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+--- Thread: [Treatment] Alternative Sleep Apnea Treatments you have tried? (/Thread-Treatment-Alternative-Sleep-Apnea-Treatments-you-have-tried)
Alternative Sleep Apnea Treatments you have tried? - SuperSleeper - 06-13-2012
CPAP Alternatives Poll
I'd like to get a rough idea of how many of our members have tried alternatives to CPAP treatment and how they feel each alternative worked for them personally.
Please first vote in the poll - the question in the POLL is related to whether or not you tried alternative treatments and if they worked or not.
After you vote, please reply in this thread if you have attempted an alternative (non-CPAP) Sleep Apnea treatment, perhaps offering some information like the following:
1. What alternative treatments have you tried?
2. Did they work? If so, how well did they work? If not, why don't you think they worked?
RE: Alternative Sleep Apnea Treatments you have tried? - Hypnagog - 06-13-2012
I've tried positional therapy using a side sleeping belt. It worked well, but left me feeling restricted… oddly strapping myself into a positional device felt more more of a chore than CPAP (Swift FX). It reduced my mild-to-moderate OSA to normal levels (AHI less than 5) but after a while I found I ached in the morning and removed it for the last hour of sleep (not great considering my OSA is REM related and REM occurs more in the morning). I missed sleeping on my back.
I also found that 5-HTP reduced my AHI to just below the 5 threshold which was great but the majority of my snoring was still there (albeit a bit quieter). I suspect this wouldn't be as effective for those with a higher AHI than mine (Supine AHI was 13 - not massive but still not good)
I lost a stone in weight but that didn't help at all.
I've tried several off-the-shelf mandibular advancement devices and one made by my dentist. Some were comfortable and did reduce my AHI (but not my snoring), although my jaw did ache for a couple of hours in the morning. The one that the dentist made needed to be advanced so much to have any effect that it became a pain to wear and hurt after a couple of hours. Saliva build-up was also a problem with a couple of them.
CPAP is the most effective thing I've found at reducing my AHI and pretty much eliminating my snoring.
I've blogged about each method, but I'm not sure if blog links are allowed here, so I'll hold off posting until someone says it's okay.
RE: Alternative Sleep Apnea Treatments you have tried? - SuperSleeper - 06-13-2012
(06-13-2012, 03:31 PM)Hypnagog Wrote: I've blogged about each method, but I'm not sure if blog links are allowed here, so I'll hold off posting until someone says it's okay.
If the blog is commercial in nature or you sell things or services, a link is not allowed.
But if you'd simply like to copy & paste the text of a non-commercial article into your post here, that's perfectly fine and probably the best route to go to avoid violating any rules.
Send me a PM (private message) if you have specific questions on a specific link.
RE: Alternative Sleep Apnea Treatments you have tried? - Hypnagog - 06-13-2012
Thanks. PM sent.
RE: Alternative Sleep Apnea Treatments you have tried? - zimlich - 06-17-2012
I just had to try one of the sleep apnea pills when I couldn't get my AHI into a normal range. Of course it did nothing and was a waste of money. I also tried lobelia which is a respiratory stimulant, but again not an iota of difference. It was a bit of foolishness on my part, but I'm glad I got the idea out of my system and could go back to CPAP and working on getting good quality sleep.