Newbie seeking advice on what might (or might not) work 4 me

[Hairy]

Hi all,

I've had sleep apnea on and off for years. Mostly, it didn't seem to affect anything, and it seemed like I would have a noticeable bout with it every few months. I went to a doctor (ENT) to ask about it, and was told that my throat is not obstructed, and my tonsils don't need to be removed, and that the problem was a deviated nasal septum. He didn't look into it any further, but said that a CPAP probably wouldn't help. Frankly, I think he was full of crap and just wanted to do nasal surgery.

For about the last year, it's been getting quite bad. The problem seems to be above the level of my mouth -- sometimes when I wake up from it, I can feel the tissue in my sinuses? having blown closed to block exhalation. Nothing whatsoever to do with my nose itself, it's all way back above the back of my throat.

I think a CPAP might help (and at least probably can't hurt compared to what I'm going through), especially if I have a breathing tube that goes into my mouth -- just bypass my nose entirely and keep my mouth open and air flowing through it.

Are there masks for this? Machines that are designed for it? (Continuous pressure might not be so good -- are there intermittent air pressure machines that monitor blood oxygen levels, or that have a strap around the chest to monitor breathing?)

I really don't know where to begin searching, even. All I get is a ton of ads for medical supplies, all of which tell me how great their products are, usually with very little real information or honest reviewing.

Anyway, thanks for any suggestions!

[Pugsy]

Not sure if I am understanding your question but it sounds like you are wanting a mask and machine that will push air into your mouth and down the airway...sort of bypassing the nasal part of the airway and you want the machine to do this intermittently when needed.
That's a ventilator and they don't normally do the breathing for you intermittently.
Definitely something you don't want to go playing with on your own.

Have you ever had a sleep study to be tested for sleep apnea? If not, that's where you need to start.

[kteague]

Hello and welcome. Are you in a position to be able to have a sleep study? That would help you know exactly what you're working with (or against), and give you a clearer picture of might or might not work for you. There are so many variables in this stuff that you could end up spending quite a lot trying to pinpoint answers. The solutions you could or even should attempt are affected by things like if your sleep apnea is positional or if it is mild, moderate or severe and how stubborn it is to resolution. There are in-lab sleep studies and home studies. If you are needing to bypass the studies, there are some more measured steps you can take, but it sounds like you're not looking for a lot of trial and error efforts. For garden variety obstructive sleep apnea, CPAP should be able to treat it if you are amenable to the treatment. It sounds like you are very willing, and that's a major factor. CPAP is a minimally invasive treatment - it's just air. No need for tubes down the throat, the air splints the airway open. There are devices to measure oxygen while sleeping. The ones that record all night are a few hundred dollars to puchase, or they can be prescribed by a doctor and worn overnight as a test. Personally, I would not invest in purchasing one of those without knowing it will continue to be of use to you. I have one and it has sat in my closet for years. My CPAP effectively treats my apnea, so there's no reason to have low oxygen.

Do you breathe through your nose or your mouth during your waking hours? Even if you are a total mouth breather, full face masks accomodate that. By the time you bought all the different gadgets, you could have almost bought a quality used cpap that has the data capabilites of telling you if the treatment is effective. In themselves, they don't report oxygen levels, but if they report your airway is not obstructing, then you can reasonably assume you oxygen is fine. However you decide to proceed, you can get good tips here. Good luck going forward.

[Guest]

Hello and thanks,

I'm an expat living in Asia, and there isn't much in the way of medical care available here, frankly. I can say from firsthand experience that if you walk into an ER with broken bones, you have about a 25% chance of them noticing the breaks on an X-ray, and there is roughly a zero percent chance that they will provide you with proper treatment.

I can fly out to another country and pay cash, but it's expensive and it's luck-of-the-draw as to whether the doctor is competent or not.

One other issue, and it's an important one I was trying to remember when I posted last night: I have an intermittent problem with acid reflux, where about once a month or so I wake up having just vomited. It's at least partly related to what I eat (drinking milk or eating anything with butter late in the day is certain to trigger it; cheese doesn't, so I assume it's either milkfat or milk sugars that trigger it), but my stomach seems to be getting increasingly sensitive and unpredictable as time goes on.

One reason I want intermittent ventilation only when my O2 level is dropping and/or I'm not breathing on my own is that it should reduce the odds of said vomit being forced into my lungs by air pressure.

[Hairy too]

Sorry, that post was made by me, the OP ("Hairy"). I don't know why it says I'm "Guest".

[Pugsy]

It says guest because for some reason you didn't get logged in. No biggie.

You know you might want to consider buying one of those overnight recording pulse oximeters to see just if your oxygen levels do drop during the night and if so, how much.

You aren't going to find a cpap machine that is going to be smart enough to give you a burst of air in response to low oxygen levels...they can't measure O2.
Plus what you are wanting simply doesn't exist.

I would think you need to confirm that you indeed have sleep apnea (either obstructive or central or combination) and then work from there. Bad GERD and reflux can be associated with sleep apnea but it isn't always. If it is associated with sleep apnea then sometimes effective therapy greatly reduces the GERD an/or reflux.....but not a guarantee.

[khauser]

There are oral masks ... but I would bet that if you used a nasal mask it would "blow by" the problems you're having.

If you decide to try xPAP, it sounds like you'd be doing so "on your own". If that's the case I think we'd all agree that you need an APAP (automatic CPAP) at a minimum, and it must have data capabilities, and YOU must have the ability to use that and set your own parameters. You'll need to research this.

There are, to my knowledge, no medical providers dispensing guidance on this forum. We're all in it as a group and do our best to help each other.

Some of us think anyone should be able to get and try CPAP, others think it's good to have that initial study (I fall in that group), but if you don't have that option for whatever reason, that's a choice any of us can live with and help you through.

[avi123]

Hairy, from what country are you posting and are there no physicians there to check you? Any MD?