Snoring!

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Okay, this is weird, and I cannot really find anything about this.

I am really at the end of active treatment:  chemo, then BLM, then 28 rads, finished 3/3.  I started Tamoxifen one week ago.

Since early February, I have been snoring pretty badly.  It keeps my poor husband awake--sometimes he goes to the couch, sometimes I do.  

Anyone else develop snoring issues during treatment?  

Comments

  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited March 2009

    Here's a tip. My husband snores horribly. I wear ear plugs! It's simple and cheap. I get them at Walmart. They are a bright orange and you squeeze them up and put them in your ears and let them expand. They have saved our marriage! LOL

  • SoCalLisa
    SoCalLisa Member Posts: 13,961
    edited March 2009

    my husband was the snorer too and I moved out into the guest room

    when I started chemo...I do wear the earplugs but his is louder than they !

  • OneBadBoob
    OneBadBoob Member Posts: 1,386
    edited March 2009

    Yup, I have recently developed snoring issues.  Never before in my life.

    I finished chemo just over a year ago, have been on arimidex for about a year, and if I sleep on my back, I snore horribly!!  I wake myself up, alone in bed, and go down to see hubby (AND THE DOG!) sleeping on the couch.

    I have no clue what is causing this but if I sleep on my side, there is no snoring.

    So, I try to stay sleeping on my side.  Have no clue what this is about.

    Anyone else developed this?

  • gramadeb
    gramadeb Member Posts: 210
    edited March 2009

    I developed snoring this fall after all my treatments were done - had occasional snoring before. Had a sleep study done and found out I have sleep apnea.

    Deb

  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited March 2009

    Put a tennis back behind you when you sleep on your side. If you try to roll over onto your back you will be uncomfortable and will roll back to your side. That's the theory anyway.

  • texassgirl
    texassgirl Member Posts: 3
    edited April 2015

    I am past my breast cancer chemo, and all I'm doing now is Tamoxifen.  It seems that right around the time I started the Tamoxifen, I also started snoring, apparently loud enough to drive my husband out of the room.  Been going on awhile now.  I also have to sleep with a fan blowing directly on me as I am always hot at night, winter or summer.  I hae NEVER had this problem before, and I am trying to figure out why I am having it now.  Anyone else go through this?  Also, everything I've read says to sleep on your side, but this is when I do it.

  • gmq
    gmq Member Posts: 1
    edited March 2018

    I am the same -- but I think it is because the cancer and/or treatments has left me so incredibly fatigued. I've noticed that my sleeping patterns have changed dramatically. I'm coming to the end of 5 years since diagnosis and treatments (tho currently on hormonal therapy) and for the past fives years, I have started to sleep a lot more deeply (used to be an incredibly light sleeper), fall asleep much more quickly (was pretty much an insomniac before -- and actually now I require a LOT of sleep, am often very fatigued), and because of all the surgeries, I've had to switch to sleeping on my back rather than on my side. I am curious whether this is also seasonally related

    Maybe of interest, here's a review of some of the studies looking at fatigue in cancer patients (and it talks about translational studies using rodents...):
    "Fatigue and Sleep during Cancer and Chemotherapy: Translational Rodent Models" by Ray et al.
    Comparative Medicine. 2008 Jun; 58(3): 234–245.
    (free access to article -- just search the net with the title)

  • DaisyQ
    DaisyQ Member Posts: 123
    edited March 2018

    This topic is very interesting..! I am having the same problem. I never had a problem with snoring, but since treatment it has been an issue. Has anyone tried any of the products advertised to help reduce snoring? I am so frustrated, but feel better hearing others have noticed this too.

  • TeraGig
    TeraGig Member Posts: 1
    edited March 2018

    I feel so much better knowing I'm not the only one! Someone should study this! I was never a "snorer" before.

    I finished chemo and radiation in April 2016 and began Aromasin in the summer of 2016. This past year my snoring has gotten so bad my super light sleeping husband gets no sleep and has bags under his eyes. We're sleeping in separate bedrooms like a 50's couple. I bought him a fountain and it helped for awhile but apparently my snoring is taking the paint off the walls :-) I have tried white noise machines, straps to keep my mouth closed (super uncomfortable and falls off), ear plugs (they haven't worked for my husband) and the little things you put in your nose to expand your nostrils for better breathing. They haven't kept me from snoring. I have woken myself up before which is kinda funny but I'm over it. My throat hurts in the morning and I wake up really tired. I have signed up for a sleep study to rule out sleep apnea. I think the timing on this is interesting.

  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited March 2018

    Dear TeraGig,

    Welcome to the community. We are sorry for your diagnosis and this subsequent symptom of snoring. We hope that others will chime in with possible shared experiences. Please keep us posted on what you learn from your sleep study. Let us know if you need any help with navigating the boards. The Mods

  • Rambros
    Rambros Member Posts: 78
    edited March 2018

    I don’t have any suggestions, but my husband also tells me that I’ve started snoring since going through BC treatment and forced menopause. I also used to be a light sleeper but not anymore.

  • Mom-mom
    Mom-mom Member Posts: 44
    edited March 2018

    My husband is reporting loud snoring (from me) and has had to leave for the couch sometimes. This occurred especially towards the end of and after chemo. And my mouth and throat are bone dry in the morning. Looking for a good solution.

