[Product Review] AlaxoStent Review (6” FDA Approved)

[sleep2023]

Jdip, the Alaxo insertion experience was so bad that I need some mental recovery time to try it again. 

Regarding Nastent/Back2Sleep. I can agree with the reddit user that softness of the material would indicate it useless for our purposes. You probaly already read this, but for others that do not, there is study that show improvement mostly in patients with narrow palate,palatal prolapse. Also success with stent was positively correlated with succes with UPPP.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8796092/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30281824/
Only positive thing I can say about Nastent is that it was very hard to do the snoring sound with the thing in. I would recommend it to those with snoring issues.

[jdip]

Jdip, the Alaxo insertion experience was so bad that I need some mental recovery time to try it again. 

Damn. I hope you'll have better luck when you try it next. It'd be great if you could report back whenever that will be.

[DLEWIS]

I started using the alaxo 6" stent on July 1 and want to give a 1 month update. My advice would be take your time and insert it slowly and carefully.  I had one bad experience where it was too low in the throat when I expanded it and it was not pleasant... So I just started putting it as far back as I could but I don't think it was the correct sinus and because it wasn't in the throat it was pushing against the roof of my mouth and was pretty uncomfortable. So for the past couple of weeks I put it in at night, laying down, watching tv and just relaxing. I can't stand in the mirror and put it in (it would take too long) and you can feel it internally anyway, because you can't see it by looking in the mirror.  Anyway, I tried different angles/directions until I could tell it was in the right location. For me, I have better luck on the right side and angled more toward my nose (rather than cheekbone.)  When I find the right position, I can just push it in a little at a time and it goes right into the throat. 

Because of the bad experience, I was afraid to put it into the throat, but it was positioned correctly twice this week and I didn't have any pain because it was opening up the palate by being inserted further and not pushing against the soft tissue (when it wasn't positioned further enough in the throat.)

Just know that if you start to deploy it and you feel like gagging or choking, all you have to do is pull it out a little bit and you won't even feel it.


I have used the CPAP machine with the stent 3x this week. The last two times were the best location of the stent in the throat and I got excellent O2 levels that I monitor with a Wellue Ring. Last night my 02 levels were above 93% for 63% of the night; Two nights ago, it was above 93% for 76% of the night. There was one night I didn't use the stent but CPAP machine only; that night my 02 levels were above 93% for 68% of the night BUT vibratory snore events were more than doubled that night.

Anyway, I'm finally getting the hang of this stent and it's not as scary as it was in the beginning. Once I get consistent results I'll compare it to the 5 weeks of data I tracked prior to the stent. I'm also noticing pulse rates above 60 are far less with the stent then with CPAP only which I interpret as your heart not having to work as hard to keep O2 levels up. 

I think this screenshot shows what would have been a palatal prolapse breathing pattern but with the stent, it appears that it isn't completely collapsed.

That's all for now. Good luck to all who are trying this. Don't give up.

[ophiuchus]

Any updates on how this is doing for anyone? I ordered the hybrid stent instead of their last stock of 6 inchers about a month ago -was given a small transitionary deal.

[jdip]

ophiuchus, I was holding off on ordering the new hybrid stent as I wanted to wait until there are some reviews it before taking the plunge. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it after you receive it.

[jdip]

Wanted to bump this and ask if anyone had any updates on how their stent is working for them?

[G. Szabo]

ophiuchus, I was holding off on ordering the new hybrid stent as I wanted to wait until there are some reviews it before taking the plunge. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it after you receive it.

I have been trying to insert the Alaxo hybrid stent for ten days but have had no success so far.

For a week or so, I exercised with the tube alone. But I could never push it down deep enough until I saw it in the mirror. Nowadays, I have been trying to deploy the stent as well. Unfortunately, this hybrid version has a fixed deployment length, and the end of the mesh is somewhere in my throat. So when I start pulling the tube back and letting the stent expand, the mesh hurts, and I have an extreme gag reflex. The stent opening end may be perpendicular to my throat when it is not inserted deep enough, which is why it is painful.?? 


I cannot tolerate it, and I am frustrated. But keep trying.

[jdip]

G. Szabo, I've been waiting months for activity in this thread. Thank you for posting!

Sorry that you have been having such a hard time being compliant with the stent. I still haven't ordered mine yet - I am worried that I would not be able to tolerate it.

Regarding it being too long for you, is it possible to insert it less deep such that the flared "bulbs" that are supposed to sit in your nostrils will stick out of your nose a bit? If that is feasible then theoretically the stent wouldn't enter your throat as much.

I hope you'll adapt and start getting better results from the stent soon.

[G. Szabo]

Regarding it being too long for you, is it possible to insert it less deep such that the flared "bulbs" that are supposed to sit in your nostrils will stick out of your nose a bit? If that is feasible then theoretically the stent wouldn't enter your throat as much.

I have been practicing every day. There was one occasion when I was able to fully insert the tube and deploy about 50% of the stent. It was not painful and I could tolerate it for about 10-20 seconds. Unfortunately, I have not been able to repeat it again as yet, but am still trying.  

I also had cases when the "bulb" portion of the stent was out of my nose and the stent was fully deployed. This position was quite tolerable and it was not too difficult to achieve the corresponding depth of tube inserting. So one can use it like this. However, the "bulb' is quite large and you will definitely need to tape it down. I did not do it because I was afraid that the glue and the tape could hurt the fine mesh of the bulb when you detach the tape. The stent material is a very fine wire. You do not want to mess with it. NB: in the case of the 6" type they always tape the tip of the stent where there is a SS cap, so the fine mesh is not disturbed. 

However, when it is not full inserted then it can not prevent the soft plate collapse, which is the primary reason we want to use it.

If you do not want to use the full insertion length, then you can order the more sorter "sport version" for a lower price. It will not reach the more sensitive part of your tracheal. One should not have any insertion problem with that one.

Best

[G. Szabo]

I have started to spray Lidocaine into my nose to be able to push it harder.

I believe, the tube is too rigid and it is not able to make the 90 degree turn into the tracheal. Hence, the most difficult step is inserting the last 2 cm needed for the full length of the hybrid stent. There are few YouTube video out there demonstrating that the insertion is easy-peasy. I guess, they are not posting the failures.

I would appreciate any piece of advice how to insert the last two cm of the tube.