RE: Provent
Do Google searches for Provent research and Provent reviews. Ignore the ones from their own site, of course.
If you have very mild OSA, do not breathe with your mouth open, do not have any nasal issues, do not mind spending more for a single year's worth of a disposable product than you would on a single non-disposable machine designed to last a minimum of 5 yrs, if you do not mind having a treatment that cannot be tracked for effectiveness outside of a sleep lab, go ahead.
PaulaO
Take a deep breath and count to zen.
RE: Provent
Hi there
I was diagnosed with sleep apnoea late last year with mild OSA and AHI of 9.5 but frequent RERAs. I was really wanting to avoid CPAP for all the reasons people initially do so bought a 30 day pack of Provent.
It didn't work for me. You are told to go to sleep with your mouth open as you'll switch to nasal breathing when you fall asleep. What this meant is I would wake up several times a night with a mouth feeling like cardboard. I found it impossible to nose breath whilst falling asleep (this resistance is the point of the therapy).
Since then, I've moved to CPAP and haven't looked back. Once you get over the appearance and vanity issues etc and look to the benefits of ongoing CPAP, things like Provent became irrelevant. I'm sure it works for some, but not for me.
01-29-2016, 05:59 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-29-2016, 06:01 AM by 49er.)
RE: Provent
My sleep doctor gave me a prescription to try it due to my struggles with Pap therapy. As an aside, he had written one for a 30 day starter pack but I found a place that would give me a 10 day supply so I wouldn't be out as much money if it didn't work.
I was only able to try it once for a nap and of course, that was too limited amount of time to really report anything. The reasons I haven't given it a longer try are I find it very hard to get the placement of the patches correct on the face in spite of watching the video. I also found it hard to fall asleep with them on.
But if you have greatly struggled with pap therapy in spite of doing everything to optimize your data and don't mind the risk of losing money since insurance doesn't cover it, it seems like a reasonable thing to try before moving on to dental device, which has more side effects. And of course, if you can breath through your nose, it makes sense to try before resorting to surgical options.
Yes, it is true you have no way of measuring effectiveness. But in my opinion, if you can't tolerate the treatment in which effectiveness can be measured no matter what you have tried, then that is a negative one has to deal with
For people who know they significantly desaturate, I guess using an oximeter at night would be helpful. Since I don't, I would have to go by feel which would be tricky.
Again, I think we all agree that cpap is the optimal treatment. But when that isn't possible, one has to pick the best alternative option in spite of the negatives vs. going untreated.
49er
