Sleep Apena problem may be solved

[FiftyNine]

I start my flip-flop hike in 19 days and my biggest concern about this trip was my severe sleep apnea. I was, and still may take my portable CPAP machine which is good for about 2 1/2 to 3 nights but weighs 4.5 lbs. Sleep apnea will suck the energy right out of you and many leave the trail because they just run out of steam. I saw my dentist a few weeks ago and he suggested a mouth appliance that may work. Because the severity of my apnea he would not normally recommend it but said it might be worth giving it a shot just to see if it would work for the hike. He donated his services and the only thing I would have to take care of would be the appliance at whatever his cost is. Well it has taken some getting used to it, but last night I used it for the whole night for the first time and I slept and am feeling GREAT!!!! I will keep using it up until my thru hike and if all goes well I can say goodbye to almost 5lbs. ( my wife said I didn't snore at all ).


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[Cheyou]

That's great

[BuckeyeBill]

Congrats. Good luck and have a great hike.

[Snowleopard]

It's great that the dental device works for you. Plus, you will likely lose weight on your hike and that weight loss might make your apnea less severe.
The dental devices don't work for everyone. The options for using a cpap on the trail are the Z1 cpap (current lightest), Transcend makes a heavier travel cpap, and Resmed has announced the airmini which looks very promising, available June 30. Battery life is a problem with my full size cpap even for a week long cottage stay off grid; my cpap probably needs a full size car battery to run for a week.

[Slo-go'en]

Good, hope it works out. Your not the only one who doesn't get a good night sleep, no one else does either.

[FiftyNine]

It's great that the dental device works for you. Plus, you will likely lose weight on your hike and that weight loss might make your apnea less severe.
The dental devices don't work for everyone. The options for using a cpap on the trail are the Z1 cpap (current lightest), Transcend makes a heavier travel cpap, and Resmed has announced the airmini which looks very promising, available June 30. Battery life is a problem with my full size cpap even for a week long cottage stay off grid; my cpap probably needs a full size car battery to run for a week.

I have the transcend, a little under a pound, and can get about 15-16 hours on a charge. I have a spare battery but that's an extra 1.5 lbs. (wasn't planning on taking) I wasn't as concerned with the weight as slowing me down to find a place to recharge every three days (basically when I resupplied). I read about one hiker who already left the trail because of his sleep apena. My full pack weight with the cpap is 30 pounds including food and water which isn't too bad considering the extra weight I have to carry.



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[moldy]

I have the sleep apena. I use cpap at home. On the trail, I found that sleeping in a hammock greatly increases the amount of 02 in my blood the next morning.

[FiftyNine]

I have the sleep apena. I use cpap at home. On the trail, I found that sleeping in a hammock greatly increases the amount of 02 in my blood the next morning.

That was by original reason for moving to a hammock. After testing a Hammock out on a weekend overnight I was hooked. With my new dental mouthpiece and my Hammock I'm pretty confident I can leave my CPAP at home.


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[atraildreamer]

What was the name of the appliance the dentist used?

[FiftyNine]

What was the name of the appliance the dentist used?

I believe it's a TAP. Its been wonderful, have been using it all week with no problems and have gotten a restful night sleep each night. It does get some getting used to it. It's also easily adjustable.


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[ggreaves]

It's great that the dental device works for you. Plus, you will likely lose weight on your hike and that weight loss might make your apnea less severe.
The dental devices don't work for everyone. The options for using a cpap on the trail are the Z1 cpap (current lightest), Transcend makes a heavier travel cpap, and Resmed has announced the airmini which looks very promising, available June 30. Battery life is a problem with my full size cpap even for a week long cottage stay off grid; my cpap probably needs a full size car battery to run for a week.

I think that airmini is vapor-ware. All I can find is press releases - no specs, no pictures. Just hot air.

[nsherry61]

I think that airmini is vapor-ware. All I can find is press releases - no specs, no pictures. Just hot air.

I feel the same way. But, I don't think that one of the leading manufacturers of such devices gets a final FDA approval without the product being close to production.

The press release says "later this year" which could mean anything.

From their direct email promotions, it looks like they may be about a month away from releasing it.

It is frustrating that they've kept the lid on any imagery up to this point still.

[ggreaves]

The only imagery I've seen to this point is this...

resmed.jpg

I doubt very much they have a cpap machine that is the size of a pair of sunglasses and can deliver a night's sleep at > 10cm / H2O running on batteries. My guess is that once the mask, hose and battery are added in, it's just as huge as the other cpap machines.

[nsherry61]

Oh ggreaves, you are being so pessimistic.

Sure, we'd be using our same masks. Without a humidifier and the need of a heated hose, the hose might be able to be smaller. The box shown, at twice the size of a sun glasses case is still a lot smaller than my AirSense 10 with humidifier. I agree that the battery is probably not included in that cute little teaser case image they are sharing so widely.

