67OAI

I would think that there should be some of you (beside me) with the "sleep apnea" affliction. I am a long time CPAP user, approximately ten years now, and have become a candidate for the "Inspire Sleep" implant. I love the idea of not having to harness up every night with the CPAP unit (full face mask) and I do not take it with me for short, 2 or 3 day trips out of town. Looking for input from any of you who have put the CPAP aside and are using the implant.....what do you like or don't like! Thank you.

edzolz

I have been on the BiPAP sleep aid for about ten years. When I first got the CPAP, I got the first full night nights sleep in years. As much as I hate dressing up to sleep every night, I still do not think any implant would be for me. If I wasn't born with it, I don't want it. Pacemakers excluded.

Olds64

Thanks for posting this. I've been tested for sleep apnea and came back negative. Unfortunately, momma has sleep apnea and NEVER uses her CPAP. Maybe I could convince her to get this implant.

pizza442

I, too, am just starting to go down this road. I will be picking up a test Cpap tomorrow. Haven't heard of the implant. Have heard about surgery to remove excess tissue which my original instincts told me this would be a fix.. Anyone with experience with the surgery or the mouthpiece that holds the jaw in forward position?

jmcghee

I had a surgery, that eleminated my apnea. It corrected my deviated septum. Also removed my uvula. There may be more types of surgery than I had. The septum surgery was an extremly painfull recovery, Still consider it will worth the pain. there are side effects of it. Not going to go into them, less you quailfy for the surgery and want to discuss. I was NOT compatable with a Cpap. which my job insisted, was the only solution for apnea. Do not believe what one source tells you. Especialy if it is a work related nurse telling you that.

pizza442

No work issue, self employed. Kaiser HMO. The surgery is different from deviated septum: Surgical removal of tissue.Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) is a procedure in which a surgeon removes tissue from the back of the mouth and top of the throat. The tonsils and adenoids may be removed as well. Gal at Kaiser sleep clinic told me it was quite invasive with a long healing period. My buddy had the deviated septum surgery years ago but didn't fix his snoring. He eventually had to do the Cpap

OLE442

Tested and said I had sleep apnea! Resisted th CPAP until a girl at went on a rave about getting the best rest ever with one! Got the machine and the nostril pillow mask and slept ok but it was weird! Told my doctor it was OK but I still breathed some through my mouth! He said we’d have to get a strap to hold my mouth shut..... I said no freakin way! He said that wouldn’t do and ordered a full face mask and I tried that for a while and that kept waking me up all night so I quit using it!’its been at least 10 years since I stopped using that. I lost some weight a while back and I no longer snore and sleep OK and it is what it is! I’m fine with that!!

BTW, the overnight “Sleep study” is the worst non-invasive torture I’ve ever experienced! If you don’t have a sleep issue, you will that night!

66-3X2 442

My cpap is my best friend. I sleep like a baby most nights & last night I went to bed about 1130 and the next thing I knew it was 830 this morning.

jmcghee

I had the tissue and uvula remove along withe the septum op at the same time

Fun71

Just wondering if folks with the CPAP sleep on their stomach and face in the pillow. I'm a stomach sleeper so I wonder about the face mask.

66-3X2 442

I sleep mostly on my side and partial back. I would imagine it would be difficult to put your face into the pillow with a mask on. The mask needs to have a good seal to be most effective.

Tedd Thompson

I also USED a CPAP, quit about a year ago after about 6 years of use. I seem to adjusted to not having it, I just got tired of the hassle of the hose and strap and sometimes in the winter the juice would be off for several days and I didn't notice any difference.. Nobody complained about snoring because nobody was there to complain, there are advantages and disadvantages of that. Working on that issue as I type...Tedd

redoldsman

I have used a CPAP for about six years and my wife has had one for about six months. I have used several differnent masks and the one that works best for me is the one that goes under my nose and over the top of my head with the hose connecting on top of my head. It is a really good look like they all are. The advantage of this mask is it lets you turn from side to side. My wife took about three different masks before she found one that worked for her. It is not just about snoring although that is a sign of sleep apnea. When I did the sleep study, my heart was stopping 58 times and hour. That is pretty high. I use my CPAP pretty religiously. Occasionally I will take the mask off if I am having trouble going to sleep. My wife and I have been married 58 years and joke about how sexy the CPAP masks are.

jaunty75

Anyone with sleep apnea have, specifically, "central sleep apnea," also known as "idiopathic sleep apnea?" This is the kind that has no physical cause. No airway obstructions, nasal issues, or anything like that that might be corrected with surgery. Rather, the problem is neurological. As this one website puts it

"In central sleep apnea, the problem is not a blocked airway. Instead, pauses in breathing occur because the brain and the muscles that control breathing do not function properly. As a result, a person with CSA repeatedly stops trying to breathe as they sleep."

