Silent Night and UARS?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
SanditheTortie
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Silent Night and UARS?

Post by SanditheTortie » Fri Sep 19, 2014 7:19 pm

So I had a sleep study done back in July and that resulted in
Sleep Efficiency 93.4%
46 Abnormal Breathing events with 29 arousals
15 RERAs
Longest Event 19.3 Seconds
Apnea/hypopnea index 4.4
Apnea/hypopnea/RERA index 6.5
5 O2 levels below 90% with the lowest being 80% (I was 99% on room area during my initial visit)
Average HR 60.5 With highest being 109.0
with moderate snoring. my hubby never knew that I snored. but he sleeps like the dead burried 20 feet under.

I should note I was diagnosed with Upper Airway Resistance Sydrome, not sleep apnea, yet.

got sent to an ENT
ENT found my pallet and tonsils to both be oversized (not swollen) and recommended an oral appliance.
I FINALLY had the impressions taken yesterday and am going back on the 29th to make sure it fits and get tolf how to use it and such. (my dentist uses the silent night ones)

So other than the getting used to it which is gonna take some time, how soon should I expect to start to feel rested again?

I am a 21 year old female about 15 pounds overweight.
My dad has sleep apnea really bad.

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Pesser
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by Pesser » Fri Sep 19, 2014 8:38 pm

I have UARS. I was not diagnosed. My wife observed me! My AHI was low just like yours. My tonsils are huge! With CPAP I felt much better. CPAP certainly works for me. If the fix doesn’t work then you should try CPAP. We all know that does work.

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SanditheTortie
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by SanditheTortie » Fri Sep 19, 2014 9:03 pm

Sadly my insurance wont pay for CPAP unless your AHI is above 5.
They are paying for my Silent Nite though.
And if that doesn't work the ENT wants to try surgery since I have all that extra tissue and that would be a "cure" instead of CPAP which just the deadly symptoms so you have sleep apnea, but it's completely controlled

I'm really hoping the silent nite works though. it would be amazing to finally sleep soundly.

Though my oxygen level falling kinda scares me.
I work in records and see multiple sleep studies a week and someone will have an AHI of above 50 and their oxygen low point is around 88 or 89. Though they have a lot more than 5.

My sleep study guy also recommended, since my hubby doesn't notice my snoring AT ALL that I should get the sleep study redone in a year or so to see if it has gotten worse.
And the sleep study doc was like, your 21 years old you don't really want to get a CPAP so young anyways.

mgaggie
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by mgaggie » Fri Sep 19, 2014 9:13 pm

I'd rather use a CPAP than let someone hack away at my mouth. Do you realize that type of surgery only has a 50% success rate? The odds would have to be much better before I allowed a very painful surgery to occur.

Please do some research before submitting to surgery, you'll find it isn't the "cure" that surgeons purport it to be

SanditheTortie
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by SanditheTortie » Fri Sep 19, 2014 9:45 pm

I am getting ready to move from SC to WA so I'll get a new ENT and a new opinion on options if the Silent Nite doesn't work.
But my insurance wont pay for a CPAP unless my AHI is 5. Mine was 4.4

I'm hoping the Silent Nite will work and I'll sleep amazing. I can't remember the last time I felt rested. I thought I was sleeping through the night, until my sleep study.

the "cure" bit was those that it works for. For the ones it doesn't work it just an necessary surgery.

I will do lots of research before agreeing to go under the knife because I HATED it when I had my wisdom teeth out and I could eat what ever liquids I wanted but no solids. And from what I've read this surgery would be even more restrictive for longer. But with that surgery he did mention the long recovery time and that the success rate is not as good as it could be. But since the way the rest of my year looks it be well in 2015 before I'd even be talking with the doc about the surgery, I haven't done that much yet.

I just hope it doesn't make my teeth even more crooked. I got told when I was younger by the dentist I had pretty straight teeth and that braces would just be a waste of money since my teeth were pretty straight already. (I also didn't take care of my teeth as well) But then my wisdom teeth started come in impacted and my bottom teeth are crooked and I don't want them to get more so.

Do the oral appliance tend to cause teeth to shift? Or does it only really affect the jaw muscles?

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Pesser
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by Pesser » Sat Sep 20, 2014 5:41 pm

You can buy a CPAP without a RX. Many people do! Do you know a Canadian that can buy one through secondwind?

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SanditheTortie
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by SanditheTortie » Sat Sep 20, 2014 7:48 pm

Sadly I do not know any Candaians to buy me one. But with so many different options I wouldn't know what one I need and I don't have the money to play the trial and error game. But my oral Appliance gets in on the 29th and I'm so excited at the chance to finally wake-up refreshed. but also nervous that it wont work.

Sadly while my hubby and I are finally going to be in the same place again (Mil to Mil relationships can be really hard sometimes) but he doesn't know that I snore. To wake him, i have to shake him for like five minutes. And until my sleep study I didn't know I woke up in the middle of the night. So the two big indicators that would tell me if it was working right away aren't indicators I can compare with and without.

My only indicator will be waking up refreshed and if I'm sleep deprived from years of untreated UARS then that'll take some time to come.

Tricare is lovely. So much redtape and such but not having a copay is amazing.

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Pesser
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by Pesser » Sat Sep 20, 2014 8:22 pm

If you need an APAP and can pay for one there is always a way. You can buy a used machine in the US at very reasonable prices. This is an option if the “fix” doesn’t work. I have exactly what you have and I can tell you that the CPAP option is awesome. Good luck.

