Moderate apnea - Ball sewed to shirt would help ?

[heartchakra]

A friend of mine was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea - but I saw his report and his events all seem to be when is in a supine position and not when he is sleeping on the side

Do you think it is a good idea to suggest to him the "ball" method of sewing a ball on his night shirt when he sleeps so he is unable to sleep on his back and then do a sleep study again and see if he still gets AHI's ?

With love,

Deepak

[Goofproof]

It would be better to get out of DeNile, and use a correctly set up APAP, and the software to MAXUMIZE the use. The ball might help, but it won't make your sleep better, it's just one more wake up call. Jim

[kteague]

If your friend was at the lower end of the mild range, I'd be more hopeful for side sleeping to make enough of a difference to not need CPAP. Being moderate means it would have to make a big difference in events to get him to a normal range. It will not be enough to just get him into a mild range. Even mild sleep apnea needs treatment. Did his study capture some time side sleeping while in REM? (Many have worse events in REM.) That would be most telling. If his side sleeping wasn't during REM, then it really isn't enough information to go on. To be honest, I would encourage him to go ahead and get on CPAP. Not that your scenario is impossible, but I don't feel hopeful it will change the end result of his need for CPAP.

[racprops]

I posted this a couple of years ago, It has worked VERY well for me.

viewtopic/t110860/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1 ... ts#p960901

Hope it helps you now.

Rich

[ChicagoGranny]

Do you think it is a good idea to suggest

No.

[chunkyfrog]

Racprops; your "nest" looks just like what I had to use post-surgically.
Not a pleasant prospect long term; and certainly a poor substitute for cpap.
I love the freedom to sleep in any position my old body prefers.
The same about the ball--

[racprops]

I got very well used to it and I now get AHIs of less that 1 and often less of .5 and now with a DreamStationo ZERO AHI.

So I found it worth it.

Rich

[ChicagoGranny]

I love the freedom to sleep in any position my old body prefers.

+1

At my age, it's very important to vary body position during the night.

[racprops]

Well I am 67, 68 in a couple of months and getting a good nights sleep seems more important to me.

Rich

[ChicagoGranny]

Well I am 67, 68 in a couple of months and getting a good nights sleep seems more important to me.

Rich

You've hijacked the thread and are off-topic. You are using CPAP. The OP is asking about not using CPAP.

[racprops]

True, BUT during my sleep study without CPAP they reported I was much better and had almost no Apenas on my left side, sorry I thought I made that clear..

Sleeping on ones side is MUCH better that flat on your back.

My system might be a big help either with or without CPAP.

Rich

[ChicagoGranny]

Sleeping on ones side is MUCH better that flat on your back.

In what way?

Just because you know how to use all caps doesn't make something true.

[racprops]

Feisty...

Everyone knows that sleeping on your back is much worst than on your side, problem is keeping on your side..I figured a way that works, at lease for me.

I was just offering my help.

Like all free advice it is worth what you paid for it.

Take it or leave it.

Rich

[49er]

Feisty...

Everyone knows that sleeping on your back is much worst than on your side, problem is keeping on your side..I figured a way that works, at lease for me.

I was just offering my help.

Like all free advice it is worth what you paid for it.

Take it or leave it.

Rich

Rich,

The issue is the OP asked if it was a good idea to suggest to his friend about using the ball sewed tea shirt to sleep on his side with the inference that pap therapy could be avoided. kteague gave a great response why that might not be a good idea.

I took your initial response as an attempt to show the op that if the friend decided to try sleeping on his side, that the setup that worked for you might be helpful although you were using a machine and this person would not be.

But somehow your posts have turned into the philosophy that side sleeping is superior to back sleeping which isn't necessarily true. If someone isn't using a machine and has been diagnosed with sleep apnea, yes, usually sleeping on one's side is better than back sleeping although there are folks who have just as bad apnea on their side as on the back. But I thought they were in the minority although I could be wrong.

However, if someone's therapy is optimized, it usually makes zero difference whether they sleep on their back or side. The exception may be if someone's AHI skyrockets big time using a full face mask vs. a nasal/nasal pillow mask. If for some reason, they can't find a tolerable pressure to alleviate the increased AHI, they might find that sleeping on their side at the same pressure keeps the AHI at an acceptable level.

49er

[chunkyfrog]

To heartchakra: if your friend's sleep study does indeed indicate a positional component,
then side sleeping might be useful WITH cpap; or as a stopgap in an emergency.
(travel, power outage, machine breakdown)
Please refrain from encouraging/enabling him to avoid therapy,
even if it seems the compassionate thing to do. It is not.