Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with apnea

Has anyone had success treating sleep apnea without a CPAP (or surgery)?

tastybrains — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:00:04 -0800

Has anyone successfully used non-surgical alternatives to CPAP therapy (oral appliances, special pillows, etc) for treatment of mild-to-moderate sleep apnea, or been able to stop CPAP therapy after losing weight? (Note: Surgery is not an option, I do not have severe apnea, and my doctor even told me it wasn't worth considering.)

I was recently diagnosed with mild-to-moderate sleep apnea after a sleep study. It had actually surprised me, as in the 6 months between when the study was ordered and when it actually happened, I had lost ~25 lbs and according to my husband hadn't been snoring at all anymore (I used to snore like a "chainsaw" apparently). Anyway...

I was given a CPAP machine along with a nasal pillows-style mask. I've tried to use it several times over the past 3 weeks, and I loathe it. I feel like I'm suffocating no matter whether the machine is on, off, or doing it's "ramping up" thing. I've forced myself to keep it on for hours, and I've fallen asleep with it a couple times, but I always wake up within an hour, and always with a tremendous headache. I'm at the point where just thinking about trying to sleep with it again makes me feel like crying.

I am planning to ask about getting a nose & mouth mask to see if it's the fact that I can't breathe through my mouth that makes me feel like I'm suffocating...but in the meantime, I'm just feeling VERY discouraged and miserable about the whole thing. I don't even have severe apnea ... I know there are some alternatives!

But I am having trouble finding first-hand accounts of people successfully using them. Also, I am having trouble finding accounts of people ever stopping CPAP therapy after starting it. Even people who have lost a lot of weight. And I find this really discouraging...

Has anyone here used (or known someone who used) alternatives to CPAP for sleep apnea with success? Has anyone ever been able to stop using CPAP therapy after losing weight (or anything else)?

How can I stop swallowing air when I use my CPAP?

lukemeister — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 12:59:46 -0800

I have severe sleep apnea (apnea/hypopnea index 66). I've tried various CPAPs (currently a REMstar Auto M Series with C-Flex) and masks (full-face, nasal pillow, currently a nasal mask). The problem is that for every combination of machine and mask, I wake up in an hour or two, generally having swallowed a lot of air, and stop using the CPAP for the night. The respiratory tech says that it's working when I use it - index as low as 6, which is well within the normal range - but I'm so uncomfortable when I wake up that it's very hard to put the mask back on. Suggestions? Once or twice I have managed to use the CPAP all night, and I have not felt better than when I don't use it. The doctor's latest idea is for me to take a sleeping pill right before I put on the mask.

Advice for sleep apnea please.

the ghost of Ken Lay — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 22:35:19 -0800

Sleep apnea sufferers: Advice needed. Whats it like to have sleep apnea? What treatments have you been given? I was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea with 15.8 respiratory events per hour on average. More on my side and less while sleeping on my back. I now have an appointment for another sleep study to find out what pressure cpap works for me. In the meantime I could use some real life testimonies about this condition to help round out my research.

Can you tell me how you got diagnosed (symptoms) and what treatment felt like. Did it work? Did you use any alternative to cpap? Did losing weight or anything else help?

Also if you could include your events per hour that would be great. I'm not sure how bad 15.8 is. Its only been described to me as being moderate.

Some more details if it helps:

Time slept: 307 minutes out of 329 minutes
Latency to sleep: 8.5 minutes
REM latency: 89.5 minutes
Stage 1 sleep: took 7.3% of sleep time
Stage 2 sleep: took 72.8%
Delate sleep: .5 percent
Stage REM sleep: took up 19.4% sleep time
Total arousal: 8.6 events per hour

Overall apnea index: 15.8
oxyhemoglobin desaturation to a nadir of : 85%
Supine sleep: 19.9 AHI
Lateral sleep: 9.2 AHI
During REM: 22.2 AHI
Non-REM: 14.3 AHI
Mean Heart Rate: 75 bpm

FWIW, I slept very well there because when I got there I was pretty damn sleep deprived. I usually dont sleep this well.

Any advice and info would be greatly appreciate. Thanks!

pediatricians & parents, tell me of toddler tonsils

oigocosas — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 22:25:37 -0800

our 2.5 yo son has giant tonsils and sleep apnea. listening to his labored breathing hurts us. contemplating a tonsilectomy on such a little guy hurts us, too. anybody wanna weigh in?