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SanditheTortie
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by SanditheTortie » Tue Sep 23, 2014 3:34 pm

***UPDATE****

I got a call today informing me that my Silent Nite came in early and I go in TOMORROW to see if it fits right

Almost a whole week early. I'm so HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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ChicagoGranny
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by ChicagoGranny » Tue Sep 23, 2014 4:54 pm

SanditheTortie wrote:So I had a sleep study done back in July and that resulted in
Sleep Efficiency 93.4%
46 Abnormal Breathing events with 29 arousals
15 RERAs
Longest Event 19.3 Seconds
Apnea/hypopnea index 4.4
Apnea/hypopnea/RERA index 6.5
5 O2 levels below 90% with the lowest being 80% (I was 99% on room area during my initial visit)
Average HR 60.5 With highest being 109.0
with moderate snoring. my hubby never knew that I snored. but he sleeps like the dead burried 20 feet under.
Did the sleep doc discuss with you positional therapy?

It looks like you have a summary of the sleep study. Check to see what positions (sides, prone, supine) you slept in and for how many minutes in each sleep stage.
SanditheTortie wrote: O2 lowest level 80%
Was this due to collapse of the airway or just an artifact (error)?
I am a 21 year old female about 15 pounds overweight.
Did the sleep doc tell you that this is a progressive condition?

SanditheTortie
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by SanditheTortie » Tue Sep 23, 2014 6:38 pm

ChicagoGranny wrote: Did the sleep doc discuss with you positional therapy?
no, but i go to sleep and wake up on my side. not to mention my husband complains about my stealing the covers and rolling over to one side and staying there. And I already keep my head propped up with two pillows. When we are due for a new mattress we will probably get the ones you can adjust so that keeps your head up.


ChicagoGranny wrote: It looks like you have a summary of the sleep study. Check to see what positions (sides, prone, supine) you slept in and for how many minutes in each sleep stage.
I have how many minutes I slept and the percentages of each stage, I just figured that for the purpose of this forum my sleep efficiency of 93% was enough. But..
total time recording 451.6 minutes
total sleep 422 minutes
sleep latency 28.1 minutes
rem latency 68.5 minutes
sleep stage observed
n1 .5%
n2 38.5%
n3 35.8%
stage rem 25.2
avg hr 60.5
highest hr 109.0

and i can try to tomorrow to request my full sleep study. hopefully ill get it and not the summary, again. I've tried requesting the full report in the past and the summary is what i got, twice.
ChicagoGranny wrote:Was this due to collapse of the airway or just an artifact (error)?
Airway collapse. The doc didn't mention that he thought there was an equipment malfunction causing the 80%
ChicagoGranny wrote:Did the sleep doc tell you that this is a progressive condition?
he said it could be, to have the sleep study redone in a year or two to see if it has gotten worse. and my dad has severe sleep apnea and has been on cpap for about 2 years now.
though both him and the ent said that my tonsils and pallet were both oversized so my airway is smaller than normal to start with. so it might not get any worse, so long as i don't gain a lot of weight.

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OhHelpMe
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by OhHelpMe » Tue Sep 23, 2014 7:17 pm

so my airway is smaller than normal to start
This is true of almost everyone with UARS or obstructive sleep apnea.
i go to sleep and wake up on my side
Positional therapy would be avoiding backsleeping and you may already do this.
my tonsils and pallet were both oversized
I would not let a surgeon touch my soft palate. But you might consider having the tonsils removed depending on how large they are and the degree to which they obstruct the airway. Maybe a second opinion from another ENT?

Also consider whether you have GERD or silent GERD. This often irritates the tissues in the airway and causes swelling which makes sleep-breathing more difficult.

I sincerely hope your oral appliance solves your problem.

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SanditheTortie
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by SanditheTortie » Wed Sep 24, 2014 3:41 pm

That what i was thinking if I have to go the surgery route. People get their tonsils out all the time. One of the guys I work with was surprised I still had my tonsils.
But I got my appliance today so tonight I shall see if It makes a difference. Though I doubt I'll notice any difference for a few days. I really hope this fixes it. I just wish my husband noticed my snoring so he could tell me if it made a difference. Though my cat never sleeps in bed with me, but shes always there when I'm awake reading. So maybe if shes sleeps in my room then I'll know lol.

And with my pallet i find it HILARIOUS that mine is bigger than it's supposed to be and my little sister was born with a cleft pallet. So she had to have surgeries and then quite a bit of orthodontic work.

SanditheTortie
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Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by SanditheTortie » Fri Sep 26, 2014 11:04 am

**UPDATE****

I have had my Silent nite for two nights now and I can tell a small difference My jaw hurts, a bit but I know that'll go away over time

So hopefully in a few days / weeks I'll be able to know for sure if it's working.

tmr_

Re: Silent Night and UARS?

Post by tmr_ » Fri Sep 26, 2014 2:25 pm

SanditheTortie wrote:So I had a sleep study done back in July and that resulted in
Sleep Efficiency 93.4%
46 Abnormal Breathing events with 29 arousals
15 RERAs
Longest Event 19.3 Seconds
Apnea/hypopnea index 4.4
Apnea/hypopnea/RERA index 6.5

My dad has sleep apnea really bad.
Did you sleep like 10 hours in the sleep study? Apnea/hypopnea index is 4.4 that is the average per hour, with 46 total events 46/4.4= 10 hours.

Either that or you have some sort of REM related apnea.