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Hi Cybergranny and welcome.

You'll still be able to curl up on your husbands chest at night - especially if you go with a nasal pillows mask. I use the ResMed Swift FX for Her (and have been using it for 6 years now). I dab a little AYR nasal saline gel into each nostril before bedtime to help with the air seal and to provide comfort plus protection against sores. I gather my hair up over the backstrap of my mask to help anchor my mask in place at night. Even if you are a life-long mouth breather, as I was, you can still use the nasal pillows masks. There is a simple brain retrain technique you can use to end your mouth breathing forever. We'll help you.

A SnuggleHose is a plush hose covering that you can purchase online. It comes in different colors. I have a pink one that matches my mask and like to think of it as an extra "teddy bear" in bed with me.. When you sleep, just remember to turn your exhaust away from your husband's face. You won't have to turn your face away from him. You'll still be able to cuddle. He'll appreciate that. He'll like the feel of the SnuggleHose against his chest.

CPAP is the most effective and, actually the least invasive of all the treatments offered for obstructive sleep apnea. It is the gold standard of treatment for OSA. Some people adapt to CPAP from the first night, but for most of us, there is an adjustment period of anywhere from a few days up to 6 months. Patience and persistence shortens the adjustment time. This is, after all, a whole new way of sleeping. Our brains do not like change. They crave whatever is the accustomed norm. Our job, as CPAPpers, is to provide repeated stimulus to convince our brains that this is the new normal. It's as simple as masking up each night and turning on our machines and relaxing into sleep...over and over again. I did my adjustment all at once and just kept my machine and mask on all night from the get go. I loved not having to get up and use the restroom at night anymore. I had been rising 6 times per night before I got my CPAP. My adjustment period was about 3 weeks. I'm a granny, too, by the way. You can do this. Everything is going to be even better than OK.

CPAP treatment has really changed for the better over the years. Machines are much quieter, masks are much better and more comfortable and there are many more comfort measures available to you than there were years ago - even just 6 years ago, when I began using CPAP. My husband was given a ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet . He loves it. This machine is whisper quiet. If you snore, you will no longer snore audibly with your CPAP treatment and your husband will like that too. I also wear a night time dental appliance for TMJ syndrome as you do for your bruxism. This has improved my apnea (down to 25 apneas per hour on average), but that is still not acceptable for someone who wants to avoid the many serious, chronic health conditions that go along with untreated sleep apnea.

I was scared at first, too, but I made up my mind from the get go that I couldn't afford to fail at CPAP. There are just too many ill effects on our health when we are not treated for our OSA or are inadequately treated. My husband discovered, in the newfound quiet of our bedroom, that his own snoring was waking him up. He gathered the courage to get a sleep test done and sure enough, his sleep apnea was far worse than mine. His oxygen desaturations were down to 80% each time he had an apnea and his heart was racing to 175 beats per minute. We are "duelies" in CPAPdom.

You're going to be just fine. Keep on checking in.

Yes, I wore the "crozats" (an upper appliance with a lower appliance) for a full year. I was told to wear them at all times during the day, taking them out only to clean my mouth and teeth after eating and to pop them back in again ASAP. I had been in such pain before then - excruciating - and much worse when I would try to talk or eat. Any movement of my jaw was tortuous. My pain vanished immediately with my special appliances on the first day of treatment.

The crozats brought my lower jaw forward into a relaxed, natural position. My teeth were sore at first, just like they would have been had I had braces, but this passed after the first week or two. I had to relearn how to talk around my devices. I had to force myself to wear them while I ate. At night, I wore a one-piece appliance similar to a "twin block" to hold my jaw in the daytime position. Your dentist specializing in TMJ disorders will know what that is. I will wear this night time appliance from here on out. I was told not to wear the daytime appliances at night because the upper one especially could become dislodged and be swallowed. Braces were not used in this treatment.

Your neuromuscular dentist sounds like he is the right man for what you need. Take care. I wish you the best.

Hi maxmax,

Asthma is a real pain, but you're really better off sticking with the treatments that have been recommended to you by your doctor. If you suspect that you might have obstructive sleep apnea and have symptoms (daytime fatigue, waking up unrefreshed, snore a lot (your family members/roommates are complaining about it or you're waking yourself up frequently in the night), having to go to the bathroom a lot at night, falling asleep suddenly during the day, etc.), you should bring this to the attention of your GP. He/she will then either order a sleep test or refer you to a sleep doctor who will run a sleep test. OSA is diagnosed by an M.D. based on the interpretation of the sleep test.

If you have OSA, you will have a go at CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure), which is the first, most effective and least invasive treatment offered for that condition. CPAP delivers pressure to keep your airway open. If you also need oxygen( because of your asthma), the oxygen can be piggy-backed onto the CPAP system. It takes time and persistence to adapt to CPAP therapy. CPAP is never prescribed for asthma, because it doesn't open up the bronchial passageways.

I'm so sorry you're having such a tough go with your asthma. Your current treatment is giving you your best shot at a reasonable life. Take care.

Hi Again Adgrey. I pushed the thread, "Problems Your Having With Dental Appliances" to the top of the Forum, but noticed that the dentist did not answer the last post, posted 6 days ago and I don't know if it is active or not or if the dentist went on vacation. I read through some of the posts from patients and answers from the dentist and, so far, I'm not impressed.