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/slee...al-sleep-apnea

This is what I, at age 65, was diagnosed with about year ago, Since there is no cure, the only approach is the sleep apnea machine, and I have been using one for the better part of a year now. It's the kind with the mask that fits over your mouth and nose, so I can breathe through either one, and, yes, there is an elephant trunk connecting back to the machine on my nightstand. But I have to give it credit. I generally sleep on my sides, and I have found ways to position myself such that I hardly notice it's there. I also sleep much better, still waking up maybe two or three times during an 8-hour night whereas before I seemed to wake up about every hour.

So it's something I'll likely have to do each night for the rest of my life.

OLE442

I seem to remember reading once that breathing the humid air could cause issue with your lungs? Kinda like vaping! Anyone else hear that?

jaunty75

I have not heard this.

GCH

Have tried a cpap but i could not sleep with it , but i don´t have so much apnea.

redoldsman

I never heard of any problems with the humid air causing problems with your lungs. In six years it hasn't caused my any problems.

66-3X2 442

Me neither. Sleep apnea is not just snoring & when you have it your heart stops. It plays havoc on your heart & it actually killed Reggie White the famous football player. It's hard getting use to using a cpap but tough it out and you will never regret it.

chip-powell

My wife has told me that I have sleep apnea. Apparently, I snore like a bear and occasionally stop breathing. I even frightened my niece when she was younger. She thought that there was a monster in the next room. People have asked my wife how she puts up with my snoring, she says that she just gives me an elbow and tells me to roll over (30+ years marriage).

My problem is that even though I snore, I still get a good night's sleep. I'm literally out cold 2 minutes after my head hits the pillow. I could never sleep with a mask on my face and the idea of having surgery to put something in my chest to shock me whenever the apnea kicks in, does not appeal to me either.

On the plus side, I was just informed that sleep apnea is a condition that could get me up to 50% disability from the VA. That would be an extra $1400 a month tax free for the rest of my life. We're just starting the paperwork now.

ragtop70

I have had my cpap for about 7 years right before I got it I went into afib for the 3rd time had to shock me back for the 2nd time since then I had a heart ablation and I use my cpap every night full face and I have not had any issues since.

Olds64

Make sure you are working with a veteran's organization (DAV, VFW, etc.) to get that disability through the VA. If you're rated at > 30% disability through the VA you get free health care too.

matt69olds

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea about 15 years ago. Like many of you in readerland, I wanted no part of the machine. I reluctantly stayed with it. I didn’t THINK it made much difference in the quality of sleep until we went on vacation about 6 months later. I packed the machine, but in a huge boneheaded oversight I left the power supply at home. I was miserable that week. I didn’t realize how much of an improvement it made until I didn’t have it.

Weezer

THIS. I've been on mine for about 8 years? Hell, I don't know. There have only been a couple of times that I have tried to sleep without it, and basically didn't get much sleep. One was a power outage, the other was an impromptu trip to Mackinaw Island and the UP. We didn't even have clean clothes or toothbrushes, that's how spur-of-the-moment it was.

Spent so much time on the island that day, that I was too tired to drive back down to Houghton Lake area. Got up the next morning and headed to Tahquamenon, the Soo Locks, and Whitefish Point.

Sleep apnea causes heart disease. As soon as that info was presented to me, I got the sleep study and CPAP. I was given the "take-home" kit for the sleep study, and the equipment I was hooked up to was no big deal. My Dad had to go to a sleep center for his overnight, though, and he said it was damn-near impossible to get any sleep that night.

allyolds68

I've been on a CPAP 15 years. While I would agree that the sleep study I did 15 years ago was terrible, I just updated my CPAP last month and the "Sleep Study" consisted of a wireless monitor on my index finger which connected to the monitoring station by an app downloaded to my phone. I believe it monitored heart rate and blood oxygen level. I had to do it for two nights in a row.

fleming442

How are you supposed to die peacefully, in your sleep? 🤡

allyolds68

That's easy.....my wife will just disconnect my CPAP.....lol

Seriously, the first time I did a sleep study I stopped breathing like 15 times in the first 1-1/2 hours of the study. One time I stopped breathing for 90 seconds. After 1-1/2 hours they put me on a CPAP so they wouldn't be liable for my death...

So far it's worked out for me.....

