I was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea four to five years ago. I was given a CPAP which I used for approximately two weeks before giving up on it altogether. I know enough others like myself to realize lots of people are frustrated by CPAP machines, and I’m far from the first person to abandon mine.
Unfortunately, despite losing 30 pounds since that original diagnosis, my problem has not gone away. I still have apnea. It’s still Bad News. I’m giving some serious thought to trying to go back on the wagon. The likely result would be another sleep study, followed by being put back on my CPAP (or, really, on a new machine, since my current one is probably in a sad state of repair).
Since I know what a hard time I had with my last one, though (and that was trying several masks), I’m not looking forward to the idea. I am not a fan of the masks themselves, but even more than that, I always struggled with the air tube getting in the way whenever I’d turn over. I don’t have much hope that technology in this area has advanced a great deal.
While I’m somewhat resigned to having to go back to the CPAP anyway, I’d like to hear from anyone who has used something OTHER than a CPAP to treat their apnea, whether it was successful or not. Tell me about your experiences with alternatives!
I snore like a buzz saw, and have absolutely no obstructive sleep apnea, despite being fat.
Anecdotally my sleep tech told me it may be because firstly, I never seem to roll on my back when I am wallowing around asleep in bed. I go from that leg out supporting the body on the left, to on my face, to leg support on the right. I also have trained myself to sleep with my mouth slightly open [I am normally a sleep mouth breather and have bruxism, so i trained myself to stop grinding my teeth at night by forcing myself to sleep with my jaws in the correct position, which opens the airway]
Perhaps a change in sleep position and one of the jaw repositioners might help?
Sleep apnea can have many causes and has many treatments other than a CPAP machine. But said treatments are generally based on the underlying mechanism.
For obstructive sleep apnea, one of the most helpful things is to lose weight. It generally takes a weight loss of between 15 to 30 lbs to make a difference, but a significant improvement is often seen. Sadly, that wasn’t the OP’s case.
Sometimes nasal medications can help, particular nasal steroids, or topical nasal decongestants.
Medications which depress central nervous system function, like opiates, benzos, barbiturates, alcohol and others, contribute to sleep apnea. Stopping these drugs can help.
Even just a change in position can help. A wedge, to keep a person on their side, or sewing a tennis ball into the back of the pajama top, can help some folks.
A dental appliance may be helpful to lift the jaw and bring it forward.
One of these http://splintek.com/ph/sleepright.html solved my problem. It keeps my teeth apart just enough to open the airway. Definitely preferable to the CPAP.
I don’t have personal anecdotes to share about alternative treatments, because I don’t mind my CPAP. However, I do work as a lab assistant in a sleep center. I input results, prescriptions, and follow-ups into our records, so I do see information from a lot of people. The following are some generalizations based on that info:
As mentioned, losing weight can have an effect. I know that you said you lost but still have apnea, but there’s a chance that you have reduced the severity of it – which is good because that may make a difference of whether or not other options help.
The only alternate treatment that’s helped a decent percentage of those that try it are oral appliances (mandibular advancing devices/appliances). This applies to the prescription/individualized type (you’ll likely have a sleep study done to determine your optimal advancement. MADs seem to work best on patients with mild to moderate apnea; if it’s severe you’ll probably need PAP therapy.
Over-the-counter or generic dental devices don’t seem to provide much help. If it helps a particular patient is more a matter of luck than anything else.
UPPP, a form of plastic surgery to reconfigure the upper palate, is rarely, if ever, successful for apnea. The most you can really hope from it is to cure snoring. In fact, a good percentage of patients who have this end up with apnea that is more severe (though this may be due to sleeping better as they are more familiar with the environment during a second test).
These have both helped me tremendously. I’ve elevated my head’s sleep position as well as have a prescription appliance originally purchased for teeth grinding. My sleep is a 100 times better with these simple changes.
CPAP, UPPP, and a dental device were all not effective at reducing my apnea, so I had a tracheostomy.
It is not me, but a good website for more information is here:
Nothing relevant to add, as I have absolutely no experience with sleep apnea.
I just wanted to say that I misread the title of this thread as CRAP alternatives, and was in a state of severe beffuzlement (most probably not a real word) for a while.
I appreciate all of the feedback so far! Khadaji, you’re the second person to send that to me. I’ve been wanting to try it, but so far, I’ve never remembered before going to sleep.
I wore a CPAP machine for several months, and was never successful in sleeping more than 5 hours a night. I’d fight it and struggle and lie awake with the damn thing on. My therapist got me on an APAP machine for a two week study and following the study switched me to a BiPAP machine. It has made a world of difference. You should see if you can get a BiPAP or APAP.
When my husband cut back his alcohol consumption to only one or two drinks a week, his snoring decreased from LOUD to almost nonexistent. He still uses his CPAP machine, though, so I can’t say if it help with the apnea or not.
Several years ago I was diagnosed with very mild sleep apnea after a sleep study that found that the instances of apnea and hypopnea almost all occurred when I was sleeping on my back.
The doctor prescribed that I take a T-shirt, sew a pocket on the back, and put a tennis ball in the pocket so that when I rolled on my back the ball would make me turn over.
I wore the shirt (actually, I made two) for several months, and after that I stopped rolling onto my back and haven’t done so since.
