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I am a side sleeper so I find it hard to get to sleep on my back. I think my machine is an AirCurve or AirSense bi pap. I tried nasal pillow masks for years but I have severe deviated septum and it is hard to get air through my nostrils even without a mask. I tried full face masks but they leak so much that I have to wear them incredibly tight which is very uncomfortable. I weigh about 180 (I am female). I am ready to try the Inspire but I think I might weigh too much.
I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea around 11 years ago. I had the option of getting a CPAP machine but the apnea was mild so I didn't have to get one. I decided to try it and found it incredibly intolerable. I felt like I was suffocating every night. I would use the CPAP sporadically. Since then my apnea has gotten worse. I snore and badly. I stop breathing during sleep. I've had 2 additional sleep studies and each time they want me to use a CPAP machine. I have never gotten used to the mask, I have tried every kind of mask out there and am not comfortable in any of them. Most nights I can't fall asleep wearing the mask, but as soon as I take it off, I'm out in 2 minutes. The nights I do use it I've taken 400 mg of Trazodone and 2 of my husband's Diazepam pills. This literally knocks me out so that I can at least sleep one night every 2 or 3 weeks.
Are there any alternative therapies out there? I have tried this for so many years and have not been successful. I am frustrated and tired. I want good sleep but I don't see how to get it. I can't use a dental device because my gag reflex is so bad. I've thought about the Inspire technology but am not sure I want something implanted in my body. I just don't know how I will react to it.
I've seen 4 or 5 different sleep doctors now, and all of them offer no real help. Some of them were down right rude to me because I'm not using the CPAP. They say "just use it!". You'll get used to it. Well I've been trying to get used to it for 11 years and just can't do it anymore. One doctor saw that I had not been using the CPAP for about 2 and a half months. I told her what I felt like trying to use it, and all she had to say to me was "Well what do you want me to do for you!?". I then realized that she didn't work in a SLEEP center she worked in a CPAP center. If I didn't use the CPAP she had nothing to offer me.
I feel like I'm destined to die early in my sleep and there's nothing I can do about it. Help?
