Inspire system

[JThammer]

Any info is helpful!Thank you!

[cps22]

I'm sorry to hear that, I have Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia in my family as well, though due to an as-yet-undiscovered gene rather than SPG-7. 

Do you have any difficulty swallowing?

Although it doesn't seem to be an issue in the type in my family, some varieties, including SPG-7, can have dysphagia (problems with swallowing). There seems to also be some correlation between obstructive sleep apnea and dysphagia, which apparently isn't very well understood. Does OSA cause dysphagia? Is dysphagia contributing to OSA? There don't seem to be clear answers. 

I only know of one person who has the Inspire (I don't know him personally, he's the boyfriend of a family member and I have only heard about this from a different family member). Although it does not completely eliminate OSA for him, he is very happy with it because it lowered his OSA enough that he doesn't need to use CPAP, which was difficult for him since he travels extensively for work. I don't know how severe his OSA was to begin with.

I have to question what Sleeprider said, though, in that all the documentation I've seen says it's for moderate-to-severe sleep apnea, not mild-to-moderate, and it's only recommended for people with a BMI of up to 32. But at any rate, it apparently only reduces OSA, it won't eliminate it. 

You can have a drug-induced sleep endoscopy test done, which will hopefully determine what is causing your OSA and whether the Inspire might be useful for you. If you're not a good fit for it, then that takes it off the table as an option for you (and might determine if there are any other procedures that might help). Perhaps that might be a good first step just to see if they can determine what causes your OSA. 

My doctor suggested that I might be a good candidate for the Inspire if I had difficulty using CPAP, and that he would order the test for me if I wanted, but I personally would not choose to have the Inspire implanted. Partly that's because although I was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea, I suspect that my horrific overnight sleep study experience overstated my OSA and I'm really more in the mild category with some CSAs which wouldn't be helped by the Inspire. But it's also because I apparently overreact to anything involving any kind of injury/stimulus to my nerves. I may have some neurological impairment - possibly related to Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia, but as there are no tests for the gene in our family, there is no way to know. I have no other obvious symptoms of it, unlike my other family members. I've been told that I have some neurological results that are not "normal", but are also not abnormal enough to give me any kind of diagnosis. 

Since you have SPG-7, I don't know whether a nerve stimulator would be a good thing or a bad thing in your particular case, even if tests showed that you might be a good candidate for Inspire. Are you seeing a neurologist? Perhaps he or she could answer that. 

There is a good article from Consumer Reports about the Inspire here: What to Know About Inspire Sleep Apnea Treatment - Consumer Reports

And if you are not familiar with it, you may also find the Spastic Paraplegia Foundation website to be a good resource: Spastic Paraplegia Foundation - Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia & Primary Lateral Sclerosis (sp-foundation.org)

[JThammer]

This is why I ask,cause getting a point of view I hadn’t considered.Thank you for the insight

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I do have some issues about swallowing

[cps22]

If your SPG-7 is causing the difficulty in swallowing, I don't know whether that means a nerve stimulator would be a good thing or a bad thing for you, since you already have a disruption in the nerve signals. A neurologist familiar with spastic paraplegia would probably be the person to ask.

[JThammer]

Thank you for the info!

[cdplatt]

There are several Inspire Facebook groups where you may be able harvest additional personal experiences.