    Glad to know it’s not just me

  • Egads007
    Egads007 Member Posts: 1,603
    edited March 2018

    I read recently on the Mayo clinic site that one of the side effects of tamoxifen is wheezy breathing...perhaps this is the cause? No idea what recommend, maybe ask onc

  • Wildflower23sparkle
    Wildflower23sparkle Member Posts: 2
    edited April 2018

    Medicine info.: Am now doing Taxol. Been doing Taxol for 4 months.Gemcitabine previously. Been taking pain meds for several years.

    SNORING ISSUE: Was an occasional snorer. Now frequent loud snorer. Also like other husbands, mine sleeps in another room now.

    Husband won't wear ear plugs or use white noise machine. It's up to me to find an answer and would like to.

    Mouth does *not* feel particularly dry in morning. But husband will watch my sleeping position as well going forward.

    Husband recorded snoring at my request. It sounds mechanical. Not like what people think a traditional through the nose snore sounds like. Husband said he could not tell where sound was coming from.

    And the snoring IS pretty awful! He says it can last for several hours or I might not snore at all or it could last for 15 minutes or it might be soft snoring.

    The night he recorded my snoring, I was sleeping on my back. (It was a three-hour nap.)

    My snoring does not wake me up, which husband finds surprising. It only wakes him up.

    Looking at various articles on this subject, I am not overweight, I don't smoke, hardly ever drink alcohol and don't eat large meals before bed. So what is causing this odd sounding snore?

    But putting a tennis ball or some obstruction underneath me will not work as I have bone problems. All of my bones are painful from go. So finding a sleeping or sitting position that is comfortable is difficult to begin with.

    Laying evenly on my back to sleep has been the best for my entire body: rib cage, hips, shoulder blades. Side sleeping, which I used to love, is not really a viable answer for me anymore. Also laying on my back for 8 hours is not a good option either and I pay for that in pain when I wake up as well. But laying on my back is where I start an evening's sleep. Yes, it is a conundrum.

    Was also doing reading on snoring. Apparently there are different types of snoring: nose, soft palate, etc.

    If anyone on this thread who contributed years ago and has an update or anyone new to this list has any ideas, solutions or options they took to solve the snoring issue, we would all be interested to know what others have done.

    I personally believe the snoring issue was created by the C medicine/treatments/pills etc. we take, versus the disease itself because the snoring issue wasn't there early on.

    It seems like no one answer has worked for anyone here in a great way---as in a remedy-- for the snoring. But any input would be appreciated!! Thank you.

  • Simbobby
    Simbobby Member Posts: 140
    edited April 2018

    I was diagnosed with sleep apnea 10 years ago and snored horribly. Wore a cpap for a while but I hated it so I quit using it. I live alone so I wasn't bothering anyone Except when I traveled with companions.

    I had a bilateral mastectomy with tissue expanders in March of this year. At the recommendation of the PS, I am to sleep on my back (which I hate) with a wedge pillow. After surgery I went to my Sister's house to recover where she had me on a baby monitor. She told me I never snored once in the week I was there.

    I attribute this to the wedge

  • chronicpain
    chronicpain Member Posts: 385
    edited April 2018

    Snoring, especially with pauses, as some here understand, can be due to moderate or severe obstructive apnea which is not just a problem because of its waking your partner, but also because it is bad for the cardiopulmonary system, may increase insulin resistance, worsen diabetes and obesity, and can worsen hypertension degree and stroke risk.

    Older CPAP was very uncomfortable, but newer innovations allow more comfort, or BIPAP can be used instead, and an ENT doctor can look to see if there are structural problems in the nose or throat.

    It is more common if you are after menopause ( natural, surgical, or chemo induced) and as noted, if obese, drink alcohol, or take narcotics and sleepers, or had head trauma or other brain injuries.

    Anyone with apnea should also have their TSH (the usual docs check) and free T4 (the less common one checked) done to assure they are not hypothyroid, a treatable cause. Anesthesiologists also need to know if you have this pre-surgery.

    Otherwise, we are left with ear plugs, I use some blue clay-like ones from Amazon that really block out sound when I visit an obese post-menopausal friend who refuses modern medicine, but she clearly has prominent apnea with intermittent loud snorting and locomotive type snoring through the night, especially if she lies on her back.

    People claim they have gotten divorced, because of a partner snoring, but there are other options!



  • Fury707
    Fury707 Member Posts: 3
    edited May 2018

    It is nice to hear I’m not alone I too have been snoring so bad my spouse uses blue tooth music buds and listens to music. However sometimes even that doesn’t work and he moves to the couch. I thought it was caused from my non stop runny nose another symptom I have anyone else have that too?

  • HappyHammer
    HappyHammer Member Posts: 1,247
    edited May 2018

    Yes, after all active treatment I was snoring like crazy. Long story short- after many tests etc., we discovered I have neuropathy of the tongue which causes intermittent snoring (along with some crazy off and on issues with swallowing). I use a CPCP every night and the results have been so positive that if I even take a short nap- the CPAP is ON!  

  • Via
    Via Member Posts: 55
    edited March 2019

    I am so goad to find am I am not the onky one. Sometimes you feel like is crazy all the new symptoms you have after breast cancer. I snore now and sometimes even when am awake and I take a deep breath a snore comes out.

    During surgery I had a tube down my throat and I wonder if that was it.


    Good to know am not alone,

    Via

  • Rah2464
    Rah2464 Member Posts: 1,647
    edited March 2019

    GERD can also cause you to snore and to wake up multiple times, mimicking sleep apnea. It might be worth it to try a two week course of acid suppressors if you are experiencing some heartburn (with your doctors ok of course). I was surprised by this - my general doctor suggested it when I asked to do a sleep study because I was waking up a lot and that mouth was dry because it must have been hanging open!

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