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"Common" and "normal" aren't the same thing, though. By "normal' here I mean biologically normal, as in a malfunction that represents a health risk. I'm certain our ancestors had all sorts of common, abnormal health situations, especially as they aged.
I think you are splitting hairs. Common maladies are often considered normal. I was merely pointing out that there is evidence of sleep apnea going back thousands of years, and its historical frequency is unknown. I'm not saying it was common or normal.
I actually do not know anyone who took a sleep test and passed it. Maybe you "catch" apnea from the test? I am on my 3rd CPAP machine so that is about 20 years' worth of sleeping without snoring. If I fall asleep now, I will immediately wake up if I start to snore. My wife benefited from the CPAP because of that.
My dad was world-class snorer and did not have a CPAP. He suffered a stroke in his sleep that he survived but was paralyzed on his right side after that. I don't know if his apnea caused the stroke. He had normal blood pressure so that was not the cause.
I have a friend who had apnea but underwent a surgical procedure to remove part of his soft palate. He seems cured after that. I actually don't mind the CPAP but I don't use the full-face mask -- only the nose pillow mask.
Back in the olden days no one had apnea because they didn't have CPAP machines.
My husband and I were talking about this rise in SA just the other day. He thinks that 100% of the people tested it for it have it meaning that it's just doctors cashing in on the tests and appliances. I think the people tested are more likely to be the ones who have it.
I do think about why rates are so high. I know think people who have it in addition to heavy people. I do think there are two factors at play that I don't see discussed much. I think as you get older, your palate (like most parts of your body, tends to collapse more. I also think there might be a component in which the constant looking down at phones contributes to it.
Figured I would post a follow up here of sorts. Well, I made up my mind. I was going to force myself to keep this mouthpiece in over the last couple of nights. I have my handy-dandy iPhone recorder going, which is very sensitive and could pick up even the sound of very smooth, quiet breathing. I’ve also been using Flonase for the past two weeks and I think it’s finally kicked in because my sinuses seem to be opening up where I can actually breathe through them. Which is something I haven’t been able to do. Last night I was in the sack for a total of nine hours. I kept the mouthpiece in for six of those nine hours. On my recorder you could not hear a sound. Nice smooth breathing when I had that mouthpiece in. A couple of times I started a little baby snore, but then it stopped. The three hours that I had the mouthpiece taken out? I went right back to suffocating myself. Needless to say I will be forcing myself to use this mouthpiece as much as possible. With the six hours of sleep, I managed to get last night. I feel 100% more energized today. Quite amazing. But it got me thinking how many of you might be able to get by with just one of these mouthpieces. They do have their drawbacks. I wake up with my lips chapped and my mouth dry and you want to just get the thing out of your mouth. But overall it’s tolerable especially after you’ve been using it for a while. First few nights, I used it. It definitely felt like it was moving my teeth, and my jaw was a little sore, but that seems to be going away. so I may have found a remedy for this after all. At least somewhat or a partial remedy.
It doesn’t appear that you fully understand how a CPAP works to alleviate obstructive sleep apnea. The last P in the acronym is for “Pressure.” It uses air pressure (not just airflow) to open the closed off airway (the “obstruction” in obstructive sleep apnea). It doesn’t work without pressure, and if the system isn’t sealed off, the pressure won’t build, and the airway won’t be opened.
A cannula will work with emphysema because emphysema isn’t an obstruction of the airway, requiring pressurized air to open the airway.
Well I guess I don't fully understand but I do understand that cannula felt great and it opened up my clogged sinuses real fast. I want that when I am sleeping.
My husband and I were talking about this rise in SA just the other day. He thinks that 100% of the people tested it for it have it meaning that it's just doctors cashing in on the tests and appliances. I think the people tested are more likely to be the ones who have it.
I do think about why rates are so high. I know think people who have it in addition to heavy people. I do think there are two factors at play that I don't see discussed much. I think as you get older, your palate (like most parts of your body, tends to collapse more. I also think there might be a component in which the constant looking down at phones contributes to it.
I swear that is what hugely contributes to sagging jowls as we age.
I think you are splitting hairs. Common maladies are often considered normal. I was merely pointing out that there is evidence of sleep apnea going back thousands of years, and its historical frequency is unknown. I'm not saying it was common or normal.
I'm not sure I said sleep apnea was a new thing, did I? I wasn't trying to split hairs, just trying to interpret your comments in a logical way. My point was that, to whatever extent our ancestors had sleep apnea, it wasn't healthy then, either. But I'm still not seeing what I said that implied sleep apnea was a new thing. In fact, in the comment of mine you quoted, I didn't even mention our ancestors or how long sleep apnea had been around?
