British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association

Hi folks

I completed a home sleep study (nearly eighteen months after presenting to the doctor) two weeks ago and the day after, when returning the equipment, the nurse diagnosed me with borderline severe OSA. Apparently I stop breathing 35/36 times per hour (Scary). I don't feel however that my everyday sleeping is quite as bad as this, since for the last six months I wear a NOZOVENT thingy at night, which seems to have improved things. Also I had a sore throat the night of the test, which wouldn't have helped . Anyhow I have been put on the waiting list for the loan of a CPAP machine, but was warned that the waiting list is long. I wouldn't mind buying one if I thought I really needed it, but then I don't know if I would "tolerate it" and also there are maintenance, and feed-back and "what pressure?" issues to consider.
In the meantime I thought I would have a go at strengthening the lax muscles in the throat (the very cause of the snoring) by buying the 3 CD course on singing exercises www.singingforsnorers.com which I received less than 24 hrs after applying for them. I quote the following from the website about Alise Ojay, who conducts the course. I have never met her, but feel as if I know her quite well now (due to the recordings)..

"In 1999, with the support of the Department of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, Alise conducted the first trial of singing exercises to reduce snoring. This pilot trial caught the media's attention internationally and Alise appeared on the BBC television programme Watchdog Healthcheck (8.3.99) where her trial received a positive review.
Two years of research followed with Alise determined to design a programme of exercises that would specifically target the right areas in the throat and so increase the benefits suggested by the preliminary trial. The Singing for Snorers exercise programme is the result of this research."
I feel very positive about doing the exercises, but as the lady says it is no good singing the sounds "half-heartedly" you have to (my words) "let it rip"...I live on my own, but have warned the neighbours on both sides of the house, fortunately both lots are O.K. This rather lengthy posting feels as if I am getting things off my chest
I will let you know the end results. All the best Ken.

Just want to let you know that I am continuing with these exercises and have been informed that I now snore quite softly, like a kitten, instead of an elephant, and am only five weeks into the three months course. Very encouraging as far as the snoring is concerned. Of course, I probably still have the Apnoea. I shall have to request another sleep study, perhaps. Don't feel as tired as I did, this could be placebo effect though!!! Ken

Into my third and final month of these exercises. The third disc of twelve new exercises does take a day or two to get your head round, of course they are the same sounds as the previous two discs, but more intensive. I do feel very positive about the effect. I will post again near the beginning of February. Ken

Ken again...just to say I am carrying on with the Singing Exercises. I taped myself with a new Sony Cassette Recorder the other week (£24.99 from Argos) and the snoring is extremely soft now. The exercises, as I did them would not stand up in a clinical trial, because I was not prepared to forgo my nasal dilators for the three month course. However I am convinced that they helped a great deal. The back of my mouth has more tone tone about it. I would recommend this "Yoga of the Mouth" to anyone with snoring problems. Whether it has cut down my apnoeas or not is impossible to say, the course does not claim to help that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it has, since all this stuff is connected. Only trouble is, you have to be committed to singing 15 minutes a day. On the other hand, singing has an anti-depressant effect...think of how Churchill encouraged the "Sing-a-longs" in World War 2...not that any of us are old enough to remember!!!!!. All in all I would say if you like singing and can get the privacy to do it, then this course is well worth the £38 quid that it costs.....Ken

Just want to say my snoring is very low key at the moment and would recommend the exercises to anyone who could put the time in. Think it might have lowered the apnoeas but cannot measure these without having another sleep test and since the first one took me eighteen months, don't think I will be going down that road.

Quote from website:

Latest news - Clinical Trial
The Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose and Throat) Department at The Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford) are conducting a controlled trial of the "Singing for Snorers" exercise programme. The trial will have two wings: 60 patients who are chronic snorers and 60 patients with mild to moderate sleep apnoea. Half the patients in each wing will sing the exercises for 3 months and half will have no intervention. The trial began in June 2005 and is expected to take 2 years to complete.
(End of quote)

So the Apnoea results will not be available till after June 2007!

