Can someone need CPAP for a while, but not permanently?

D.H. wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 25, 2018 6:41 am

According to my sleep doc, Obstructive Sleep Apnea does not get "worse" because of CPAP use. He does not believe that I would have more or worse apneas by skipping a night as opposed to how I would do on a given night if i never used CPAP. In fact, he told me, that snoring and apneas Cause irritation to the throat, and that would make apnea worse.

The caveat here is that a skipped night for a long-term user, would be, in effect, Sleep Apnea of sudden onset!

I'll bet it would probably happen when you went to sleep too! Jim

Sounds like your "Sleep Doctor" have a lot in common!

An IDIOT doctor says, "snoring and apneas Cause irritation to the throat, and that would make apnea worse."
Ummm, this sounds like a graduate of an offshore diploma mill.
Not a good choice for a physician.

It's pretty obvious that snoring and apneas cause irritation! How can you say that's wrong?

D.H. wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:57 am

It's pretty obvious that snoring and apneas cause irritation! How can you say that's wrong?

I think your wording here is imprecise. There's definitely a lot of evidence that snoring causes vibrational damage to nerves in the throat:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14709606
Note that the study says the damage caused by snoring is independent of sleep apnea, so saying "apneas cause irritation" isn't really supported.

Now I'm out of my depth here, so this is just speculation, but it seems like the nerve damage caused by snoring could lead to loss of smooth muscle tone and thereby increased apnea severity. This is supported by several studies that demonstrate a reduction in AHI with orofacial myofunctional therapy, which has increasing smooth muscle tone in the throat as one primary goal. E.g. here's a review of 9 studies: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25348130

It's not clear to me that the apneas themselves lead to increased apnea severity in the future. There's a strong correlation between sleep apnea and impaired swallowing reflex, etc., but it looks like it's the snoring that does the most direct damage.

Superball, Isn't it wonderful to know that nerves can regenerate...?

HoseCrusher wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 26, 2018 4:33 pm

Superball, Isn't it wonderful to know that nerves can regenerate...?

Yes