My personal experience with Inspire for Sleep Apneas

Hi...I found and joined this chat group on April 9th, after reading a person's negative experience with the INSPIRE Device...I spent close to 30 minutes writing about my own INSPIRE experience, but I guess I didn't actually post it, because my Profile shows "no posts"...let's hope this time is more productive. I was an early adopter...the device was implanted in my right breast in July 2020. I was in excruciating pain the night of the operation and called the woman surgeon, who suggested I take some acetaminophen tablets...she, nor anyone else on her staff called me the next day to check in...nor did anyone from the Hospital....I have never experienced such intense pain in my life...and I have a high tolerance for pain, as I've had lower back pain for decades and had a herpes infection in my left cornea...(think dagger pain, during waking hours!)...I'm no wimp.....the pain radiated from the front to the back on the right side...the 1st two weeks were HELL ON EARTH...when I finally saw her 8 days after the operation, she had the nerve to tell me that none of her other patients had experienced any pain after the operation...I told her that other patients' experiences were irrelevant to how I felt and the pain I was experiencing....she then threw 4 different prescriptions at me...one of which was Oxycodone, which folks get addicted to...Oh great!....none of the pills, including the Oxy and anti-inflammatories lessened the pain...then, by the 14th day, I no longer had that front/back pain, but instead it was now under my boob, where the wires had been placed below the device implanted above....still HELL ON EARTH...she told me she must have hit a nerve with the wires she had implanted and she would need to do another operation...needless to say, I never wanted that hack to touch me again...and then finally after a full 4 weeks I was no longer suffering intense pain...my sleep apnea doctor/lung specialist told me that I was probably having a fibromyalgia attack...btw, I had not had any fibromyalgia events for decades.

Who the hell was the brain who decided to implant the INSPIRE device in a woman's boob...it ain't youngsters who suffer from severe sleep apnea....it's us older folks!...so as a woman, each year I get a mammogram and ultrasound....this is not fun having your boob squished down into the machine, when you have a metal device within ....total insanity...always get called back for follow-up studies now....btw, you can't have an MRI done of your INSPIRE -implanted breast, because nothing would show up...by chance met a woman at a local grocery store who had the same team of doctors implant an INPSIRE Device in her right boob, about a year or so after my surgery....during one mammogram, the DEVICE was pushed out of the "pocket" where it's housed and it shot out to her ribs....she was in extreme pain, so they had to remove the DEVICE....when she asked the surgeon...a different one than the lady who had implanted our devices, he explained that he could not remove the wires and leads under her breast and along its side, because they were coiled around nerves....and all those wires and leads around your jawline...guess what...they are there forever, as well...not one doctor had ever told either of us about this issue...they had withheld pertinent info!

I warned all the doctors involved that I am a very light sleeper, which was the reason I had never been able to use a CPAP machine...I was 1st told that I had severe sleep apnea 25 years ago...back then the specialist told me that "You are going to be very tired!"....No Shit, Sherlock!...doctors back then did not understand the ramifications of starving your major organs of oxygen all night long ...but 20 years later, the damage had been done...AFIB, AFLUTTER and dementia.

The INSPIRE DEVICE is really annoying... you set a period of time in which you think you'll fall asleep...well my delay is 1hour and 15 minutes....once the Device starts, the vibrations continue all night long, whether you are wide awake and breathing normally, or you are sleeping...my doctor explained that it is not a "SMART DEVICE" ....UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE WORLD!...INSPIRE cannot differentiate between normal breathing while you're awake and sleep breathing....so your tongue is moving back and forth ALL NIGHT LONG...the vibrations, even at Level 3...I never made it past that low level...are annoying as hell and often wake me up, unless I'm in a very sound sleep, which is only occasionally...I could swear there is noise with the vibes, but I could be wrong!

And as for SNORING....get yourself the SNORELAB app...it's cheap and effective and you can write daily notes about your sleep the previous night...my SNORING is off the charts these days, even though I use the INSPIRE DEVICE religiously....maybe it's allergies...who the hell knows!

In summary, the INSPIRE DEVICE is not a panacea...it probably works best for heavy sleepers and folks who drink a lot before bedtime...for us light sleepers and folks suffering from Restless Leg Syndrome, it doesn't work that well...and Importantly, if it doesn't work for you, they can remove the DEVICE, but not all of the wires and leads...they are stuck in you for life!....and only since December 2020 has the FDA/CDC ok'd the use of an MRI throughout your body...before then, it was only OK for your "extremities" ...but the highest approved TESLA reading is only 1.5, rather than most machine, which are now 3.0 TESLA.

you are welcome to ask me any questions or discuss any concerns.....CynicalGal

CynicalGal wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 11, 2024 5:47 pm

I was an early adopter...the device was implanted in my right breast in July 2020.

The device has been in use since 2014. I would have thought by 2020 the surgeons would have mastered their techniques. Sounds like your surgeon was new to the procedure. Practicing medicine.

I don't believe that the Inspire Device was available in the US since 2014....but my surgeon was a real hack...I asked her what happens if it doesn't work for me...she told me she could take it out...Note well, that she did not inform me that the wires and leads would remain in my body forever...talk about withholding relevant info!

CynicalGal wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 11, 2024 7:47 pm

I don't believe that the Inspire Device was available in the US since 2014

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The device was first approved by the FDA in 2014 as a second-line therapy for moderate to severe OSA who have not been able to manage the condition with weight loss, positional therapy, or CPAP devices.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/f ... ea-implant

That was on April 30, 2014.

Thank you for your post. I’ve been on CPAP for one month and the longest I’ve slept is 2 hours. I’m very claustrophobic and I’m using a pillow mask with headgear. Had mask rep out to house to make sure fit was ok. I’m really anxious even thinking about the mask! How long did you try CPAP before getting inspire? Did you have general anesthesia or conscious sedation for implant? I read general anesthesia isn’t recommended with sleep apnea. Thank you again!

alm751 wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 13, 2024 2:49 pm

I read general anesthesia isn’t recommended with sleep apnea.

It's common to use general anesthesia on people with sleep apnea. The anesthesiologist should be made aware, and she will make sure you breathe steadily. That's a big part of their job with every patient.

Anesthesiologists are often the first medical professionals to diagnose patients' sleep apnea.

Thanks!

rogelio wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 12, 2020 5:18 pm

I am writing this in order to prevent you from going to the same experience I went to. Probably, for some people Inspire is a solution, despite all the pains that the surgery incites, but it would be nice to have more information before you decide this is a good solution for you. I would like to start a community of individuals who suffer from sleep apnea and are considering the Inspire implant or already have the implant. It is absolutely necessary to be informed before we do something so drastic. Like any business, I believe that the Inspire Company tries to promote this surgery, and they have the right to do it, but we as consumers have the responsibility to go further in finding the real effect that these claims related to our health have on our body and mind.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience . I don't think I like this way of treating my apnea. I still like to use the S-10.