I assume you've signed up to win the new AirMini they are giving away as grand prize next month?

[Wise Old Owl]

Well I am there with Moldy - I have checked out the new lithium Cpap's and I ready to buy one.. but after all the surgeries for cleft pallet. If I loose weight and use a hammock - I may not need a Cpap. Cool thread.

[ggreaves]

hammock doesn't help my apnea a bit. losing weight does to a degree. but my AHI is off the charts (117). That means I wake up twice a minute.

[NJdreamer]

I start my flip-flop hike in 19 days and my biggest concern about this trip was my severe sleep apnea. I was, and still may take my portable CPAP machine which is good for about 2 1/2 to 3 nights but weighs 4.5 lbs. Sleep apnea will suck the energy right out of you and many leave the trail because they just run out of steam. I saw my dentist a few weeks ago and he suggested a mouth appliance that may work. Because the severity of my apnea he would not normally recommend it but said it might be worth giving it a shot just to see if it would work for the hike. He donated his services and the only thing I would have to take care of would be the appliance at whatever his cost is. Well it has taken some getting used to it, but last night I used it for the whole night for the first time and I slept and am feeling GREAT!!!! I will keep using it up until my thru hike and if all goes well I can say goodbye to almost 5lbs. ( my wife said I didn't snore at all ).


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Did you have a sleep test using the appliance? I am wondering if it is possible to still have sleep apnea issues without snoring? With sleep apnea, I don't worry so much about the noise from snoring but the silence in between. If the TAP resolves the sleep apnea issue, that is great.

[FiftyNine]

I gave had sleep apena for many years and have been using a cpap for a long time. If I don't use it I really can feel the difference. I've been using the appliance for over a week and have felt very well rested each day. You can have apena issues without snoring in the same way if you snore doesn't mean you have sleep apena. Your right it is the silence between the snoring that is a concern and I would wake up many times from lack of air and from reflux from those times. So far I haven't experience any of that with the appliance so far. I spoke to my regular doctor today and as long as I was feeling rested each day, he was ok with that.


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[Cobra317]

I start my flip-flop hike in 19 days and my biggest concern about this trip was my severe sleep apnea. I was, and still may take my portable CPAP machine which is good for about 2 1/2 to 3 nights but weighs 4.5 lbs. Sleep apnea will suck the energy right out of you and many leave the trail because they just run out of steam. I saw my dentist a few weeks ago and he suggested a mouth appliance that may work. Because the severity of my apnea he would not normally recommend it but said it might be worth giving it a shot just to see if it would work for the hike. He donated his services and the only thing I would have to take care of would be the appliance at whatever his cost is. Well it has taken some getting used to it, but last night I used it for the whole night for the first time and I slept and am feeling GREAT!!!! I will keep using it up until my thru hike and if all goes well I can say goodbye to almost 5lbs. ( my wife said I didn't snore at all ).


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I've used the Zyppah mouth piece and it doesn't work at all. I feel duped.

[Greenlight]

I had a job back in 2014 deploying defense contractors to Iraq and Afghanistan. Symptomatic sleep apnea makes a person non-deployable, but if it can be controlled,
I could get them a waiver. They changed the criteria right before I left from accepting only CPAP machines with battery backup, to allowing CPAP, BIPAP,
and oral devices. Seems that when the CPAP only guidance was given a couple years earlier, the person who wrote the modification to the CENTCOM medical guidance had misheard what was recommended (all types of treatment). The point being, the oral devices can be as effective for some people as a CPAP or BIPAP machine.
The normal route, especially to have insurance pay for it, is to get a complete sleep study done, and if they recommend you as a candidate for the oral device,
take that option. Insurance should pay for it. I'm not sure why your dentist is the one recommending it, or if your dental insurance would pay for it,
but I can almost guarantee that your medical insurance will pay more if you get the sleep study.

I start my flip-flop hike in 19 days and my biggest concern about this trip was my severe sleep apnea. I was, and still may take my portable CPAP machine which is good for about 2 1/2 to 3 nights but weighs 4.5 lbs. Sleep apnea will suck the energy right out of you and many leave the trail because they just run out of steam. I saw my dentist a few weeks ago and he suggested a mouth appliance that may work. Because the severity of my apnea he would not normally recommend it but said it might be worth giving it a shot just to see if it would work for the hike. He donated his services and the only thing I would have to take care of would be the appliance at whatever his cost is. Well it has taken some getting used to it, but last night I used it for the whole night for the first time and I slept and am feeling GREAT!!!! I will keep using it up until my thru hike and if all goes well I can say goodbye to almost 5lbs. ( my wife said I didn't snore at all ).


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