Seeking Help with Some CPAP/Apnea Issues

WCityMike — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 08:49:41 -0800

Do you have sleep apnea and use a CPAP machine, or do you know someone who does? Help a CPAP newbie who's having a rough ride by answering a few questions and/or giving advice. In advance, please excuse me for the length of this; I'm asking a number of questions, which is why this goes on for a bit.

My first question on Ask MeFi was about CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) shortly after being diagnosed with sleep apnea. I very much did not want to undergo CPAP therapy, and my life underwent some traumatic twists and turns, making it easy to push the therapy to the back burner. Recently, however, my doctor has made it clear I need to go back on it, and so after work on Monday, Walgreens Home Care dropped off a Respironics REMstar plus (with humidifier) and a medium ResMed Ultra Mirage Full Face Mask, which I've used for two nights.

First, both nights, I've woken up at least three times during the night, and, moreover, woken up fully conscious and alert. (This only happened rarely in pre-CPAP times.) In order to get back to sleep, I end up needing to essentially go from full consciousness to completely asleep each time, just as I would when I first lay down for the evening. Ideally, I'd love to be able to close my eyes with the CPAP machine on and wake up to the alarm in the morning, and get the full effects of an uninterrupted night's sleep, but that's not happened so far, and I'm quite concerned it won't. Although I have felt the positive effects of CPAP therapy despite the interruptions (I awoke yesterday not feeling as if I'd drunk a million cups of coffee, but nevertheless energetic; the effect is dampened somewhat today - not quite as good, perhaps light fatigue -- but my usual sensation of heavy fatigue seems absent), this nevertheless is a definite hit to my comfort, energy, etc., and I'm wondering when it's going to pass. (As a side question, my pillows seem to be sliding around a lot more than they used to; I'm less able to find a comfortable spot with my head and the pillow.)

Second, equal in severity and possibly related, I'm not sure how to prevent air leaks while remaining comfortable. I've familiarized myself with where and how to adjust the mask, but it seems like any slight change in position causes an air leak to occur, unless I cinch the mask extremely tight to my face. The training video depicts a man adjusting the mask and then being able to turn from side to side without readjusting; with me, even if I rest my head on my hand, it seems to alter my face enough that a leak manifests and I have to cinch the straps and/or adjust. This can alter my sleep; if I adjust myself to get comfortable to fall asleep, I suddenly have to start fiddling with the mask (in the dark) in order to end the leak. I should note that since I've breathed through my mouth for nearly my entire life, the nasal pillows or nasal mask is almost certainly not the route for me. (It was a big problem during my CPAP titration.) Is it a sign that the mask is too small? Too large? And is it acceptable for a leak to exist only during the exhale? I noticed last night that sometimes a "leak" seemed to appear only when I would exhale; if I put my finger near that spot when I was inhaling or not breathing, I detected no vent air coming out.

Third, and also nearly equal in severity, my nose has swiftly and quite severely broken out. Pardon the grossness (I'm not enthused about talking about this, either), but it went from (presumably) normal skin pre-CPAP, to a cluster of whiteheads after Monday night (although, admittedly, I only saw the whiteheads after applying moisturizer to the area), to an unpleasant state of affairs after last night. I get the sense that this is due not to the physical pressure of the mask on the bridge of my nose, but due to air pressure conditions inside the mask; I may be wrong, but where I'm breaking out seems to be not so much on the actual bridge of the nose where the mask is riding, but directly beneath it. When I Googled about this, one commenter advised a questioner that their skin would toughen up within a week's time. Is this the case, or can I expect the condition to just worsen?

Fourth, what is the easiest, simplest, most low-impact way of taking care of my equipment? I'm not very household-conscious or gung-ho about cleaning. The person dropping off the equipment did go through it with me, but I'd nevertheless appreciate your own experiences as to how you wash your equipment and how frequently.

Fifth, when I wake up a few hours before I would normally awake (say, around 4:00 am), it almost feels as if I am breathing normally and without the CPAP at all. Is this normal, i.e., my breathing having grown accustomed to the CPAP by that point? Or is it a mechanical thing, such as the machine "backing off" after a certain period of time? Or is it indicative of a seal problem?

Finally, and still quite importantly, I'm finding myself concerned that the CPAP machine will be a real blow against my attractiveness as a sexual and romantic partner for a woman. I understand that women do have an ability to look past things, but certainly there is also a surface assessment; I'm concerned that the idea of sleeping next to a man with CPAP equipment on his face is such a turn-off that I'll have great difficulty with romantic and sexual relationships in the future. Now, if you already loved the man in question, that would be one state of affairs - for example, if your husband or boyfriend was set up with CPAP after you began dating him, then the romance and the feelings were established first. But has anyone dealt with a situation where the CPAP was established prior to the relationship, and you had to deal with, at some point in the relationship, discussing the apnea and getting the partner acclimated to the idea of sleeping next to someone with equipment on their face?

