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Ask HN: Can you share your experience with sleep apnea?

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Re: Ask HN: Can you share your experience with sleep apnea?

#31

Post by cko »

surds wrote: post #29
armatav wrote: post #28

Absolute slow death - underweight, 50 AHI, CPAP pressure any higher resulted in aerophagia, any lower resulted in the soft tissue compressing my throat. Had the MMA done after three TPD expansions, now no longer need the CPAP, sleep a lot better and run every day. No joke, I would rather have fought a bout of cancer than have been slept to death like that for years. My solemn advice to anyone with a severely high AHI…

I have Sleep Apnea, use CPAP daily since about 6 years now and it has been a life-changing experience. Sucks to have been sleepy and tired for all the years I can remember. Can you elaborate on what MMA and TDP expansions are? Where are you (or the doc you refer) located? I am completely fine with using CPAP, but if I don’t need it at all, that would be even better.

(Not the OP)

For those of us who are not overweight or don't have deviated septums (the usual culprits), we probably have underdeveloped lower jaws and recessed chins.

These collapse on the airway when we sleep on our backs. MMA (maxillo mandibular advancement I think) is a surgical way of moving your jaw bones forward.

I had this done in a clinic in Seoul, as my US insurance was crappy and wouldn't cover the peocedure.

It's an uncomfortable recovery process but there's been improvements.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share your experience with sleep apnea?

#33

Post by airbreather »

My step son was 17 years old, 6'5" and 300 pounds (140kg).

He got the sleep apnea face mask CPAP for sleeping, started losing a bit of weight very quickly, got encouraged and revised hs diet and started going to the gym regularly (but not obsessively or anything) and in 9 months was down to just over 200 pounds (95kg).

I can't rememeber when he stopped the CPAP, but was no more than 3 months in.

He's now 26 years old, maintained all the weight loss throughout and and still goes to the gym and goes indoor climbing regularly. He still pays attention to diet, but basically eats what he wants a significant portion of the time.

I don't think he could have done it without starting the CPAP first, it's hard to say for sure, but it definately had an impact almost straight away.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share your experience with sleep apnea?

#35

Post by anongraddebt »

verdagon wrote: post #27
anongraddebt wrote: post #6

Trazadone cured it for me. My respiratory arousal threshold was low - due to sleep apnea. Trazadone raised the threshold significantly. I just need 12.5mg before bed.

Did Trasodone cure the sleep apnea itself or the low threshold?

I still have sleep apnea, but the symptoms are entirely gone.

I became a different person after taking the medication. Even after just a couple nights.

It’s quite remarkable how you are mentally and physically when you’ve never slept.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share your experience with sleep apnea?

#36

Post by throwaway191999 »

throwawayosa wrote: post #10
throwaway191999 wrote: post #2

Yes. To make a long story short, it was a lifestyle change that solved it for me. Basically my sleep apnea was due to irritation in my airways due to stomach acid leaking towards the throat at night, while laying down. That stomach acid was going up because of high levels of work stress and late evening meals, as well as unhealthy snacking (though I am a healthy and active individual, the effect was there). I now nev…

Thanks for sharing your story. Did you try taking meds (like PPI) for acid reflux?

Yes, and they did help when the reflux was worse. But I only needed them for a while and then stopped taking them completely.

I still keep a Tums by my bed at night but very rarely use it. I also keep a bottle of water, and usually that's sufficient to ease any irritation.

Another thing I remembered after writing the original - is that I reduced alcohol consumption to basically zero. I would drink a beer once in a a few weeks before that, but now - zero.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share your experience with sleep apnea?

#37

Post by zippy9002 »

I suspect unbeknownst to me I was suffering of sleep apnea for a long long time. A few years ago I got diagnosed with extreme sleep apnea and I started CPAP therapy.

It is night and day. 3-4h of sleep with my machine is worth any amount of sleep whiteout it. And a proper night make me feel so good.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share your experience with sleep apnea?

#38

Post by evilbob93 »

I tried to use a CPAP 15 years ago but it didn't work for me because of the noise and the fact that I had long hair and it felt like i was trapped in it and it was difficult to get it all right so i felt comfortable going to sleep.

a few years ago I got another one, and didn't like it at first. Turned out that I needed the mask that covers my nose and mouth because I am a mouth breather. Getting a different mask made a big difference.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share your experience with sleep apnea?

#39

Post by throwawayokzzz »

throwawayosa wrote: post #26
throwawayokzzz wrote: post #17

I am thin and not the typical profile for sleep apnea. I started waking up in the middle of the night with severe hand pain, needing to urinate (nocturia) and had a headache in the morning despite getting 8 plus hours. Doctor sent me to the sleep lab. Unrelated, I thought to myself, but submitted. The lab said the hand pain was a red herring, thought it was neck related, and gave me a home test. Results came back, mi…

Do you mind sharing what mouth appliance you are using?

I use PureSleep, a boil and bite style device, and not the best for adjustment, since it only has three settings (each about 3 mm apart, from 0 to 9 mm). I had to cut it apart to adjust it after the first fitting.

Better options may be SnoreRx Plus (1 mm adjustment, from 1 to 6 mm) or VitalSleep (1 mm, from 1 to 8 mm) which allow for easy adjustment, no cutting required.

Note that none of these devices are rated for sleep apnea. However, the cost is $60-100, whereas a fully FDA-approved device runs about $2000. And not everyone who has sleep apnea can benefit from an oral appliance. You don't know until you experiment with one, and it can be money wasted. So I felt justified in trying a cheaper one out off-label to see if it helped alleviate my problem before investing a lot of money. I'm still considering paying for the more expensive one since they are FDA approved, seem less bulky, and may be less likely to cause tooth movement in the long run.

Re: Ask HN: Can you share your experience with sleep apnea?

#40

Post by armatav »

surds wrote: post #29
armatav wrote: post #28

Absolute slow death - underweight, 50 AHI, CPAP pressure any higher resulted in aerophagia, any lower resulted in the soft tissue compressing my throat. Had the MMA done after three TPD expansions, now no longer need the CPAP, sleep a lot better and run every day. No joke, I would rather have fought a bout of cancer than have been slept to death like that for years. My solemn advice to anyone with a severely high AHI…

I have Sleep Apnea, use CPAP daily since about 6 years now and it has been a life-changing experience. Sucks to have been sleepy and tired for all the years I can remember. Can you elaborate on what MMA and TDP expansions are? Where are you (or the doc you refer) located? I am completely fine with using CPAP, but if I don’t need it at all, that would be even better.

Sure, I’m in Palo Alto - so’s the doctor.

MMA is maxomandibular advancement. They make fine cuts in the upper and lower jaw, move them forward, and secure them in place with titanium bars. Sounds painful, really was the least painful surgery I have had so far - but the most logistically challenging (chocolate milk for 6 weeks straight).

TPD is transpalatial distraction. He makes a fine cut down the palate and inserts a small device on it, then every couple days you use a little tool to activate it, and it moves the palate apart horizontally, giving you more nasal breathing room.

Wild ride, but I’d do all of those surgeries twice if I had to; they weren’t actually that bad at all, but the results are amazing. Being able to run and breathe through my nose is great, sleeping without the machine is great too.

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