My doctor (and his) said the in his case the alcohol relaxed some of the muscles (in the soft palatte? or somewhere) and that is why is got a bit better as the night wore on and he sweated,etc it out of his system...oh yes; the dreams,talking,etc...
My dad has sleep apnea and uses one of those machines.he even had AH and I go with him to hear the sleep M>D> talk about it...it helped him alot and he feels so much better now that he (my dad) can get some rest at night.
AH is still drinking....