Night Watch vs Resmed Auto

[pholynyk]

Jim, I'll just chime in with a note about my own experience. In the summer of 2003 I had a sleep test which showed mild apneas on my side and worse on my back. I discussed this with the sleep doctor, saying I never sleep on my back. So he gave the advice about tennis ball. About seven years later, I'm falling asleep at work so badly I decided to take early retirement - having forgotten all about the sleep test seven years earlier. A further five years and I'm complaining to every doctor I see that I'm tired all the time, and finally a new resident says 'There's a sleep lab across the street, and I can write a referral'. Four weeks later I have an AirSense 10 Autoset, and I haven't looked back.
Sleep apnea doesn't go away or get better. Save yourself the years of sleepy misery, and possible associated side effects. Jump in and learn to track your own progress and tailor the settings for your own best therapy. It's not hard, and we are here to help you.

[Sleeprider]

Going back to the original though about the "Night Watch", it seems like some kind of medieval torture device.  To be shocked when you roll onto your back would be very disruptive to sleep and seems to defeat the purpose of resolving sleep apena to reduce sleep disruptions.  The objective of therapy is obviously to keep someone breathing and avoid the physical stress of apnea and hypopnea, but it is also to prevent the arousals that come with respiratory events.  So whatever solution we choose, should not be a cause of sleep disruption.

If I was looking for a passive device to prevent positional apnea, my first go-to would be a partial soft cervical collar, like the Dr Dakota Stop Snore or Eliminator Sleep Aid Cushion.  I think there is a huge myth about back-sleeping that the cause of apnea is the tongue slipping into the soft palate and obstructing the airway.  I have become increasing convinced that it is actually the flexion of the neck that obstructs the airway, just as it does if you try sleeping in a sitting position and your jaw drops to your chest.  Try it, you'll see.  The collar prevents that and should make your sleep "position neutral".  

CPAP is an effective way to maintain the soft tissues in your throat and prevent apnea, but increasingly, we have recommended using a soft cervical collar in addition to CPAP to prevent positional apnea that can occur, even with CPAP.

Edited to correct reference to Dr Dakota

[jmjm28]

Thanks Sleeprider. Is this the Eliminator Sleep Cushion Aid you are referring to?  

https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-Qw7LKg/

I couldn't find the "Dr. Watson Stop Snore" could you please provide a link.

With or without a soft cervical collar, I am assuming then that based on my sleep study data I posted, that you agree with my sleep doctor that
 the Resmed Auto is the way to go?

Jim

[pholynyk]

Your Amazon link is correct and a violation of Forum rules about posting commercial links...

The other reference should be to "Dr Dakota's Snoring Stop"... sorry about that

[jmjm28]

Pholynk,

Thanks. I didn't realize you cannot post a commercial link, so edited the post.

Jim