All the best Ken

GREAT JOY.....Went to Sleep clinic yesterday, along with my Resmed Auto set Spirit (APAP) and Nasal Mask, in theory to pick up my own CPAP machine once they had downloaded the data and could work out the pressure. I averaged 5 1/2 hours a day use on average, and after the first night, the leakage out of the mask was only 0.14 litres per second. But, wait for it, my apnoeas had gone down from 35 to 0.8 per hour. LESS THAN ONE AN HOUR! I hugged the clinician, she looked a bit surprised but what did she expect! I have an appointment in the pipeline to see the head honcho, which they urged me to keep and if I have any reversal of symptoms to let them know and I can take on where I left off in the process. By way of celebration, I stopped off in the market to buy a few King scallops. The saleslady said "Have you come up on the lottery?"
"No, better than that says I...."

I put my reduction in apnoeas down to "SINGING FOR SNORERS"

Hi Folks!
I am still anxious to carry on with the Singing Exercises as I don't want to go back to my daytime drowsiness! When I am at home the 18 mins is no problem, even if I have to do it in a couple of stages. You have to really focus on it though, and stand up and let it rip!..No sneaky bowls of Cornflakes, or stuff like that! (the initial month is only twelve and a half minutes by the way).
Trouble is for me, when I am on holiday, and I do like my breaks. I was in Paris for six nights at the beginning of May, cheap flight and very cheap hotel (No breakfast but got quite good at boiling eggs in my kettle!). As the patron and his wife, although very nice were always having "domestics" and the maid sometimes joined in, I didn't think morning in the hotel was a good time to practise.
Even the cemetries were not reliable places for solitude. I surprised a group of Americans who were looking for the headstone of Edith Piaf at Père LaChaise. In the end I settled for doing a cut-down version (five or six minutes) inbetween trains at my local metro (Les Abbesses in Montmartre). This worked very well, provided I heard the elevator door being shut, proving that the majority of passengers were heading for ground level. I take it that the surveillance cameras didn't have sound...The things we singers(?) have to go through

I don't think I made it absolutely clear in my April posting that the CPAP machine was taken away from me, because in the clinic's view, I didn't need one. Hurray for singing exercises

"Doctors are studying whether a life threatening sleep disorder can be cured by singing after a patient made a full recovery.

Experts are now seeking volunteers for a scientific study how a course in vocal exercises can help those suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnoea.

American patient Charley Hupp, aged 82, believes his apnoea has been cured by using a regime called Singing for Snorers which was devised by British musician Alise Ojay."

Read the rest of this item...

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/arti ... article.do

I am so glad that Paul Bailey is making progress with his exercises.
WHY ARE THERE NOT A LOT MORE PEOPLE DOING IT? That's what I want to know, it's hardly rocket science!!!

http://sleepapnoea.blogspot.com/

In last Saturdays Telegraph :

From lament to lullaby: how snorers can change their tune
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main. ... nore17.xml

In April this year, I kept an appointment to see the head of my sleep clinic..first time I'd seen the boss! I asked if I could have another sleeptest, but they said it wasn't possible, and they were discharging me from the clinic......For a couple of weeks I felt a bit depressed, as if I had been expelled from school ...then my sister said to me "Cheer up, if the patients were all like you, then the staff wouldn't have a job to go to in the morning" I suppose she has a point
I'm not saying "Singing for Snorers" is for everyone, and 20 minutes a day singing can be a bit of a pain at times....but.........

Good for you Ken

It's good to hear a success story from an alternative form of therapy. I bet your house is a great place to be when you strike up those vocal chords

Keep us posted as to how you get on in the future

Thanks for your feedback Rob! ...The house doesn't sound quite as horrendous as you might think, because I am singing along with Alise with instrumental backing, from the CD and not solo!
Since the houses both sides of me are now young couples, I tend to do the singing at weekends after noon in case of hangovers, and weekdays after they have gone to work. On one side they have a very well-behaved Alsatian dog-....maybe she's a bit deaf
I saw a science website of the BBC which seemed to fit quite well my idea of why the singing works...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/ ... ders.shtml



..I have inserted the numbers and the dots into the quotes....:
(1) the soft palate are singing excercises one, two and three
(2) the base of the tongue is exercise twelve in the singing programme and
(3) the muscles supporting the uvula, the palataopharangeal arch, are exercises four and five in the singing.

The idea is that once they have a bit of tone, these muscles will not bunch up and be flacid, hanging down, and blocking the airway

All the best for now, and get singing!!!!!!!! Ken

Very nice story you have going here Ken, really impressed with the results you got! Where did you get the CDs from?