My Life and Sleep Apnea

If you have sleep apnea then you know that the number one way to eliminate it is by using a CPAP mask. Surgery can also be used but it doesn’t always work and the recovery period can be very long. Of course with the CPAP mask you will definitely have to take time to get used to the air being pushed into your mouth by the CPAP machine. Some at first struggle with it and then get used to it while others find it impossible to use. So what if you can’t use a CPAP and you are very leery of surgery, then what do you do? While it might not completely cure your sleep apnea there are things that you can do to lessen the extent of it.  Although not everyone who has sleep apnea is overweight but the vast majority are. While it is easier said than done, losing weight would be a big help. The tissue in your throat wouldn’t be as bad as it was when you were heavier. Not a cure but it will help.   Throat exercises can also be helpful because it tightens the muscles in ...

If you have sleep apnea then you probably searched out every possible remedy imaginable. From mouth exercises to playing the didgeridoo to more traditional cures such as surgery and the CPAP machine. It is a lot to consider because some things work for some folks and others don’t. Surgery, at least some surgery, can take a long time to recover from and may only have a small chance at working. The usual fix for sleep apnea is the CPAP machine, which also has issues for many sleep apnea sufferers, such as not being able to get used to the mask and the air blowing down your airway. Another option would be dental devices , but from what I have read in the past their success has only been minimal. A new study is suggesting that may not be true. According to a press release from the website ihatecpap.com “CPAP can no longer be considered the "Gold Standard" of treatment for mild to moderate sleep apnea. There is a rapidly changing dynamic in the field of sleep medicine. It ...

Sleep apnea occurs when there is a blockage in the airway in the back of the throat. Here is a rundown of basic sleep apnea cures . The most popular and the one that a lot of people find difficult to adjust to is the CPAP machine. Continuous positive airway pressure pushes air into the throat at a rate that keeps the airway in the back of the mouth open. There are variations on the cpap such as the bipap and the apap. The differences are how the air is directed into the throat.  Dental devices are sometimes used to keep the airway open. Usually dental devices are only used for mild cases of sleep apnea.  Surgery is usually considered after the cpap fails. Three types of surgery are Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP), Maxillomandibular advancement and somnoplasty. UPPP and the MAX surgeries recovery times are rather long and there isn’t any guarantees that it works.   Losing weight will definitely help sleep apnea will help some people but not all because thin peo...

If you have read any of my blog you probably know that I failed two times trying to use the cpap machine. The mask was uncomfortable and the air blowing in my mouth was something that I never got used to. Fortunately there are many who have been able to make the cpap work for them. But one problem that a regular cpap user would have to deal with is keeping the cpap mask and hose clean , and it would have to be clean enough to avoid infections . The most obvious answer to fighting off germs and diseases on the cpap mask is to clean the mask and hose on a regular basis. But is that enough to kill all germs? It would as long as you clean it a regular basis and clean it thoroughly because there are millions of airborne viruses and bacteria just waiting to land into your cpap mask. What kind of illnesses can you get with a dirty cpap mask? Probably the most common illness is the sinus infection along with ear infections and maybe even bronchitis. I never had any of those problems but...

As I have mentioned in a previous post my father had sleep apnea. I believe that his sleep apnea played a part in his heart problems and subsequent fatal heart attack. That was in 1977. No one at that time even mentioned that he might have had sleep apnea. Of course people have been suffering from this sleep disorder for a long time. Treatments for sleep apnea are relatively new. The history of sleep apnea Strangely enough the first mention of sleep apnea came in a round about way from literature. A 20th century physician, William Osler, a fan of Charles Dickens, noticed that one of the characters in the Pickwick Papers had a sleeping disorder that now could be considered Obstructive Sleep Apnea . Osler referred to patients who had similar problems as “Pickwickian. “ In 1965 a group of French Doctors, lead by Dr. Gastault determined that the interruption of sleep happened over and over again every night. In 1978 a Harvard Physician Dr. John Remmer made the connection between th...

There are many sleep apnea treatments and procedures; here are just a few of the main ones. The easy way to help with your sleep apnea is to lose weight . It probably won’t completely end your sleep apnea but it should help, although if you have central sleep apnea this wouldn’t help. The chin strap is simple device that fits around the top of the head and around your chin. The idea behind it is to keep your mouth shut. Some people use it with the cpap machine others just by itself. Dental devices fit in your mouth at night in order to keep the airway open. This is usually only effective with mild sleep apnea. Somnoplasty is a procedure that uses a radio frequency directed at the soft palate and the uvula. This in effect stiffens the soft palate eliminating the snoring. This is an outpatient procedure. Another outpatient surgery is the laser assisted uvula palatoplasty or LAUP . This procedure vaporizes the soft palate and the uvula. Done on an outpatient basis it takes more...

Well I have another appointment set up in about 3 weeks to see another doctor about my sleep apnea. I was referred to by the doctor who handles my meniere’s disease. I am a little hesitant to give it another try considering all the trouble that I have had in the past with sleep studies and cpap and bipap. But I am going to try again . I really have to because of my age and my family’s history with heart disease it doesn’t make sense not to try to do something. I thought about going to a dentist but from what I have read dental devices are mostly for folks who have mild apnea. I don’t have mild apnea, from the past sleep studies I fall in the severe category. I can’t remember how many times I woke up every hour but the number was high. My meniere’s doctor asked how long ago it was since I had a sleep study. I told him it was last October. He wanted me to get a copy of the result and bring it to my sleep apnea doctor. As I remember the sleep study was a bit of a bust because I had a ...

I turned fifty-one in January and I felt like I was a lot older than that. Not only do I have the problems with sleep apnea, I also have Meniere’s disease . I also blog about my Meniere’s disease; which I started at the same time as the sleep apnea blog. Right now my meniere’s is getting better; at least it seems that it is getting better. I haven’t had any attacks lately, so that’s good. And I am finding myself under the same stress as millions of Americans in that my job may be ending soon. So even without sleep apnea I probably wouldn’t get much rest. I think that I am at a turning point where I have to do something about not getting enough rest. I have been able to get by without a lot of sleep for many years. It’s been difficult with the illnesses and that fact that I am a father of a seven year old son. But now I am starting to worry about my heart and whether it can last at least for another 15 years so I can see my son graduate from college. My own father died when I was 19,...

There is a new device that is supposed to help sleep apnea patients. It is called MAD (mandibular advancement device). The device fits in the mouth and pushes the jaw forward preventing the airway from being blocked. Researchers in Korea have found that this device’s success rate was 74% in their study. The interesting part was that it worked better with those patients that had severe sleep apnea. That’s great but I wonder why we haven’t heard more about this. If it is a successful alternative to using CPAP this should be a big story. I did a search on this device and it has been around awhile. It’s similar to other dental devices but I guess the study in Korea seems to have given more credence. If anyone uses this device or knows anything about let me know in the comment section. Thanks