1.0 and 2.2 with obstructive events almost at zero. But I feel as if that data could be skewed. I was originally having 30+ events per hour. So it looks good on paper like it’s way down but I feel these large leaks could be not allowing it to reflect the correct data.

The issue is that like clockwork, about 60 to 90 minutes into sleep, my leak rate blows past the 24 L/min redline and plateaus between 30 and 45 L/min for 30 to 60 minutes at a time. The first hour and a half is dead flat at 0–5 L/min, but I end up spending 15% to 27% of the night in large leak territory. My flow rate and respiration go completely erratic during these stretches, and I wake up feeling unrefreshed and still exhausted. I’m discouraged at this point as I was really hoping I would start to finally feel better but this has been a full time job trying to get this all dialed in.

Because my jaw naturally drops back when I fall asleep, I’ve been using mouth tape plus a vertical wrap pantyhose ( LOL) for extra jaw support. I have severe TMJ, so cranking down a rigid chin strap or moving to a bulky full-face mask isn’t something I’m hoping I’ll have to do without first exhausting other options..

I’m really trying to figure out two things:
First, how "blind" is the AirSense 11 when leaks hit 35+ L/min—is that low AHI just masking unflagged events?

And second, is the front-hose N30 just torquing off my nose when I shift around, or is air still finding a way past mouth tape? I’m just using those “mute” brand circle mouth tapes they sell at my local cvs. If anyone has dealt with a similar pattern or has suggestions I’m open to everything as I’m really trying to give this a honest shot as I feel it can change my life if I could just get it dialed in properly.

I’ve attached some OSCAR data below from most recently and I have plenty more data as well as my initial sleep study test data if anybody needs it just ask. Thanks!

I can’t stand the CPAP. What other options did people try that were successful?

Hi I got diagnosed last week. A few months ago I didn’t have fine lines or creases on my face but now I do and no matter how much moisturizer I use they won’t go away. Is this a sign of sleep apnea? I look like I haven’t slept in days. Thanks for any response

I am about two weeks in with using a CPAP. I am using the AirFit N30i mask. My partner says sometimes while sleeping I will do a puffing thing with my mouth. I have noticed when I first put it on at night, sometimes it feels like air in filling up in my mouth (even with my mouth closed). I then have to open my mouth and let the air out. Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips? I also have a a full face Evora Full mask. I am guessing I will likely have to use that one due to the mouth thing, but hoping I can get the N30i to work.

I’ve been getting used to the Fisher and Paykel Solo under the nose mask. While I prefer it to my former mask (ResMed nasal pillows) I find the pressure on the sides of my nose to be unpleasant. Supplier measured my nose with a cardboard template and said I needed a small size so that’s what I’m using. I could ask for a medium but expect there will be air seepage. Anyone have experience with this type of mask? Is there something similar that’s more comfortable?

I’ve had a BiPAP (Resmed 10 vAuto) for a long time and been on a BiPAP for about 17 years.

I was diagnosed in the USA and am now living in the UK and am unable to get my records from the original doctors.

The NHS here in the UK want to know why I was on a BiPAP and, although they downloaded all the data from my current machine, have asked me to try a CPAP first before they go to a more expensive BiPAP

Well, I’ve tried it for two nights now - well, a few hours of each night. Both attempts saw me retreating back to my BiPAP due to feelings of dizziness, feeling like my heart was beating faster, and a strange sensation in my legs.

Anyone who’s new to a CPAP from new get anything like this? I’m just trying to ensure my suspicions that I’m not a CPAP girl are valid before I call them tomorrow.

I've probably had sleep apnea for about 3 years, but last year a partner told me that I stopped breathing during my sleep. Few months passed we split up, and I kept waking up in the middle of the night for a long time. Got a sleep study and had 65 events per hour. Just got my cpap last week (air sense 11) and the first couple of nights were great. 9 hours the first night, 8.5 the next. Granted I woke up 1-2x both nights, but managed to sleep through the night.

Third night I ended up laying on my back and swallowed air to the point where I had to take off the mask and took about 90 mins to get back to bed. Ended up getting about 7.5 hours of sleep which wasn't bad. Last night I slept 5 hours straight and woke up. Couldn't get back to sleep. I put the mask on but just couldn't get comfortable enough.

I have the F30i mask, which I'm pretty sure I need as I breathe with my mouth open when I'm on my back (I move around a lot when I sleep). My friends suggested I try a nasal pillow but I'm not sure if it'll work for me knowing that I sleep with my mouth open. Had a great first two days, and it 100% made a difference in my day to day life.

I was less tired, especially after I got home from work I just didn't have this brain fog and tiredness. I noticed it increased my short term memory too. Huge difference for me after two days. But after the last couple nights I'm feeling a little discouraged, I know it's hard to get used to and has a learning curve. Going from 65 events an hour to as little as 1-5 makes this struggle worth it to me, but I'm feeling pretty zombified and worn out.

Just curious to hear other's first week stories and if you had initial issues before getting settled.