What medications help treat snoring?

There are few, if any, medicines that help snoring. It is far more likely for medications to make snoring worse, because they cause you to sleep more deeply. Snoring can be a sign of a more serious condition, such as sleep apnea. If you snore, it may be important to be checked by a doctor before trying any home remedies.
Medications to help treat snoring may include cold or allergy medications if a cold or allergy is causing the snoring, or antibiotics or other medications to clear up a sinus infection, if that's what is causing you to snore. However, if the medicine causes drowsiness (like some antihistamines), it may act like a sleeping pill and increase the risk of snoring, in which case a nondrowsy medicine may be preferable.

In most cases, snoring is treated with non-drug therapies, such as changing your sleep position, losing weight if you need to, exercising to improve muscle tone and avoiding things that make snoring more likely, such as drinking alcohol before bed or taking sleeping pills. Surgery may also be recommended if your snoring is caused by a structural problem in your nose, mouth or throat.

If your snoring is connected to sleep apnea (pauses in breathing during sleep that last 10 seconds or longer), your doctor may recommend continuous positive airway pressure therapy, which causes a steady flow of air into the lungs, keeping the airway open and stopping sleep apnea and snoring.

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