John's breathing at night becomes very labored. He makes terrible noises when he breathes in. Then he stops breathing for about 20 seconds. He will then gulp air and breathe hard again. It is much worse when he is on his back. We have a wedge but we are thinking of putting the head of the bed up.
The doctors do not seem concerned but I am. It scares me to hear him breathe like that.
Has anyone had this experience?
Meredith

Hi Meridith My husband too labors with his breathing and when he lays on his back it isworse I stay up half of the night nudging him so he will gulp for air it really scares me also but they don't seem concerned. He was just in the hospital for three days because he had got a bad fungus infection and bacterial infection at first they thought it was pnemonia. while he was in there I asked one of the nurses on the Cancer ward why he does that and she said she did not know but she has seen a lot of it with head and neck cancers. We prop him up and lay him on his side it helps some but still does it. If you find out a remedy for this I really would be interested. Guess its common. Bye Bobbie Jensen

My experience over a period of 30 years is that this happens to guys with no disease. Being even a little overweight exacerbates it. I figure if my husband is still alive and kicking after 30 years of this, it probably isn't serious. So relax. We have plenty of other things to worry about(grin).

Joanna

Hi,
My husband also had a very bad case of "sleep apnea." I don't know where you are, Meredith, in your husbands treatments, but it got worse towards the end of my husband's radiation tratments and continued even after they ended. My advice is watch it carefully and make sure he doesn't have a temperature. It got so bad one morning that I rushed him to the hospital and he ended up being intubated and in intensive care for 5 days. (That morning he also had 102 temp.) The doctors believed that he had developed mild pnemonia and also the radiation swelled his throat. Also, the mucus that he had was very thick and he would try to cough it up. They think he may have aspirated some mucus which caused his pnemonia. I would continue to monitor him and have the doctors check the oxygen level in his blood. (I am very non-medical but it's when then put a clamp over one of his fingers.)
This had absolutely nothing to do with being overweight and yes, I would worry about it. My husband was at least 15 pounds underweight when this happened. It was very scary to go through so I know exactly where Meredith and bobby are coming from.
BC

HI,
I know I just posted but I had some other thoughts. I would demand that my husband get a chest and/or throat X-ray and have someone examine his throat. As I had said, we believed that the radiation had swelled his throat so much that it was extremely difficult to breath. He was prescribed steroids to reduce the swelling. I really don't want to overly alarm you, but I've been there with the heavy breathing and the complete stopping of breath for several seconds. It is incredibly nerve-racking. I just wish we had been more agressive in demanding he be checked out earlier. I think we could have avoided intensive care. Good luck.
BC

Well good gosh do I stand corrected! BC, that was a terribly scary time you had, and I am so glad you straightened me and everyone else out. Thank you.
Joanna

BC
Thanks for the information. John finished radiation (35) and chemo in Sept of 2002. He had a radical neck in October. One node did not resolve in size. However the biopsy was negative on all tissue. John is not overweight either. His breathing problem started toward the end of his radiation and greatly increased after the surgery. We had a couple of scares since October. One was a severe and constant headache with vomiting. His doctor (she is very good) hospitalized him and called in a neuro on the team. John had MRI with contrast- also without. Chest xray and other tests. Everything was normal and the headache went away. That was four weeks ago. This week he went to his eye doctor for a simple cyst and his intracranial pressure is high. Back to the hospital and all tests repeated as well as a lumbar punch.We are waiting the results at home but were told that the spinal fluid is clear (that's good).

In the meantime, my brother who is a surgeon, ventured the opinion that the removal of the juglar vein is the cause of the increased pressure. He said that the body will eventually enlarge the interior juglar vein and other supporting veins to accomodate.

We question why the neck surgeon at Moffitt cancer clinic did not warn us of this as a potential problem but my brother said that there are too many potentials to warn of all. I like to know everything I can. Anyway we are waiting the results. I want to go over the sleep problem with the neuro as well.

John is having a swallowing study done at Moffitt on Friday next week and I will also bring it up there.

Interesting that internet medical literature also lists apnea as one of the consequences of juglar ligation.

Thanks again BC. I'll let the forum know what happens.
Meredith

Excellent information Meredith, and some which has not been shared here before. The issue of the internal jugular picking up the slack is an interesting one, but I believe that there is a significant time lapse involved before the body completes any compensation of consequence. Side effects from vacular surgery can be significant. I have talked with several who have had dizzyness, fainting, nausea and dizzyness onsets from rapid head movements or just rising from a supine position.

There are dental appliances for people that have Sleep Apnea problems. My husband and I have a dental lab and he often makes appliance for people who have that specific problem.

Meredith,
I hope all goes well with you and your husband. We are about 6 months post treatments and my husband is really back to "normal". Good sleeping and eating (although still complains of dry mouth.) It is interesting to note that the jugular surgery might have been the cause of the cranial pressure and possible the apnea. It is also interesting to note that he had rad/chemo first and then surgery second. My husband had surgery first (radical neck as well as cancer lesion from base of tongue.) and did not develop breathing problems until well into and after the radiation. That is why we believed it was the swelling from the radiation and from increased and thickened mucus that caused the problem and not surgery. (It was at least 8 weeks after surgery that he developed the problems.)
Please let us know what your doctors and the swallow clinic say about the breathing/sleep problems. Take care.
BC