I'll get my medical advice from a board-certified MD who specializes in sleep medicine, thank you very much.
For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP
31–40 of 76 posts
Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP
#32I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night noticing that it's trouble breathing that wakes me up, it happened the last weeks and months more often than before. However, I also feel this has a lot to do with how much I weigh. Due to corona I did a lot less sports (because I like team sports much more than running etc.) etc. and gained a few pounds. It feels like weighing a few pounds too much (maybe 10 or so) have…
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Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP
#33I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night noticing that it's trouble breathing that wakes me up, it happened the last weeks and months more often than before. However, I also feel this has a lot to do with how much I weigh. Due to corona I did a lot less sports (because I like team sports much more than running etc.) etc. and gained a few pounds. It feels like weighing a few pounds too much (maybe 10 or so) have…
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.
Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP
#34Started 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.
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.
Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP
#35CPAP 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 an adjustment period. And sure, given a choice, I'd rather not have to wear one. But as far as annoyances go, it's pretty minimal.
If you're ever put on CPAP, take your time (and dime) looking for a mask that feels right for you. If your doctor/insurer/whatever only covers shitty ones, then pay for it out of pocket (or try to work out a deal). There's a ~100% chance the first mask you try won't be right for you.
Edit/addendum: the article talks about loud snoring. That's true for many, but definitely not all. You can have sleep apnea without snoring.
Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP
#36Started 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.
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.
Not necessarily. Boil & bite mouthguards can help you keep your mouth closed while you sleep, which might be enough to fix your breathing in some cases.
Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP
#37I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night noticing that it's trouble breathing that wakes me up, it happened the last weeks and months more often than before. However, I also feel this has a lot to do with how much I weigh. Due to corona I did a lot less sports (because I like team sports much more than running etc.) etc. and gained a few pounds. It feels like weighing a few pounds too much (maybe 10 or so) have…
Be very careful with this. It can be dangerous for you. I had the same thing and also minimized it. Turns out that a sleep study showed I had serious sleep apnea. The lack of sleep was causing all sorts of health problems. I strongly recommend you do a sleep study to find out the extent of your problem.
Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've had a mouth guard before, for bruxism, but that thing 100% prevented me from falling and staying asleep, it was effectively a torture device in my experience. How is falling asleep with this device? Is it easy to adjust to? How heavy is it on maintenance?
So I have one also. It took me a good 7-10 days for it to feel comfortable enough to easily fall asleep with. My jaw alignment takes around 20-30 minutes to go back to normal. I'm around 5 years in using it and i can put it in and fall right to sleep. That said I'm told results really vary for people.
> My jaw alignment takes around 20-30 minutes to go back to normal.
Can you say more about this? I.e. you wake, and what is the experience? Any fear that it may be causing other issues?
Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP
#39CPAP 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…
Truth.
My CPAP machine is the best thing that ever happened to me!
Re: For sleep apnea, a mouth guard may be a good alternative to CPAP
#40I'll get my medical advice from a board-certified MD who specializes in sleep medicine, thank you very much.
If you're putting blind trust into an institution that's open to lots of manipulation and bias then you might want to wake up a little more to understand outside the GIN (gated institutional narrative; a term coined by Eric Weinstein) there may be very valuable if not critical information to be learned.