Anyone using an oral appliance for sleep apnea?

Mine is too severe for an OA, so I'm hooked to the CPAP, three years as of tomorrow (Friday, 10/15).

Changed my life.

I'll be interested to see how this issue turns out though.

 

I can't get use to the CPAP. I guess I have to give up driving.

 

I had a real problem getting used to that nose plug thing on the CPAP. I finally got rid of it and went to a nose & mouth mask. Just like the oxygen masks pilots use. Things been great ever since. Just have to remember to shave every day. The silicone won't seal around the face with even a day's growth.

As for the oral piece, I know several friends who tried it in combination with the CPAP. Turned out the oral piece didn't do anything.

Something most sleep doctors aren't telling people. An awful lot of apnea IS NOT caused by the tongue falling in the back of your mouth, blocking your throat. That idea is where the name OBSTRUCTIVE apnea came from. But then they found out that an awful lot of apnea sufferers sleep on their side. I'm one of them. If you sleep on your side, the tongue can't fall back into your throat. People like me don't have the obstructive type. We have what's called Central Apnea. A poorly studied condition of the nervous system. But the insurance companies don't have Central Apnea on their lists. So the doctors mark it Obstructive. CPAP is the only treatment for Central Apnea. Surgery is a waste of time. As is the oral appliance.

Do you mostly sleep on your side or your back?

 

I got a question on this. I just started driving. My wife and people near me think i have sleep apnea. I don't really feel tired during the day, and have no problem staying awake behind the wheel.

If I decide to get checked out on my own, how will this effect my driving career. Will I have to take time off?

 

I drove a cdl vehichle for aprox 25 yrs. I put safety as #1 on my job! Six yrs before I retired I began to have trouble sleeping through the night. I’d stare at my alarm clock every hour on the hour and even get up at least once for my bladder during the night. This progressed into feeling way too tired in the morning at work & nearly drifting off & also non stop yawning. I even began to feel so chronically tired that I felt like I was having a nervous breakdown from watching the clock all night instead of really sleeping. Luckly I made a dr apt & got a medicine to keep me more awake during the day. This worked one day, but not at all the rest of that wk. Next, my dr tried a sleeping pill, did not help. I made another apt with my MD. This time a sleep study was suggested & I did it asap. I found out I had moderate sleep apnea. The paperwork I had to fill out for the sleep study revealled that I most likely had this as a child too! I always thought people could just be “light sleepers” & that this was normal. NO, its not! Light sleepers are missing REM sleep. This condition with apnea leads to congested heart failure! My mother died 30 after she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Apnea can be inherited because of abnormalities in your jaw (overbite) or nasal passage obstructions (deviated septum). I had both! My main piece of advice to all CDL drivers is.... you can do well every night using a machine if you know what to ask for. Don’t settle for the cpap machine which is the first one drs will issue to you. I could not use it more than one night but tried fir three before complaining. Those make you feel like you cannot even catch your next breath!!!! The next best machine is called a bipap. Bipap machines allow you to exhale while the air pressure backs off & lowers, then ramps up again to give you your next breath. They work really nice, more natural, costs more but insurance covers them the same. I used my bipap for years! Now I love my apap machine. Apap means “a” for automatic. I chose this machine because I keep gaining weight & sometimes work to loose weight & this machine won’t need settings changed (which require a new sleep study per setting change) each time my weight fluctuates. Apap machines can sense when to ramp up or back down. Its nice because I like being on my side before falling asleep on my back. Different sleep positions change how much pressure is needed for lungs to inflate properly. I will never use another cpap. Only Apap or Bipaps I recomend to anyone suffering from apnea. Sure hope this helps someone.

 

I have an auto set machine as well and love it. I can't or won't even take a 90 min nap with out it.