Hi, I have a couple of questions for Dr Tony...
My nose is blocking up when I lay down to sleep particularly if I am lying on my right side or back. It does not happen during the day when I'm up and about, only when I am lying down.
I have been using an oral appliance to treat my sleep apnea for a short while now and it seems to work perfectly on nights when my nose is not so blocked up. However, on the nights when the blockage is particularly severe I don't feel like I'm sleeping well at all.
I got a script for Dymista spray and have been using it as per the normal instructions (1 spray per nostril twice a day) for several days now. It does not seem to be having much of an effect.
I have used over the counter decongestant sprays in the past and whenever I have done so they work perfectly (instantaneous clearing of nasal airway) so I don't understand why Dymista isn't working out? Why does a decongestant work but not Dymista?
Is there something else I can try to get this blockage issue sorted? Anything more powerful than Dymista?
I have a badly deviated septum, which I know is contributing to this problem. I am planning on getting it fixed as soon as I can but whilst I wait I need some sort of solution to my constant nose blockage so that I can get some proper sleep!
I started on CPAP mid last year. Went well at first but ran into major problems...
I then started to consider going for an oral appliance. Unfortunately, due to many negative posts I read on another forum, I became convinced that an oral appliance could never possibly work. I felt like I had no real options left. I was absolute distraught and terrified...
CPAP became impossible. I had to try something else. My oral appliance arrived last week... and it 100% works.
I wasn't too sure the first couple of nights (I had been off CPAP for a couple of weeks and therefore I was quite sleep deprived). However, by the morning after night 3 it was clear to me it was working. I was able to get up full of energy and stay up for the entire day (as compared to the previous few months of being essentially bedridden).
I am absolutely furious at the posters at this other forum who are constantly negative towards oral appliances. They make an effort to scare people into believing they don't work. I do wonder why are they SO hostile towards oral appliances? Are they paid money by the CPAP manufacturers?
Don't fall their nonsense! If you are struggling with CPAP at least try an oral appliance. Of course it may not work (just like CPAP doesn't work for all). But if it does work you will be so happy you switched!
