Non-CPAP/BIPAP Solutions for Sleep Apnea

So, I'm going to try BIPAP but I remain concerned. I tried it years ago and didn't tolerate it too well. Are there any good non-CPAP/BIPAP solutions to sleep apnea? A sleep doctor years ago told me no, not really. I'm wondering if there's anything new on the market.

Well you may want to try an aerobic exercise program.
A few studies show it can reduce your AHI a lot depending
on the study from 25 to 40% even with little or no weight
loss. One study pointed out the people only lost 1.3lbs on
average but there AHI averaged 25% lower.

Then there is weight loss. Losing weight often helps sometimes
a great deal. But some people don't get any help with there
OSA from losing weight.

But for the mean time I am keeping my 2 cpaps and my battery
backup.

[quote="lwieland11"]So, I'm going to try BIPAP but I remain concerned. I tried it years ago and didn't tolerate it too well. Are there any good non-CPAP/BIPAP solutions to sleep apnea? A sleep doctor years ago told me no, not really. I'm wondering if there's anything new on the market.[/quote]

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lwieland11 wrote:So, I'm going to try BIPAP but I remain concerned. I tried it years ago and didn't tolerate it too well. Are there any good non-CPAP/BIPAP solutions to sleep apnea? A sleep doctor years ago told me no, not really. I'm wondering if there's anything new on the market.

It looks like from your other posts that your doctor wants to do another titration because of centrals on the latest sleep study. Usually the other things that might be suggested are for obstructive apnea only.
Set your mind to use the bilevel machine and to correct any problems that may come your way so you can use it. Bilevels are more comfortable to me than Cpap because of the separate exhale setting. You will find a lot has changed over the years in the machines.

Can you define "try"

I too had issues with BiPAP titration in the lab.
It felt like I was forcing an immediate exhale after which I immediately inhaled resulting in hyper-ventilation. I tolerated it VERY poorly.

I was sleeping an woke immediately

I nearly replicated at home by changing from 25 / 21 to 25 / 18.
I don't know what the titration settings were.

The bottom line is a BiPAP is far more versatile than a CPAP and I'm sure the fine users on this board can help you figure it out.

Luckily my Dr was working with me and instead of recommending a CPAP a 20 cmH2O which I tolerate extremely well, agreed with getting a BiPAP. The Rx (25/21) to be changed if I didn't need it.

lwieland11 wrote:So, I'm going to try BIPAP but I remain concerned. I tried it years ago and didn't tolerate it too well. Are there any good non-CPAP/BIPAP solutions to sleep apnea? A sleep doctor years ago told me no, not really. I'm wondering if there's anything new on the market.

PAP therapy is still the most effective approach for the majority.

And improvements in the equipment have made it much easier to tolerate.

So maybe you should give it another shot with the help of the good folks in this forum.

If you can't find a way to get it to work for you this time, then maybe then you can start looking at the less effective approaches.

For severe sleep apnea? No, there is no really good treatment other than CPAP/Bipap.

For mild-moderate obstructive sleep apnea? There are a lot of people and there is a lot of money being spent on prescription, custom made oral appliances that move the lower jaw forward the entire time in your sleep. The most famous one is probably the Somnodent. The catch is these oral appliances are really only good for the mild-moderatish types of sleep apnea.

If you are real fat and have severe apnea and you lost a lot of weight and reduced your apnea to the mild severity, an oral appliance might work.

Thanks for your responses everyone. I'm trying one more thing before BIPAP. My AHI is remarkably lower on my side than on my back. I'm trying a few nights on my side. Set up my bed so that I cannot sleep on my back. I felt much better this morning after doing that. Hoping this will help.

lwieland11 wrote: . . . I'm trying one more thing before BIPAP. My AHI is remarkably lower on my side than on my back. I'm trying a few nights on my side. Set up my bed so that I cannot sleep on my back. I felt much better this morning after doing that. Hoping this will help.

Problems with that approach, in my opinion, that you may want to keep in mind:
(1) We have no idea what our positions are during sleep unless we record the entire night with video. It is amazing how people can be absolutely sure that they never sleep on their backs but upon seeing a recording find out that they actually do, even after having rigged up something that would seemingly make it impossible.
(2) Impediments to supine sleep can disturb sleep too, making it possible to win the anti-supine battle but still lose the good-sleep war.
(3) There is no way to monitor the effectiveness of the approach.
(4) It is generally smarter to try the best approach first and only after having failed the best approach move on to less-than-best approaches.
(5) Sleep is too important to play around with, since sleepy people die from accidents and insidious health problems that may not manifest until it is too late to do anything about them.

Woody wrote:Well you may want to try an aerobic exercise program.
A few studies show it can reduce your AHI a lot depending
on the study from 25 to 40% even with little or no weight
loss. One study pointed out the people only lost 1.3lbs on
average but there AHI averaged 25% lower.

Exercise is fine. But such small reductions in AHI are not so fine when compared to the reduction possible with effective PAP. Fix the thing that can kill you first, since that can allow you the health needed to make exercise work.

Woody wrote:Then there is weight loss. Losing weight often helps sometimes
a great deal. But some people don't get any help with there
OSA from losing weight.

But for the mean time I am keeping my 2 cpaps and my battery
backup.

Loss of weight may help OSA, may do nothing for OSA, or may make OSA worse, depending. But that isn't the point. The point is that you ain't gonna lose no weight in a healthy way until your sleep is effective. Fix sleep first. That increases your odds of helping your weight. Not the other way around.