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Comment by httpsterio | Hacker News Reader

can you recommend any device for the sleep apnea? I'm experiencing some symptoms and would love to proactively do something about it.

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Sleep apnea came up in another thread about a month ago [0] where someone posted this:

> This may sound crazy, but for those who can't tolerate a CPAP, an effective alternative is playing the didgeridoo.

They linked a study [1] that actually tested this and found it to be helpful.

0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23430332

1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1360393/

Interesting. Guessing this has to do with humming (or generally, vibration) increasing endogenous nitric oxide production ~15x [0]. Nitric oxide is a vasodilator, which could mitigate sleep apnea caused by a deviated septum.

0: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12119224/

It could also just be a strengthening of the diaphragm, lungs, and throat.

I actually have ordered a harmonica as one of my long shot attempts to fix this. Was inspired by the didgeridoo post. Apparently some hospitals use harmonicas for respiratory patients.

Yes, get a CPAP. You have to go to a sleep doctor, get tested and then you can get one. I have one and it absolutely changed my life, nearly everyone says that. It effectively fixes obstructive sleep apnea.

It's been recently suggested to me by my psychiatrist that I take a sleep study. I know this might seem dumb, but my biggest hesitation is that the mere any of being watched by someone will make it extremely difficult for me to actually fall asleep. I generally have a tough time falling asleep outside of my comfort zone e.g. at a friend's place.

Was this a problem for you? I have a feeling a sleep medication would help with this but won't that interfere with the study?

Having done two sleep studies, the first time it took me 45 minutes to fall asleep, so they gave me a (low dose) Xanax the next time, you can share this concern with your doctor and they should be able to address it.

It can be weird. My most recent study was quite comfy and unobtrusive. And they often start with a “DIY” home study these days. I put mine off for a long time, for various reasons...but when I started falling asleep driving home from work, I relented. I now sleep with a bipap machine (really well-designed device by ResMed), and it has changed my life.

It's super weird and you will not sleep well. But they account for that in the results. You can't use any sleep aids, but that's sort of the point.

At the end of the day, you will eventually fall asleep and hit deep sleep and they'll get the measurements they need.

No one sleeps well knowing they are being watched and hooked up to all those sensors. :)

You can do an at-home sleep study where you wear a cannula attached to a small machine. That's how I did my sleep study and it was sufficient to prescribe me an APAP machine.

My sleep study with Kaiser just involved wearing a wristband computer thing on my wrist that recorded data from an optical sensor on my finger while I slept at home. Nobody was watching.

I can imagine (purely from reading Why We Sleep) that sleep aids medication would ruin the study, and won't help you sleep anyway

Make sure you are tired. No caffiene that day and get up early. I did the sleep test with all the wires and video on me and it did not bother me once I got used to it and realized it was good for me. Also, they have take home sleep tests now so really there's no excuse. It could save your life, please do it!

You can try a few mouth guards that can be purchased off of Amazon which may work to varying degrees based on the cause of your sleep apnea. From my experience this[0] model had the best results. These type of mouth guards tend to work if you have collapse in the area behind your tongue, which may or may not be the case (more likely if you are overweight). An Alaxostent is another option if you're experiencing soft-palate collapse; however, it's expensive and hard to know if it will help before the fact.

It's possible that you're experiencing collapse in both areas; and it's also possible that neither device will work, depending on the severity of your sleep apnea; namely if you're overweight. I had "mild" sleep apnea that left me VERY fatigued because it was characterized by mild hypopneas (slight secessions in breathing) at an incredible frequency which stopped me from reaching REM throughout the night. The devices helped.

To ameliorate the situation completely I found a great doctor out of USC who ended up performing 4 procedures and 3 surgeries. I had my uvula cut, my tongue burned, my palate ablated, and a few other things. It was an incredible headache during the time but well worth it and now don't need a CPAP. Also worth mentioning that I had some gut dysbiosis at the time which can masquerade as sleep apnea. Good luck to you.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Eliminator-Sleep-Custom-Bruxism-Mouth...

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