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Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
CPAP
Posted by:
Disability09
()
Date: December 17, 2018 05:47PM
How do you treat sleep apnea without CPAP?
Re: CPAP
Posted by:
Dickembe
()
Date: December 17, 2018 05:49PM
In the absence of cpap there are a couple of things that you can try to alleviate some of your apneas but none of these will be a long term fix. When you talk about sleep apnea I assume you are reffering to obstructive sleep apnea as opposed to central apneas.
1. You could try not sleeping on your back (supine). The airway is much more prone to collapse when sleeping in the supine possition. It sounds odd but you can sow a tenninsball to your sleeping shirt's back to make it uncomfortable to sleep on you back. Some people have apneas in any possition, but the back is often the worst.
2. If you have to sleep on your back you could try sleeping in the Fowler's possition. This is a fancy way of saying that your head must be at a 45 degree angle or higher to you chest. This can be achieved by propping your head up with a number of pillows. This teqnique is often used by nurses on patients in the recovery ward after anesthesia and extubation when the airway is very prone to collapse.
3. You could try making your own chinstrap by binding your jaw up with a bandage or something similair around the head and jaw. This support can also sometimes keep the airway open enough to prevent apnea.
4. You could look at over the counter mandibular advancement devices. These have the effect of pulling the lower jaw forward and oppening up the airway to prevent apnea. My experience is that these less expensive devices are only effective for cosmetic snoring or very mild apnea. (AHI < 7)
5. There are some people that suggest that playing the Didgeridoo instrument could strengthen the airway muscles and cure apnea. I have been playing Didgeridoo for over 15 years and have to use cpap every night. I have not heard of anybody that have completely cured apnea by this method.
6. A lot of times obstructive sleep apnea is caused by execessive fat around the upper airway. I have witnessed some patients in my career that have become "cured" from osa by loosing enough weight. It is very important to mention that weight gain is very often a symptom of osa and not neccesarily a cause.
7. If all else fails check out http://healthyhowardmd.org/blog/are-your-cpap-masks-and-sleeping-positions-compatible/ to learn much more about symptoms.
1. You could try not sleeping on your back (supine). The airway is much more prone to collapse when sleeping in the supine possition. It sounds odd but you can sow a tenninsball to your sleeping shirt's back to make it uncomfortable to sleep on you back. Some people have apneas in any possition, but the back is often the worst.
2. If you have to sleep on your back you could try sleeping in the Fowler's possition. This is a fancy way of saying that your head must be at a 45 degree angle or higher to you chest. This can be achieved by propping your head up with a number of pillows. This teqnique is often used by nurses on patients in the recovery ward after anesthesia and extubation when the airway is very prone to collapse.
3. You could try making your own chinstrap by binding your jaw up with a bandage or something similair around the head and jaw. This support can also sometimes keep the airway open enough to prevent apnea.
4. You could look at over the counter mandibular advancement devices. These have the effect of pulling the lower jaw forward and oppening up the airway to prevent apnea. My experience is that these less expensive devices are only effective for cosmetic snoring or very mild apnea. (AHI < 7)
5. There are some people that suggest that playing the Didgeridoo instrument could strengthen the airway muscles and cure apnea. I have been playing Didgeridoo for over 15 years and have to use cpap every night. I have not heard of anybody that have completely cured apnea by this method.
6. A lot of times obstructive sleep apnea is caused by execessive fat around the upper airway. I have witnessed some patients in my career that have become "cured" from osa by loosing enough weight. It is very important to mention that weight gain is very often a symptom of osa and not neccesarily a cause.
7. If all else fails check out http://healthyhowardmd.org/blog/are-your-cpap-masks-and-sleeping-positions-compatible/ to learn much more about symptoms.
Re: CPAP
Posted by:
Insanity
()
Date: December 17, 2018 08:28PM
Good post by Dickembe covered everything except surgery (impants), which I think is kind of a last resort solution. You might try a counter mandibular advancement device (e.g., ZQuiet), but if you have severe apnea, it probably won't work. Still, worth a try.
But why not CPAP? CPAP works and is the best solution we have today. Yeah, I understand that for a lot of folks it's very uncomfortable at first. My sister was like that. But hang in there for a month and I bet you will get very used to it. Too many folks give up too soon.
Good luck.
But why not CPAP? CPAP works and is the best solution we have today. Yeah, I understand that for a lot of folks it's very uncomfortable at first. My sister was like that. But hang in there for a month and I bet you will get very used to it. Too many folks give up too soon.
Good luck.