So you’re a nurse specializing in sleep? Have you guys tested anyone’s O2 while they’ve taped their mouth shut? I’m curious because I haven’t seen many studies on it yet. I did see one that showed mouth taping was effective at reducing mild cases of sleep apnea.

Can you comment on Aldeer with your mouth taped shut ?

Actually… not smart azz but I have had a couple of orthopedic patients that did tape their mouth shut and the pulse ox monitor continuously go off and they’d call to the nurses station wanting to know why the hell that machine was constantly going off. I’d give them the option of wearing it or signing a refusal. Then they would say “I’m not refusing but I don’t want to to listen to that noise all night “. WTH.?

Like I’ve said I don’t try to educate old people. Especially people that have had a problem for so long and know it all.

CPAP works. Do not get the "sleep apnea" surgery. It's called a U P 3. That doesn't work. A CPAP will shut you up, quickly. The U P 3 is the most painful surgery I've ever had, and it failed, miserably.

I wish that it worked that way for me. I can only sleep on my right side and keep a pillow behind me to make sure I don't roll over. I close my mouth, but since I had covid 3 years ago I can't breathe through my nose at night. It stops up completely once I lie down. The only solution my ENT offered was to take allergy shots again, but I've taken them 3 times over the years and never noticed any improvement. I don't think they can test for enough different things to make a difference for me.

So a guy set me up with a CPAP to try. I tried every night for a week and never once went to sleep. I would get almost to sleep and the air flow would cause something inside my nose to shift and that would immediately wake me up.

I think my only solution might be to move out west to a drier climate. It helped Doc Holliday live a few more years.

So if you snore, you automatically need a CPAP? That's what I'm getting out of this thread.

Nope…it doesn’t mean you have sleep apnea. But just about all people with sleep apnea snore. Main thing is I would get a sleep study first and foremost.

Can you have sleep apnea and be "slim" and with no nose or throat problems? Guess what I'm asking , can't some people just normally snore without any health problems ?

Can you be thin and still have sleep apnea?
They're generally overweight, older, and often male. However, sleep apnea can affect skinny people, women, athletes, and even children. Just because you are young, fit, and thin doesn't mean you can't have sleep apnea, and the stereotypes leave many people untreated for a disease which can ultimately shorten your life. When you think of someone with sleep apnea, the image that comes to mind might be of a large, middle-aged, overweight man with wobbly jowls, snoring away loudly in bed. While this probably is the stereotypical picture of sleep apnea, it is possible to be a slim, young woman sleeping silently or even a small child who is suffering from this sleep disorder.

Sleep apnea describes a disorder involving pauses in breathing during sleep. As breathing is sort of important, these frequent breaks in breathing can lead to some significant health problems. There are three types of sleep apnea:

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This is the most common type of sleep apnea, affecting an estimated 22-25 million Americans. During OSA, the soft tissues around the throat collapse, blocking off the airways
Central sleep apnea. Central sleep apnea is not a problem of the airways but originates in the brain centers responsible for signaling the muscles involved in breathing
Complex sleep apnea syndrome. When both OSA and central sleep apnea are present, a person is considered to have complex sleep apnea syndrome.

Yep, . Central sleep apnea is not a problem of the airways but originates in the brain centers responsible for signaling the muscles involved in breathing
Complex sleep apnea syndrome. When both OSA and central sleep apnea are present, a person is considered to have complex sleep apnea syndrome.

If you snore all the time then you have a health problem that may or may not be Apnea. If the snoring is bad enough and frequent enough that it prompts your family to complain, then there is a likelihood of Apnea. Anyone that thinks they may have Apnea needs a sleep study.

Yes, both absolutely can be the case. You can be slim and still have sleep apnea, and you can snore and not have sleep apnea.

However, it doesn't hurt to have the sleep study done to check.

People have stopped breathing and died in their sleep due to sleep apnea.

Untreated sleep apnea can also lead to multiple health problems, especially involving the heart.

Yes. but you can also have sleep apnea and be thin and healthy too. Fat people don't have to have sleep apnea and skinny people can have it.

Skinny or not, Sleep Apnea is very unhealthy for your body. It can create all types of issues. If you are a bad snorer, you need a sleep study, no matter what your weight.

^^^^This, especially if you have accompanying night sweats and/or elevated blood pressure .

I have found that my snoring is far worse when I'm overweight (which I currently am) and also when I'm extremely tired or been drinking. I've found that through thoughtful sleeping position (on my side but about 1/2 way to sleeping on my stomach) and appropriate pillows I can get rid of 95% of my snoring (according to my girlfriend). I tried one of the generic (non fitted) mouth pieces and I found that it completely gets rid of my snoring as long as I'm sleeping on my side. The mouthpiece would make my teeth sore by morning but it was encouraging enough that I'm looking for someplace to get a properly fitted one.

My study showed I stopped breathing an average of 31 times an hour, my O2 level dropped to 67%. My study using a cpap I never shopped breathing & my O2 stayed above 97%.

I was worse than that. In the 60s. Went back so they could dial in the CPAP and I went to sleep and she came in and woke me up and I thought something was wrong because I had just gone to sleep. She corrected me and said I slept through the night. That was the first time that had happened in years. Now if they just made a CPAP for an old man bladder. Funny though, I get up to pee an average of about 3 times a night, but when I went Crenshaw County to stay with my brother at his hunting club, I slept on a bed that was hard as a rock and I wasn't particularly tired, but I went to sleep and did not get up to pee all night. Didn't piss the bed either which was even better. Back to the CPAP, I can't sleep without one now and when I put it on, my mind knows it is time to go to sleep.

C-pap for sure. Lady at the Dr. office said she believes I had the world record obstructive apnea. In my sleep study I went 86.4 seconds without a breath.