My Life and Sleep Apnea

If you are like me you have tried many things to help with your sleep apnea. Throat exercises , losing weight, cpap masks are among the few things that I have tried, although I haven’t tried to play the didgeridoo (maybe some day). I am now wondering if my sleep apnea would be better if I changed pillows. Like most people who have sleep apnea and acid reflux I sleep with 2, sometimes 3 pillows stacked behind my head. That seems to help relieve the acid reflux more than the sleep apnea because with my head pushed forward my throat becomes even more blocked. If I don’t have the pillows my head leans back and my throat does seem more open but the acid reflux would really be worse. Years ago I slept on my stomach, it was bad on my back but I got a lot more rest. Unfortunately my back problems put an end to that. And I have also tried sleeping my side but with Meniere’s disease that sometimes throw off my balance. I am thinking about changing pillows. Does anyone have any suggest...

I have dealt with sleep apnea for the past 10 years. If you have read my blog (and I hope that you have) you will know that I have been to several doctors and I have tried both the cpap and the bipap without much luck. This past year has been rough for me because I am still trying to get my meniere’s disease under control. I have had some success; this year has been a lot better than last year. So that’s good. But in the back of my mind I always think of how much sleep apnea has held me back. But this feeling isn’t anything new. I knew that I had a problem with my sleeping because my wife had mentioned how strange my snoring was and I also was extremely tired each morning. In 1999, I started on my quest to finding the solution to my sleep apnea problems and that first attempt was definitely a failure. The cpap experience was bad. Looking back I probably could have tried harder but that mask just wasn’t going to work. I then ignored the problem as best I could for another 2 years til...

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 ...