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Comment by quasarj | Hacker News Reader

You're still using it?!

Yeah of course. Especially while I didn't have an alternative yet. I have this machine for a reason and untreated sleep apnea is also dangerous long term. It's also very hard to live while sleeping so badly.

I'm not using the bad one though. The one that smells and blackens face masks. Only the other one. I regularly let it blow into a mask for a day to verify.

Have you considered the oral appliances? They don't work if your apnea is really severe but they're pretty awesome if it works for you.

I tried one before I had the machine but it gave me really painful teeth and didn't help enough.

I used to wake up with really painful teeth and I also felt them starting to misalign. Like they were pushing my teeth around like braces.

Yeah, oral appliances don't fix the actual problem: tongue slacking into the back of the throat. It's the same reason a chin strap will just make you choke.

Supposedly you can "train" your tongue to stay in position with tongue & jaw exercises, but I saw no effect.

Oral appliance worked for me. It was sufficient to get my jaw in the right position.

Not the OP, and I don't use a CPAP, but just living with sleep apnea is kind of horrible, and not harmless. It might be genuinely worth the small risks associated with the affected machines if the alternative is having to go back to untreated apnea.

I understand that some people can't afford to buy a machine on their own, but damn that would be $700 I'd totally spend. Buying a different brand in the US is super easy.

The problem is that I moved countries in the meantime and here it's not quite so easy buying one on your own :(

You should have a look at your local craigslist alternative (like OLX in europe) or facebook marketplace. Lots of people sell their CPAP machines.

Yes that's an option but I don't really like using a used one for hygiene reasons.

It's annoying that they're so restricted here with all the medical red tape. They can't even go high enough to do actual damage. It's not like a respirator.

You can probably order one from the US if you still have your old Rx somewhere.

I didn't live in the US though (In fact I've never even visited it!)

Or do they take foreign prescriptions too?

I'm honestly not sure, they are super lax about checking Rx in general though, so maybe email them?

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