Newly diagnosed and given choice of 4 treatments

[Artygal]

I am searching for advice on this please. I am a 69 year old gal with arthritis in my neck and other joints. Sleep is a challenge because of my neck. My pulmonologist said I have mild sleep apnea and so I have four choices of treatments: a dental device, the inspire device, surgery on my throat, or a CPAP machine. My insurance only guarantee covering 80% of the CPAP machine and supplies and I would have to beg for any of the other treatments to be covered. But, obviously I would like to try something less invasive than having to wear a CPAP machine.

[Shadowpup]

I’m 73 and on CPAP one year. CPAP doesn’t seem invasive at all. It has delivered better and better sleep in my case. The members here on Apneaboard have been very helpful. Best wishes with your therapy.

[Gideon]

Welcome to the forum. First a question that will result in a better more specific answer for you.
What are the full results of your sleep study? Not just the summary. Please post it after redacting your personal info.

In general, and not being specific to your case.

1. CPAP, this is considered the gold standard treatment for sleep apnea. There are several different 'classes of machines for different types of apnea and brands can make a big difference. With CPAP you will always know the state of your apnea, not so with the other options.

2. Dental devices, thrse mostly pull your jaw forward, they do require adjustments and are not cheap. They can cause pain as they try to move the jaw, they shouldn't, but they frequently do.

3. Surgery. It is invasive. But it depends on what is driving your apnea. In general surgery requires a min of a couple weeks to recover to a couple of months. Her we see a lot of surgery patients using a CPAP. Typically patients see relief for at least a period of time.

4. Inspire. This is surgery to get an implant that will act as a pacemaker for your breathing. It will stimulate muscles to pull back on your palate. Have you ever had physical therapy where they connected a tens unit to stimulate your muscles. This is what you are doing in your throat. Post surgery it takes several months to recover and then months as they dial the unit in. This works better in milder cases than those that are more severe.. a side effect, with any implanted electronic device such as this or a pacemaker, yo cannot get an MRI, CAT scan yes, MRI no.

Again, CPAP is the Gold Standard for treatment.

Here at Apnea Board we specialize in CPAP and its variations, we want to be informed of all options but the result is on the whole we are likely at least somewhat biased toward CPAP. Your ENT is likely biased toward a surgical solution, and a dentist biased toward a dental appliance. Medically all apnea solutions are compared to CPAP.

Now please post your sleep study.

[staceyburke]

For me a Cpap is not invasive at all. I can’t sleep without it. It helps me breathe and I wholeheartedly would use it before any surgery. 

On another note the machine you get is important. The best machine you can get is a ResMed S10 autoset. Do not accept a Phillips dreamstation. It costs the supplier less (they make more profits from it) and it dose not give as good of therapy.

[Artygal]

How do I publish the results of my sleep study?

[Gideon]

Scan it, black out personal info, attach it to a post

[Artygal]

Your site will not allow me to attach "THIS TYPE OF FILE".  Advice?

[Sleeprider]

The document should be in PDF format. There should be no problem in attaching that.

[DaveL]

Welcome to the forum!
I'm so glad you found us. You're on a good track to get your questions answered. The people here have such wonderful knowledge. And they have helped me a lot.

I've done this for over 30 years. I don't find cpap equipment invasive. I find real benefits now that I've changed my therapy taking the recommendations here, and acting on them.

But I wore a mask for many years and the treatment wasn't effective.

So welcome!