I'm having a real difficulty initiating sleep. I have moderate obstructive sleep apnea, but when I fall asleep, my AHI is actually very low (when I use my APAP, though my compliance has been poor because it seems to exacerbate this issue I'm referring - I often use my mandibular advancement device when not using this. ), but on the onset of sleep, I naturally seem to wake myself up with this sharp inhalation of breath/snore and a raised heart-rate.
I've spoken to an ENT previously who said this wouldn't be sleep apnea as this only occurs in the deeper stages of sleep, whereas this only occurs at sleep onset.
I sleep on my back and I nasal breath. I have mild turbinate hypertrophy, but take nasal sprays and breath through my nose fine during the day and even when I'm lying in bed beginning to drift off - but as I drift into that semi-conscious state, I snore/snort/sharply inhale and find myself very aroused.
I know it's a long-short, but does anyone know what might cause this if not sleep apnea? Could it be UARS related? I don't have any general anxiety related to sleep (though after months of this, it is getting tougher not to) and I'm usually very relaxed in bed, and these jolts come out of nowhere as I'm drifting off.
I've tried mouth-breathing instead and this only seems to exacerbate this.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated. Really feeling desperate now,
I've attached snips from my last APAP usage which was a little while ago now:
On the first picture, you can see two occasions where my breathing spikes. Sleeprider very kindly analysed these for me, but didn't see much of an issue from a CPAP/APAP therapy standpoint.
As I say, any advice would be massively appreciated - feeling a little lost and desperate right now.
Kind regards,
DTBetter