Has anyone had success with ONLY a soft cervical collar?

[HapaDude]

Wow, thank you for the fantastic, detailed report. I did order a Blabok collar from Amazon - very similar to the Velpeau you use - and tried it for a night or two. Didn't really work on it seriously, but your report is encouraging. I may try experimenting with it more. Yes, the Wellue O2 Ring is as good as a gold standard for me - I test everything with it. Thanks again!

[ranvanman]

Suggestion....try a couple of different ones from Amazon. Someone else on here or a different board wrote about using a dozen different types before finding one that worked for him.  I tried six different ones before settling with the Velpeau collar. Most didn't keep my chin supported so my chin tucked down. I also tried a couple of different sizes. This one was the best, but I still need the towel tucked inside for higher support.

Good luck!

[Deborah K.]

So you are using the neck collar instead of a pap machine, right?  There's no way to know if you need one unless you either have a sleep study done or maybe you can borrow or rent a pap machine and try it, then post Oscar charts and we can probably tell you whether you need it.  Those are the only ways to find out that I can think of.

[Dodies]

going by the info in your avatar, it appears (to me) you haven't been diagnosed with OSA. You just think you may have "mild" SA.

if that's the case, then there isn't a baseline to check against, especially since most folks in here get their data from oscar.

if you are predominantly a back sleeper, then chin tucking could be causing your snoring. in that case, a cervical collar could certainly help.

would it completely eliminate it??? that would be for you to see. if you have been diagnosed with OSA, then trying something without a machine is a crap shoot, imho.

anecdotally, the cervical collar helps me. i start to sleep on my side, but inevitably end up on my back. it's just way more comfortable for me that way.

since adding the collar, my positional apneas have been diminished. some nights i don't even record any events at all. but i still use the machine. i was debating trying a night without the machine, but i'm sure my results wouldn't be nearly as good...or measurable at all.

the collar i use is the caldera releaf, btw.

This is the same for me, use a different collar but the collar itself has made a very measurable difference to my OSCAR results. I now also sleep on my back, having for years taught myself to side sleep in the hope it would reduce snoring (not realising in has SA) and TBH I really like back sleeping with CPAP, reults below AHI 1 most nights now.

Im also curious if collar alone would help me, I think I would also pair it with some form of nasal dilator or nose bands to open my nostrils, as during my sleep study my Apneas were same on back or side, the nostril things would at least let me know if collapsing nostrils are also the problem.

Maybe hiring sleep study equipment for a couple of weeks would give the needed info?

[Dodies]

I use a travel pillow, but rather than as a U shape, I turn it 90 degrees to a C shape, so my chin is supported.

I find it a lot cooler and comfier than a collar that goes all the way around and material is lovely an smooth.

Such as this

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/6744865

[lessgroggy]

An average oxygen of 92-94% is not great. I'm glad you have experienced improvements using the neck collar but it seems that you ought to combine CPAP and using a neck collar because your average oxygen levels aren't high enough to maintain good health.

[FLcracker]

Mizz c has a mouth leakage problem of late, as we have recently moved into a different bed and sleeping arrangement. I have tried to coax her into trial of a collar, and she is resisting. Because of comfort levels. She uses a standard size bed pillow tucked under her chin, but in a short time she's on her back, mouth open, and 'nosey' is roaring. Current AHI's are av'ing in the 5-6 range. Not bad but I know she could do much better if she could just control the mouth breathing better. I have DL'ed the Oscar SW, but so far have not activated it. When I start it it prompts me to 'lock the card' before removing from the nosey to the PC. I am real unsure at this point what they mean, or just how to do that. TIA for any suggestions offered.
FLc

[lessgroggy]

the bottom line is your O2 levels. Get yourself a pulse oximeter--I use the Wellue/Viatom CheckMe wrist one--and upload the data into OSCAR (to do that you first have to download the data from the device to a folder of your choice using the O2 software for the oximeter, then upload the data to OSCAR from that folder using the data import tool in Oscar. Do not try to convert the file to .dat or .csv or any of that because for some reason that doesn't work even if you twiddle with the column headings to replicate the format OSCAR seems to use, plus it's a lot of hassle). 

I found that wearing a soft cervical collar alone did not suffice for me. OAs are probably reduced but overall O2 levels drop noticeably if using collar alone--I could see that when I arose early in the morning, turned the APAP machine off and pulled off my mask, then went back to sleep with the pulse oximeter still going on 2 separate days. 

The cervical collar didn't reduce mouth leaks much for me either. I got much lower leakage last night combining soft cervical collar with mouth tape. Note that if you have trouble breathing through your nostrils for whatever structural/obstruction reason you should not use mouth tape until you get that addressed through surgery or whatnot, else you will partially asphyxiate yourself!