Have any of you developed sleep apnea through all your treatment? My mom says within this last month she has noticed my Dad stops breathing at times during the night. She wonders if it's because his esophagus has shrunk from the radiation. It's not due to weight, because he lost about 50 pounds from treatment and she says she never noticed him doing this before the cancer showed up. Anyone else experience this? He is going to talk to his surgeon about stretching out his esophagus next week and the sleep apnea will also be brought up.

John developed severe obstructive sleep apnea after his treatment. He had two sleep tests and has been fitted with a c-pap machine. Apparently, a lot of people develop sleep apnea after radiation treatment.

Did John ever have his esophagus stretched? I wonder if that would help any...

No. In fact, as a result of his treatment, John's esophagus is now totally closed. My understanding though is that sleep apnea has little to do with the esophagus. Is your Dad's nostrils also swollen from the treatment? John's were and for the longest time, he did a lot of his breathing through his mouth. The respiration doctor prescribed some nose drops and that solved that problem.

No, he doesn't seem to have any problem breathing out of his nose. He has always been a snorer at night. My mom says he's always on his back when it happens.

I developed severe apnea after treatments, about three years out. In my case as in many OC patients, the radiation treatment leaves you with chronic sinus inflammation which produces a constant flow of mucous, down the back of your throat when laying down. Daytime also, but the upright position changes everything. Because of the alteration of our anatomy near the trachea and the esophagus, if you sleep on your back it builds up there. It also causes you to mouth breath to some extent. The combination of the two form plugs of mucous some of which can trigger the closing of the trachea. Bam apnea event, I went through all kinds of sleep studies to document what was happening, and this was definitely the cause. A CPAP did not work for me. It just dried out my mouth even more than it was. The CPAP is designed to keep the airway open with positive pressure, but the slow build up of mucous over a couple hours was going to cause the apnea even, with the machine going. When it woke me up finally (02 levels drop and you heart gets a jolt of adrenaline) I would /still do have to cough up a hunk of phlegm ( sorry for the gross description.) So I started taking antihistamines to dry out my sinuses at night to no avail. I am stuck here after seeing tons of apnea docs.

My son (7 years out from end of Tx) just got his CPAP today. Doctor (who knows about his OC history) told him he had Central Sleep Apnea (not from the obstructive kind). I'm worried since the cause for this as mentioned on the Mayo Clinic site says it can be due from heart failure or stroke. So is the Central Sleep Apnea also a result of Rad Tx?

I sure hope something happens to make things easier for all the OC survivors experiencing this. Brian, do you manage somehow to get some sleep?

My husband had moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea before being treated for oral cancer. After losing 50 lbs. from treatment and the issues that go along with the disease, he now has mild to moderate sleep apnea. He used a CPAP years ago but no longer does. What works for him is to sleep with his head elevated at a 45 degree angle. When he falls asleep flat on his back....YIKES!!! Choking, snorting, coughing! I have to wake him up, it is so unsettling to hear him struggle to breathe. He also has lots of excess mucus and always seems to have a bubbly wet throat. We even bought a dual adjustable bed so that he can sleep at the angle that works for him, and I can sleep flat. He gets a restful night's sleep and so do I!