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For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP

nytimes.com

61–70 of 76 posts

Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP

#61
post #15

Started 2 years ago with an OTC boil and bute, sleep quality is night and day (no pun intended),l. In fact it annoys me greatly if for whatever reason I don't sleep with it because I know I'll be yawning, nodding off, and generally low energy all day. Highly recommend it at least as a low cost experiment (mine was $70), no issues so far with bite or jaw soreness.

Can you show us how does it look like? Is it similar to the ones for fighting bruxism?

It covers bruxism, of course, because it literally goes over your teeth, but it's bulkier and has a lower jaw adjustment since it's designed more around your jaw and airway than just your teeth

Mine is from VitalSleep.com (promise I'm not astroturfing, you can find 50 similar products)

Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boil=and-bite only provides cushion between teeth. Sleep apnea mouth guards are designed to thrust the jaw forward, so as to mechanically assist in keeping the airway open. They're so very different in effect and structure that if you feel you're benefiting from a boil-and-bite, you've almost certainly mis-attributed something somewhere.

My boil and bite has a hex key lower jaw adjustment same as OSA nightguards, many (but not all) of them do

I've never seen that, but I guess TIL. Can you please provide a link to one?

Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP

#63
post #35

CPAP isn't anywhere near as awful as people make it out to be. I suspect many of these "CPAP sucks" stories come from people who (for whatever reason) are given a cheap, shitty mask and a cheap, shitty & loud machine. Masks used to be really bulky and unpleasant. Machines used to be pretty loud. These days, machines are nearly whisper quiet and masks come in more varieties than I care to list. I mean sure, there is a…

It took me a month to get used to CPAP. But my apnea was so severe I knew I'd die without it, so I stuck it out. On day 31 something in my brain clicked and from that point on I couldn't sleep without my CPAP.

That was 20 years ago. My latest CPAP is the size of my hand and doesn't need a water tank. Its only problem is that it uses 20VDC so I need to build a boost converter that will run it from RV power when I camp.

Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP

#64
post #35

CPAP isn't anywhere near as awful as people make it out to be. I suspect many of these "CPAP sucks" stories come from people who (for whatever reason) are given a cheap, shitty mask and a cheap, shitty & loud machine. Masks used to be really bulky and unpleasant. Machines used to be pretty loud. These days, machines are nearly whisper quiet and masks come in more varieties than I care to list. I mean sure, there is a…

Getting my sleep apnea treated was probably one of the best choices I've ever made, but there's no denying the fact that it comes with downsides. I have to bring a machine to wherever I sleep, I have to maintain it decently, I will suffer worse sleep whenever I have no possibility of connecting the machine to electricity (i.e hiking). I will gladly use it, but I would prefer a cure over constant ongoing treatment.

Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t get a cpap machine now and try to lose weight. Lack of sleep makes losing weight harder.

I see no reason why they should get a CPAP machine. What they should do if they have reasons to suspect that they suffer from sleep apnoea is to schedule a sleep study with their doctor.

Yes, don't try to treat yourself. But if they have sleep apnea the doctor will almost certainly prescribe one.

Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a CPAP; I hate it. I can’t wear appliances because of orthodontics, and I am very wary of costs & long recovery times for surgery. However, neither of those two things are ‘a hack’ in any negative sense. They both can offer significant life improvement.

I love my auto tritating cpap resmed airsense 10. I assume you've tried a number of different masks?

Tried 3, no success so far.

Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love my auto tritating cpap resmed airsense 10. I assume you've tried a number of different masks?

Tried 3, no success so far.

Nostril masks too?

Everyone's different, but I love mine, and hate the full mask I have to use when my nose is occasionally blocked.

Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My boil and bite has a hex key lower jaw adjustment same as OSA nightguards, many (but not all) of them do

I've never seen that, but I guess TIL. Can you please provide a link to one?

Yep, this is the one I have

https://www.vitalsleep.com/products/vitalsleep-snoring-mouth...

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