Thursday, May 10, 2007
Sleeping a Little More Soundly
You may recall I spent Valentine's Day at a sleep clinic getting evaluated for my snoring, about a month after asking my doctor about it. 4 weeks after that evaluation, per my doctor's direction I called him for an appointment to go over my results (which I later learned were ready after only 1 week). I made the appointment, which was not for another 2 weeks, and when I met him he said "yeah, I can't really help you, I need to send you to another doctor." Um, couldn't you have just said that on the phone?
So...it took a month for me to get an appointment with an oral surgeon to look at options, including different types of surgery as well as possibly wearing a mouthguard when I sleep to open up my throat a little more. This was what my doctor thought I would probably do, since I only have a mild case of sleep apnea causing the snoring, so something as invasive as surgery probably wouldn't be needed. So after a 2-hour appointment the oral surgeons I had gone to see suggested that I might need surgery (no surprise...after all, they're surgeons). They said my tonsils are really big, and that's likely a big part of the problem. Of course, they don't do tonsillectomies, I have to go to a throat doctor for that.
So...I have an appointment with a throat doctor 5 days before I leave for Afghanistan. Naturally, all he can do is evaluate me, there's no time for surgery, which means I (and whoever I'm sharing a room with) will have to live with this problem while I am overseas for 2 months. And who knows, the throat doctor might not recommend surgery...but even if he suggests the mouthguard option, it'll be too late by then to get one fitted.
So...last Saturday I went to a sporting goods store (yes, I do know how to find a sporting goods store, thank you very much) and bought a mouthguard you'd use for contact sports. I tried to fit it to me as best I could, softening it with boiling water then fitting it onto my teeth. Adrian tells me that, while I do still snore a little at night, it's not as loud nor as often as before, and he's now able to sleep without earplugs and without waking me up to shut me up.
It has been 4 months since I first asked my doctor about this, and the only solution so far is one I came up with myself.
So...it took a month for me to get an appointment with an oral surgeon to look at options, including different types of surgery as well as possibly wearing a mouthguard when I sleep to open up my throat a little more. This was what my doctor thought I would probably do, since I only have a mild case of sleep apnea causing the snoring, so something as invasive as surgery probably wouldn't be needed. So after a 2-hour appointment the oral surgeons I had gone to see suggested that I might need surgery (no surprise...after all, they're surgeons). They said my tonsils are really big, and that's likely a big part of the problem. Of course, they don't do tonsillectomies, I have to go to a throat doctor for that.
So...I have an appointment with a throat doctor 5 days before I leave for Afghanistan. Naturally, all he can do is evaluate me, there's no time for surgery, which means I (and whoever I'm sharing a room with) will have to live with this problem while I am overseas for 2 months. And who knows, the throat doctor might not recommend surgery...but even if he suggests the mouthguard option, it'll be too late by then to get one fitted.
So...last Saturday I went to a sporting goods store (yes, I do know how to find a sporting goods store, thank you very much) and bought a mouthguard you'd use for contact sports. I tried to fit it to me as best I could, softening it with boiling water then fitting it onto my teeth. Adrian tells me that, while I do still snore a little at night, it's not as loud nor as often as before, and he's now able to sleep without earplugs and without waking me up to shut me up.
It has been 4 months since I first asked my doctor about this, and the only solution so far is one I came up with myself.
Labels: Life