Last edited by Wittgenstein's Ghost; 04-24-2024 at 05:05 PM..
Snorerx you can buy them at Walgreens and CVS pharmacy even Walmart places like that. You dump it in some boiling hot water chomp down on it to mold it to your mouth. Then the bottom portion of the mouthpiece, you adjust it forward. And what this does when you fall asleep, it pushes the bottom part of your jaw forward just a little bit. Which keeps that pallet in your throat from closing off. I go from literally choking for 45 seconds at a time where I get no air through whatsoever to breathing silently and smoothly when I have the mouthpiece in. The problem is I wake up about every 45 minutes And want to chuck the thing across the room . It causes your lips to become dry and chapped, and your mouth to be completely dry because your mouth basically stays open. But it does work. It will stop the apnea if you can keep it in. Something in your mouth when you’re trying to sleep, it takes time to get used to it. I am just now getting up to where I’ll use the thing around 3 to 4 hours a night on average. A couple of nights ago I managed six hours. I only use the thing for a couple of hours. It’s all I can stand.
Now the one you get over-the-counter from a pharmacy is kind of a low-grade model compared to what you can get through a dentist. If you wanna spend a couple thousand dollars and go with Dennis, they’ll make you a custom one that’s a lot more comfortable and tolerable. Which is probably what I’m going to look into doing since this does work for me.
I use a very simple tongue retention device that suctions onto my tongue and pulls the tongue forward, opening up the back of the throat. It does block the mouth though, so you must breathe through your nose while sleeping. It's cheap and effective at eliminating snoring. I have very mild sleep apnea and couldn't tolerate a CPAP, so this works for me. I have to replace it about every 6 months as it does sort of "stretch out" and become less effective at gripping on my tongue after that. It looks like I'm sleeping with a pacifier, LOL. I even call it my "binky". My loud snoring was even keeping ME awake as it would wake me up just as I was falling asleep. With my binky I "sleep like a baby".
It may not work for someone with serious apnea, but it makes me not snore at all, or very little. Once in a while it falls off during sleep, but not usually. The suction keeps it on your tongue, and the tongue forward position keeps my airway open.
My husband and I were talking about this rise in SA just the other day. He thinks that 100% of the people tested it for it have it meaning that it's just doctors cashing in on the tests and appliances. I think the people tested are more likely to be the ones who have it.
People don’t just randomly have sleep studies done. The studies are done because a patient presents with indicators commonly associated with sleep apnea. Your post seems to suggest that doctors are behaving unethically and unprofessionally. While some may be doing just that, it’s not evidenced by a high percentage of sleep study patients actually having sleep apnea.
I use a very simple tongue retention device that suctions onto my tongue and pulls the tongue forward, opening up the back of the throat. It does block the mouth though, so you must breathe through your nose while sleeping. It's cheap and effective at eliminating snoring. I have very mild sleep apnea and couldn't tolerate a CPAP, so this works for me. I have to replace it about every 6 months as it does sort of "stretch out" and become less effective at gripping on my tongue after that. It looks like I'm sleeping with a pacifier, LOL. I even call it my "binky". My loud snoring was even keeping ME awake as it would wake me up just as I was falling asleep. With my binky I "sleep like a baby".
It may not work for someone with serious apnea, but it makes me not snore at all, or very little. Once in a while it falls off during sleep, but not usually. The suction keeps it on your tongue, and the tongue forward position keeps my airway open.
When you look at apnea in general, it’s amazing How just a slight shift can completely eliminate it. Yet we have to go through all these hoops and hurdles and sticking and gluing and fastening stuff to our face and in our mouths to try and defeat this. The mouthpiece that I wear literally shifts my lower jaw, probably about a quarter of an inch or less forward And that little tiny shift is the difference between life and death and suffocating all night. When the mouthpiece is in, it’s total silence. When the mouthpiece is out I am literally being suffocated all night long for 45 seconds at a time over and over again. You would think the powers that be in the medical field would’ve figured this out by now. There’s got to be a full proof easy remedy for this that’s just being overlooked. When I first discovered CPAP therapy I was like you’ve got to be kidding. People actually try and sleep like this, I thought this is stuff nightmares are made of? This would be a good idea on how to torture someone and I’m supposed to do this for the rest of my life? When in reality just pull my bottom jaw, a quarter inch or my tongue and all is well? Come on somebody’s got to come up with something. Maybe we can brainstorm ideas whoever comes up with a remedy probably will make themselves a billionaire.
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