67OAI

Thank you all for the input. I guess nobody out there has experience with the "InspireSleep" implant. As of now, I have decided to go with it; waiting on the insurance. For background, I have had three sleep studies at three different clinic locations. First one, later 1990s, I was still on active duty. Results were "don't sleep on your back"! Second go round, sometime in the later 2000s, this clinic prescribed CPAP and I decided to get my equipment from Apria as they are a nationwide company and I was traveling a lot on the job. I was fitted for what they call a full face mask, small size, it actually covers only the mouth and nose, very much like a half face respirator. I have had continual problems breaking the seal as I tend to be a mouth breather during sleep and will not wear a chin strap. When it wakes the wife, I usually get kicked! Third study was last year, have to have a current (within last two years) sleep study to start the process for the implant. The technician advised me to try a larger size mask to keep the seal better. I did that, using a medium size mask now and it does seem to work better for me; still break the seal but not as often. Shall let y'all know how it works out.

Weezer

I had not even heard of this device until your post. Granted, I haven't been to my sleep doc in a couple of years because my CPAP 'n me are in a committed relationship, but I suppose I'll ask about this next time I go. I read thru the website briefly, and I would not be a candidate. Good luck with whatever you choose, and I hope the larger mask works out for you. I bounce back and forth between my medium full-face and a nasal pillow mask called "Dreamwear". There are a few different mask options out there, I'd personally exhaust those options before doing an implant.

I'm not an overweight person, I unfortunately have a genetic predisposition for snoring and sleep apnea. I have a slight overbite that contributes to it, and the mouthguards that are supposed to pull your jaw forward not only don't work, but are extremely uncomfortable. I gave up trying that route after 3 different guards.

pizza442

I, too, have an overbite and appreciate this feedback on the mouthguards...

Weezer

I started looking into surgery to correct my apnea and to lessen the snoring, but the more I looked into it, and after discussing with the sleep doc, NO THANKS. Way too invasive, and the recovery, according to the doc, is awful. For me, it would not have been as simple as correcting a deviated septum, removal of tonsils, trimming of uvula / skin in throat area. It would involve jaw surgery to move my lower jaw forward. I am just fine with the machine. Definitely easier to use for side or back sleepers. My Dad was a stomach sleeper, and had issues with using the CPAP because of that. For the life of me, I don't know how people can sleep on their stomach, anyway.

Olds64

NVM.

67OAI

Update! I had the Inspire Sleep implant surgery September 19; outpatient surgery about 2.5 hours duration. Follow up with the surgeon the following week, incisions healing nicely. Allow about four weeks for complete healing and then a visit to the pulmonologist to see how the implant responds and receive the remote which controls the implanted generator. In my case, it was too soon and the pulmonologist and Implant rep recommended another four weeks healing. Due to my schedule and their scheduling, I went back on December 7 to try again. This time all was good and both the pulmonologist and the Inspire rep were very pleased and set my initial "intensity" in the generator and sent me on my way. That day I put my CPAP equipment in the closet and had my first night sleep in 15 years without a mask on my face and harness on my head! I am now in the intensity adjustment faze whereby I increase the intensity using the remote one step every seven days until it becomes a nuisance and then back off a step (evidently everyone responds uniquely). Currently, I have increased it one step and still do not notice it (a tingling at the bottom base of the tongue whenever the generator pulses). I am sleeping well and it is nice not to be hampered by the CPAP harness. I still snore but know how to control that by sleep position. I go back to visit the "team", pulmonologist and Inspire rep., towards end of January. Update to follow.

Greg Rogers

That sounds good, Jim. My Dad, brother and sister all use a CPAP. I am heavy and seems like I should need one but wife says I don't stop breathing when sleeping at all. I had heard about the mouth splint that changes the closing of your jaw. Well, guess what ? I use a bite splint after being told that I grind my teeth by dentist. Do you suppose the bite splint moves jaw and helps me to not have sleep apnea?

Tri-Carb

Losing Tongue Fat Improves Sleep Apnea - Penn Medicine

In addition to the preceding comments, there is a correlation between aging and weight gain. An increase in togue fat correlates with the tendency to develop sleep apnea.

Olds64

Jim, good to hear that Inspire Sleep works well for you. 👍

Jeff Stout

snoring sleep really isn't restful sleep. I have used my machine for 5 years. Way more rested with machine compared without. I have not checked into inspire yet.

67OAI

Greg Rogers, I also have been using the bite splint (my dentist supplies the "NightGuard" product) because of grinding teeth while sleeping. It does not affect jaw position. I used it during my most recent sleep studies and still had many apnea events. Our youngest son also has sleep apnea. He tried CPAP but it does not work for him as he cannot stand to have anything on his face at night. He looked into the Inspire Sleep implant but found that his airway does not open/close in a manner such that the implant would work for him. He eventually went with the jaw positioning insert which works well for him.