Whats a good solution for Sleep Apnea without spending money?
by Sarah Aniston
Filed under Sleep Apnea Books
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The #1 reason for sleep apnea is being overweight. So, losing weight would definitely help.
Other than that, there are mouthpieces and such to help keep your airway more open, but if one is overweight (not saying you are, just saying in general), the mouthpieces won’t do much.
I’m not a doctor, so I take no liability in this answer…
I have sleep apnea. I was given a C-PAP machine which drives me nuts and I can’t deal with it. I’ve found that if I sleep sitting up my sleep apnea isn’t so bad. It isn’t completely gone, but it’s not so bad. I put a recliner chair in our bedroom and I sleep at an incline. If you already have a recliner chair, you might want to try that. Another thing you can try is putting a bunch of pillows behind you so that you are in an almost sitting up position. However, I really don’t recommend ignoring your sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can kill and should be professionally treated, usually with a C-PAP machine. If you have medical insurance, they might cover the cost of treatment. When I had insurance (I got laid off so now I don’t), it covered everything 100% because it was deemed “medically necessary” and “life threatening”. Yes, losing weight if you are overweight helps. It is true that not everyone is overweight that has sleep apnea. Those mouthpiece things they advertise on TV to stop snoring never worked for me. I even tried the expensive one that is made in a dental office and that didn’t work. Throat sprays and pills that you buy in the drug store to stop snoring don’t work either. The C-PAP is the best treatment if you can afford it and if you can tolerate sleeping with something on your face and/or head. Good luck.
Alissa, how do you explain all the sleep apnea sufferes who are NOT overweight. I know of 2 and both could stand to gain a few pounds.
The fact is sleep apnea is caused by a closing of the throat during sleep and this makes you wake up when you become oxegen deprived. Weight MIGHT be a factor in some cases but not always. When I was at the sleep clinic I saw all size of people there and was never told that if I were heavy the machine wouldn’t work.
While a night at a sleep clinic is expensive and so is the CPAP machine, once you have that, the thing lasts a long time. I have had mine for nearly 8 years and outside of relpacing filters and hosing, I haven’t spent much at all. And it is totally worth it for a good nights sleep.