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Hi,

I've suffered from aerophagia with CPAP and now got mandibular advancement device. But being spoiled by Oscar and the data availability, I'm at loss - is it working?!?

Positive signs:
- Wellue Oximeter data doesn't show big drops
- I was dreaming last night (didn't happen before starting CPAP)

Negative signs:
- Brain fog feels worse

Is there anything that can be said from the attached graphs?

SleepySleeper wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 23, 2024 8:28 pm

Is there anything that can be said from the attached graphs?

I'd say the graphs look great... hitting those 99's! Not a lot of movement, pulse fairly stable.

You can wear the device *and* run the machine... set it for some low APAP, like 5-6cm, and see what it records. Or not... entirely up to you.

What was your original diagnosis AHI? Looks like you were Mild to Moderate, eh? What device, one of the dentist-fit ones?

Brain fog, kind of subjective... I'd like to see a machine graph showing lowered events. A lab sleep study would be the gold standard here.

Thanks for the fast reply!

Yes - why not to run the machine! How I didn't come to think of that... Perhaps I did mention the brain fog

Sleep study AHI was 28, but I didn't sleep much during the study and it was noted that the real AHI is likely worse. My apnea is clearly structural - BMI is in 'healthy' range and if I put my chin on my chest, my throat becomes obstructed. Also, the snoring score was solid 100% of sleep time. So, in that MAD does seem like it would make sense treating my apnea.

MAD is SomnoDent. Stupidly expensive - something like $3.7k. I really hope the insurance will cover it (but on the other hand, I prefer paying more than dying).

There will be sleep study done later on after few months of use - looking forward to it!

Wow, seems to be working! For the first time ever OA = 0.0!

And this was with 4 cmH2O, so would say that MAD did the work here.

CA events looked similar than with CPAP alone, i.e. some unsteady breaths before short break in breathing.

SleepySleeper wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 25, 2024 8:25 pm

Wow, seems to be working! For the first time ever OA = 0.0!
And this was with 4 cmH2O, so would say that MAD did the work here.
CA events looked similar than with CPAP alone, i.e. some unsteady breaths before short break in breathing.

Looks great! O2 looks great, events look fine... you're in the clear I say.

Did the doc give you another device to de-advance your jaw? I played with MAD for a while (just a cheeseball one, boil-n-bite) and found that it brought my pressures down about 2cm. Since then I've gone bi-level and now can sleep supine if I advance my jaw before bed... I can either do it with the MAD or just bite my upper lip with my lower teeth for a while.... avoid clenching until morning. I have an overbite so I used it upside-down! And clenching seems to move it back just fine.

Thanks!

Yes, doc gave a boil and bite de-advance device. And mentioned about 10k times that I need to wear it every morning - even if I didn't use MAD for the whole night.

BTW, my device is this one https://somnomed.com/en/patients/produc ... nce-elite/

Not sure if it's any better than the other ones, but I guess there is some insurance kick-back or something as the doc beelined to the most expensive one without asking my opinion or introducing other options.