Peace at last? Sorry no I might sleep in the car! (Helps Stop Snoring Throat Rinse)

Member Name: Machair1

Product:	Helps Stop Snoring Throat Rinse
Date:	12/05/09 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well none except you show you are trying!

Disadvantages: It didn't do anything.

When my children were small they had a wonderful book called "Peace At Last" which told a beautiful story of how a certain Mr bear had to sleep in the car to escape the sound of Mrs Bear's snoring! Well a lot of nights this could be me!

My husband is a serial snorer, he does it mainly when work pressures are heavy resulting in long days, and so he goes to bed shattered. Within a few seconds the tell tales signs begin, and despite all my best efforts, the nightmare starts, and the noise can be heard all over our village. It is quite deafening.

Now from a medical perspective there are many causes of snoring which range from allergies and nasal stuffiness, to over eating and drinking, as well as simply adopting the wrong sleeping position. There are a whole host of causes and a great place to start to find out how to help yourself is to visit www.britishsnoring.co.uk. This is a fantastic website which has so much information, and they act as advisors to the medical profession, and certainly claim that it is a treatable condition. They even have some easy little tests to see if you can ascertain the cause and suggest the possible remedies.

Recently there was a National Stop Snoring Week and it ran from 20th to 25th April!

In my husband's case I am sure overwork is the culprit because as soon as he is relaxed and on holiday the problem stops, but we have also had great success by going to bed earlier than normal, having a warm milky bedtime soothing drink, playing calming music, and generally unwinding before bed. He is much worse if he goes on the computer, or watches adrenaline filled films, or even has long phone calls prior to bed, so I am sure that simple measures such as preparing for sleep, as you would for a young baby, encourages relaxation and so promotes calm and peaceful nights.

However in recent times when his snoring has got me shattered we have tired a few remedies from the chemist, and one we tried recently is called "Helps Stop Snoring Throat Rinse". I bought this from Boots and it has a sticker on the bottle claiming it is new, but having checked on Dooyoo I see it has been reviewed as far back as 2001, but the product they reviewed you dissolved in water, whereas this is the actual mouth rinse made up.

The company have a website called www.stopsnoring.co.uk and here it tells us that 15 million people in the UK have this problem.

The remedy they make for this is a blend of eleven essential oils, and the recipe is a closely guarded secret, but the main ingredients which are thought to be effective are Eucalyptus, Peppermint, and Lemon balm. According to the website when you sleep as you relax, the muscles in the back of the throat lose their tone and they vibrate as you breathe in and out, this mixture claims to retone it and so prevent this from happening.

In clinical trials involving 140 snorers and their partners the mouth rinse had an 82% success rate, and this was a full double blind clinical test conducted by a leading ear, nose and throat surgeon.

So my husband was eager to try this and as I had paid £6.49 in Boots I had high hopes as it promised me 25 peaceful nights!

He went into the bathroom and gargled with it for 15-20 seconds after cleaning teeth reporting back to me that the taste was rather like Listerine. You are not supposed to eat or drink afterwards of course. Now the thing is it's not romantic, and really I have to say it is a foul thing to be doing just before bed, a real passion killer, so I would be discreet with it if you are hoping for romance.

The taste is fine according to hubby, but the sad thing is it made no difference whatsoever to his snoring at all. I am sure this could help some people and I think anything is worth trying as I have friends who actually sleep in separate rooms because of this, and at least trying to help the problem acknowledges the stress the other half feels when they are subjected to this night after night. We did everything it said including not eating or drinking after use so nothing wrong with our technique. The only positive point was that it created fresh smelling breath!

It is always a good idea to have a word with the GP if you have persistent snoring as just occasionally it can be a sign of something more serious such as sleep apnoea or nasal polyps, but in general it is something much less serious and often is only a problem for the bed partner who suffers in silence whilst the other half blissfully sleeps! On a more serious note if you have allergies, are pregnant, or suffer from epilepsy, or are on any other medications then speak to your doctor first before using this.

I haven't gone to the car yet! Luckily with hubby it's occasional and we have identified the cause, but in our case natural preparations for bed such as generally unwinding seem to be more effective than treatments like this which are also expensive.

I think it's brilliant to hear that they had a National Stop Snoring Week! At least they are raising awareness of a very common ailment.

As for this remedy well it didn't do anything for us, but I would say I would try it if you have this problem, as at least it shows you are making an effort to fix the problem which if your other half sees, it really does give them a message you are trying. Sadly for us this was expensive and totally useless.

Hubby did try it and used the entire bottle over the 25 long nights, but to no avail. I might just have to crash out in the Mitsubishi soon if it continues! It's our old car we bought to ferry the family 10 years ago, and with all the uni trips we do it is still in service. The seats fold flat to make a bed, but the neighbours might talk, so I'll avoid that for now! If you see a middle aged women dosing in an old jalopy then it could just be me!

Summary: I found no solace in this but it might work for you!