Apnea and sleep position

[JerryL]

When I did my sleep study, the technician told me that I have "moderate" sleep apnea, "especially" when sleeping on my back (the "supine" position). Ten years ago I had a sleep study that wasn't very well conducted, but it said the same thing.

This makes me wonder: Could I address my apnea problem by sleeping on my side? I have tried this, but I have discovered that even though it's easy for me to fall asleep while laying on my side, I almost always roll onto my back during the night. During my sleep study the same thing happened: I fell asleep on my side, and awoke on my back. (The sleep study data actually shows that I was on my side for quite a while before rolling onto my back, but FWIW it also says that all my REM sleep occurred on my back.)

But I'm wondering if there's a way to enforce side-sleeping, such as placing pillows behind me so I can't roll onto my back. Is this a plausible way to address moderate apnea? Or is this a rather silly idea?

[Julie]

It's unlikely you'll be rid of apnea just by back sleeping, though a few have done so, especially depending on your AHI and other factors, but certainly many have managed to change sleep position by using various methods to train themselves... e.g. a backpack stuffed with towels, or something behind you that won't be moved if you flip. You need to experiment for yourself of course and even if you don't fully succeed you will have improved your overall situation. There are a few, as I said, who after follow-up testing have been shown to no longer need Cpap, but they're few and far between and new testing would need to be done to prove you're one of those.

[Pugsy]

It's a doable idea if your OSA is markedly reduced on your side AND you can figure out a way to NEVER, EVER roll onto your back.
Markedly reduced on your side would need to be near the not making diagnosis criteria though.
As you already have discovered....staying on one's side is easier said than done.
Plus I would look at more than the AHI because even a not so overtly scary AHI can mean some other issues going on that are pretty scary.
My OSA in non REM sleep...only 12...not horribly scary on the face of things but my oxygen levels dropped to 73% with just those 12 per hour averages in non REM. There's more to it than just an hourly AHI average.

[LSAT]

With and APAP machine the pressure would be adjusted higher automatically when you were on your back and reduced when you were on your side.

[SeekSleep]

Sleep position can make a huge difference with obstructive apneas. I have very few when sleeping on my side even without my machine. Unfortunately, I periodically get some significant central apnea issues with any sleep positions. If and when I do roll over on to my back I get obstructive apneas bad enough that my machine often can't stop them. I just learned to sleep on my back for them, which works most of the time. I recently had some surgery that made it to where I couldn't seem to sleep on my side, and my AHI went way up. The good old doctors only advise was to see what we could do to get me sleeping back on my side again. All those years of education and that was all he was able to come up with