Sleep Apnea . . .

[Wand]

Originally Posted by Palarran

That's a cure for snoring. Sleep Apnea is quite different.

Well, a little different maybe but very much the same syndrome.

See this help guide for sleep apnea

It contains the following advice (amazed too that the tennis balls were there):

Bedtime tips for preventing sleep apnea
Sleep on your side. Avoid sleeping on your back, as gravity makes it more likely for your tongue and soft tissues to drop and obstruct your airway.
Try the tennis ball trick.*In order to keep yourself from rolling onto your back while you sleep, sew a tennis ball into a pocket on the back of your pajama top. Or wedge a pillow stuffed with tennis balls behind your back.
Prop your head up.*Elevate the head of your bed by 4 to 6 inches or elevate your body from the waist up by using a foam wedge. You can also use a special cervical pillow.
Open your nasal passages.*Try to keep your nasal passages open at night using a nasal dilator, saline spray, breathing strips, or a neti pot.

[ozskipper]

Originally Posted by At sea

Well, a little different maybe but very much the same syndrome.

See this help guide for sleep apnea

It contains the following advice (amazed too that the tennis balls were there):

Bedtime tips for preventing sleep apnea
Sleep on your side. Avoid sleeping on your back, as gravity makes it more likely for your tongue and soft tissues to drop and obstruct your airway.
Try the tennis ball trick.*In order to keep yourself from rolling onto your back while you sleep, sew a tennis ball into a pocket on the back of your pajama top. Or wedge a pillow stuffed with tennis balls behind your back.
Prop your head up.*Elevate the head of your bed by 4 to 6 inches or elevate your body from the waist up by using a foam wedge. You can also use a special cervical pillow.

As a long term Apnea suffer I think that is poppycock.

Elevating the head will close the throat. = apneas
Sleeping on the back or front makes no difference. the main thing is to keep the airways open by tilting the head aft (had to get a sailing term in there) The soft tissues that cause my apneas are in the back of my throat. Sleeping on my front will allow gravity to assist apneas.

In other words, without a machine, my best option is to sleep on my back with a pillow at my shoulders to allow my head to drop and open the airway.

The simple test is to put your chin to your chest and try to snore. then tilt the head aft and try again. With the head back its harder to make ones self snore.

Sweet Dreams

Oz

[Palarran]

Ok Oz, I'll try to keep a few sailing terms in also. Another cause of apnea is from your tongue when it relaxes and slides aft into your airstream. So, for me, before the cpap I had to sleep keeled over on my front. Put a pillow under the old center ballast so I pitched foreward.

But anyway, we all seem to appreciate the machines and know what a difference it can make. Good luck Saberkai.

ps - I still think the best advise it to take ambien while your getting used to the machine to knock you out.

[Microship]

Strong advice... be ever-so-careful around Ambien. The rebound insomnia can be brutal, some people have terrible anterograde amnesia, and it's just weird. I consider it emergencies only.

One other nice thing about a CPAP, by the way... it's a snorkel. On a wicked-cold night, when you're losing body heat through your head, you can crawl completely under the covers and not have to deal with asphyxiation. My cat even figured it out... when I'm in that mode, she snuggles under there with me and has plenty of oxygen.

[ozskipper]

Originally Posted by Microship

One other nice thing about a CPAP, by the way... it's a snorkel. On a wicked-cold night, when you're losing body heat through your head, you can crawl completely under the covers and not have to deal with asphyxiation. My cat even figured it out... when I'm in that mode, she snuggles under there with me and has plenty of oxygen.

Aint that the truth All those healthy people can freeze lol


Cheers
Oz

[Capt Doug]

BOY there are a lot of us out sailing, I live aboard, and anchor out most of the time. my resperonics unit works just fine on 12V, and I'm sure you will love sleeping much better.

[tager]

I am surrounded by snorers!

[Microship]

CPAP: It's just my craw's tube air.
-SKR

[panfiltp]

Both my wife and I use the Resperonics CPAC. We have 12 volt attachment cables. We take them everywhere including the boat. Never leave home without them.

[Paul L]

Ask your doc what the success rates are with the various apnea sleep treatments. The c-pap non-compliance rate is something like 50% or higher. Surgery is a 50-50 proposition. Mouth appliance is in the less than 50% success rate range. Treatment for sleeping disorders like apnea are not well understood. Even the analysis of the sleep studies is controversial, as I found out when I took my second study to two different providers. I ended up using a mouth appliance as c-pap (on the boat or off) was not for me. My doc says the mouth appliance does not work for me. I snore less, sleep better, wake more rested and my wife says I don't do the apnea snorts in the night. WTF

[Jesse]

C=PAP works perfectly for me, on the boat using 12v dc or at home on ac. I appreciate all the benefits but have now become dependent on it and unable to sleep without it. The possibility of mishap to machine or power supply is another contingency to be dealt with while cruising.

[panfiltp]

One followup throught.....
Unless you use you 120 VAC plug and an inverter, the reservoir heater does not work on the 12 volts cable. Only the fan on my unit works on 12 volts.

[SabreKai]

Well, I went down to the clinic for the machine tests to see how that worked. First go was with the nose only mask. Seemed to work fine and with the humidified air it felt great. No problem breathing out either. But after a while the doctor came in and changed me over to a full face mask. Seems I open my mouth when I sleep and vent the pressure. Anyway that wasn't too terrible either. They came in a couple of times to rehook wiring, as I have a tendency to thrash about and pulled a few wires. All in all, the data wiring was more of a PITA than the mask.

Finally She came back in at 9am and asked if I wanted to sleep more or leave. I asked if they had got the required data, which they had, so I left. I'm still waiting to hear back from the referring doctor. Looks like I'll be on the machine.

Crap, just one more thing to enmesh me in the fabric of civilization.

Sabre

[butterchurn]

I have a CPAP but I don't use it. When I do i alwats get bronchitis. I use the micro-filters and everything.

[SabreKai]

Does it have a humidifier on it? If not that's most likely your problem. At least that's what I've been told by several people. And I have chronic bronchitis to boot. Like I said, that humidified air was a treat. My apartment is dryer than a popcorn f..t, and my schnozz dries out something awful.

Sabre