To recount:

Waking up alert and conscious;
Preventing air leaks during casual movement;
Swift and severe acne outbreak on nose;
Taking care of equipment;
Feeling as if breathing is 'normal' after several hours of sleep; and
Sexual/romantic attractiveness.

Thanks, everyone.

Broke but suffering from sleep apnea.

SilverTail — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 17:54:56 -0800

Unemployed and uninsured but suffering from sleep apnea. What can I do? A few years ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. A CPAP machine was recommended to me, but I (foolishly) did not take the prescription because the thought of sleeping with a machine strapped to my face was appalling. Now, several years later, my apnea has become a serious problem!

Now I'm unemployed and uninsured. I need a CPAP, but aquiring a perscription would surely mean a visit to the doctor and most likely the sleep tests again. I simply can't afford it. What are my options?

Snort.

Dunwitty — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 14:41:11 -0800

Help me find a good sleep disorder clinic around SF (East Bay, hopefully). I think I have sleep apnea, and I'd like to know for sure, and get treatment. I'm assuming that I can really only confirm this at a sleep disorder clinic. Does anybody have recommendations for such clinics in the San Francisco area? If possible, I'd like East Bay (I'm in Pleasanton).

Yeah, I googled. Lot of noise in the results, and I'd especially like to hear recommendations from people who've used the various clinics.

How to deal with possible sleep apnea?

ORthey — Tue, 30 May 2006 15:46:45 -0800

Another question about sleep apnea - specifically about how to deal with the actual moment of waking up choking. Every few months or so I will wake up gasping for breath with tears streaming down my face and it takes me a very long time to be able to resume normal breathing enough to fall back to sleep. It's really, really terrible. I was told it could be apnea so I did a sleep study, but the doctor told me it wasn't (in a very unsatisfying two-sentence letter in the mail many weeks later).

In any case, my question is, for anyone else who experiences this - do you have any strategies with cluing your mind into what is happening immediately, maybe some breathing techniques? It always takes my mind a fairly long time to recognize what is going on and I feel like there must be a way to alleviate the problem.

Also, as a bonus, what could it be, since the doctor doesn't seem to think it's apnea?

Sleep Apnea Mouth Guard

spicynuts — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 08:40:26 -0800

Sleep Apnea filter: Looking for advice on how to get fitted for one of those mouth guards that apparantly keeps your airway open. Recently I read about a prescription mouth guard that is custom created for each patient that apparantly shifts the lower mandible forward while sleeping thus keeping the airway open. I can't for the life of me find where I read this, but I thought I recalled that an ENT is the person to talk to for a prescription. I just called an ENT and they have no idea what I'm talking about. Anyone know what I'm talking about or have experience with it? What kind of doctor do I need to speak with?

Some background: I've had several sleep tests and I have a CPAP, which is useless and which I've abandoned after trying numerous types and adjustments. So, I'm not looking for 'go get a sleep test' or 'go get a CPAP'. Also, I'd rather not pay the 15 bucks to sit in my sleep center's wait room for two hours just to get a referral. I'd like to just call and make my own appointment.

People's Experiences with Sleep Apnea & CPAP?

WCityMike — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 14:32:05 -0800

I was recently diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea. My CPAP titration will be done a week from Saturday. I am wondering if people could share their experiences with CPAP; from what I understand, it can give apnea sufferers a dramatic upsurge in their energy and can lower blood pressure. I'd especially appreciate any experiences that correlate with weight loss efforts, as well as any experiences about CPAP treatment affecting people's teeth. (I don't think it does, but I did find one person's experience in Google with regards to their teeth feeling odd.) Finally, any advice current users of CPAP could offer would be appreciated regardless of subject, whether it be good models, tips to getting used to it, or anything else you'd like to share.

Tell me about Sleep Apnea

five fresh fish — Sun, 20 Jun 2004 18:00:46 -0800

Sleep Apnea... some, ooh, let's say about 5% of the population has it. I'm starting to think I might, too: not feeling rested in the morning, snoring at night, breathing stops irregularly, etcetera. Anyone got personal experiences, stories, or advice to offer? I'm not running to the doctor yet... unless y'all scare me into it! footnote: the continuous feeling of "tired" could also be a side-effect of Celexa, my anti-depressant. The not-breathing, on the other hand, probably isn't...