I assume that you have your own dentist who prescribed this device to you. What does he/she say about all this?

Your muscles are not going to lengthen because you are wearing the appliance only at night. The repositioner helps to slowly put your jaw back where it was before it was stretched by last nights' therapy. The back and forth action is putting horrific strain on your TMjoints. Your TMJ problem is kicking back in and is giving you your muscle pain. Your jaw and your brain are currently in disarray and that is why your jaw doesn't know "where to land". The pain will not go away until you either (1) stop wearing the micro 02 appliance altogether or (2) do #1 and find a qualified dentist who specializes in TMJ disorders. The pain is awful, I know. I had pain so bad that I was unable to eat. This turned into a rather poor, but effective weight loss plan. Not recommended.

Do you have obstructive sleep apea? Have you had a sleep test? Have you ever tried CPAP? Was your dental appliance prescribed just for snoring? Dentists, any dentist, may not diagnose sleep apnea. You need a medical doctor for that and preferrably, one who specializes in sleep medicine. My insurance provides sleep specialists only as a part of second tier treatment...in other words...after sleep apnea has been diagnosed by a pulmonologist M.D. via a sleep test (run at home) and apneas and/or symptoms persist after CPAP treatment. At that point, they offer a lab-run sleep test, which a sleep specialist interpretes who usually recommends further treatment with one of the CPAP relatives.

So...if your dentist diagnosed you with sleep apnea on the basis of your snoring, he/she/ was entirely out of his/her realm and you would be much better off ditching your appliance and having your GP recommend a sleep test. A responsible dentist who specializes in sleep disordered breathing would refer you back to your GP with a note recommending a sleep test.

I hope this helps you. I hope you are free of your pain quickly. Take care.

For Adgrey, who is having trouble with her dental appliance and TMJ. Thanks

Hi Adgrey,

Wow. You might want to scroll down to the "problems/trouble with appliances" post and reenter with your problem there. There are some very qualified dentists who will try to answer your question during their working hours.

I'm a fellow sufferer with TMJ disorder, which is now resolved by 1 year of wearing a 2 part appliance, called crozats, during the day (which brought my lower jaw forward permanently) plus a single-piece nighttime device that I wear every night (2 years later and counting) to maintain the new "bite". I will wear this nighttime device for the rest of my life. It must be maintained biannually. And thus, my jaw and bite have been permanently rearranged. It has improved my appearance. My face now appears more relaxed, probably because I'm pain-free. The treatment improved my apnea a little, but I'm still being treated simultaneously with CPAP for my severe sleep apnea. It has completely resolved my jaw pain which was brought about by the treatment pressures of my CPAP treatment. It was expensive, but I don't regret a penny of it.

My TMJ dentist has told me that the problem with most if not all of the appliances used for sleep apnea is that they move the jaw into a new position each night and then, when taken out, the muscles have to recover to the old position. And that really hurts. He says that those of us with pre-existing TMJ problems are not likely to adjust well to these appliances. He also said that most dentists are not aware of the problems that these appliances can cause to those of us with TMJ.

Try finding that sleep dentist post. I wish you well.

Hi maxmax,

It sounds like you need to get in touch with your doctor and ask him/her about the oxygen and exercising. I don't think we can help you here.

HI terri55,

It sounds like the trouble is with your new pressure setting and not with your machine. Are these machines both CPAPs?

You need to get in touch with your technician pronto. Let whoever answers the phone know that you need your technician to reprogram your machine back to the auto-CPAP mode and that the newest settings have blown up your therapy and that you need to see him/her/whoever today. Not next week. Not even tomorrow. If you're dealing with a DME and the technicians there, they will try to put you off. Don't let them. Tell them that this is an emergency and that you must have this dealt with today...not tomorrow...today. You shouldn't have to spend even one more night as it now is. Ask for any technician. It doesn't have to be the one that you saw before.

Good luck. There's a chance, if you have your original prescription, that someone here on the forum will be able to help you to get into your machine and reprogram it yourself. Just be sure that any reprogramming becomes a part of your medical record. Your doctor can help you with your medical record. Your Doc needs to know anyway that your original prescription gave you excellent therapy and that the technician changed your pressure settings and that the result has not been good. If your doctor authorized this, then...well.....ask him/her why. The answer should be very interesting.

Hang in there...help is on the way.

Hi HoseHead,

Dealing with the DME can be a real pain. Here's what worked for me. I found out where mine was located (Apria) locally. And then I made an unscheduled visit, explained my problem and that I needed a new mask and that being without a mask is an emergency for me. I also told them that I would call 911 if they didn't produce one for me right then. By golly, it worked! I walked out of there with a new mask. Hope this helps you.

It's great that the mouth breathing is gone. Instead of pushing your tongue down into your lower teeth, try resting it at the roof of your mouth with the tip of your tongue resting against the backside of your upper front teeth. This will support your newfound closed mouth when you sleep.

If you're still really feeling out of it and like you might pose a danger to yourself or other motorists, then take a short retirement from driving, by all means. You should feel much better soon.

Pillows are very individual. I don't think we recommend any particular pillow here on the apnea forum. It's pretty much up to us to find out what works best. And hang in there. Recovering from a surgery such as what you had takes a lot of energy and patience. Just that might be the cause of your fatigue. I'm hoping for the best for you.