Positional Therapy For Obstructive Sleep Apnea - Repost

Hi Everyone

Recent posts suggest that positional therapy for sleep apnea is still not well understood on the Forum.

My experience on this was well described at -

viewtopic/t70205/-Mars-Given-OK-On-Posi ... rapy-.html

More scientific information is at -

http://www.aasmnet.org/jcsm/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=27820

just click on the PDF button to download the full article.

In the context of positional therapy for OSA an oximeter is very useful in checking if there is oxygen desaturation more than the set limit. It is the positional therapy that is a replacement for the cpap machine, not the oximeter. I set my oximeter level to alarm if I go below 90 SPo2. I use it every now and then to check that my positional therapy is still working.

It is.

The advantage of positional therapy far outweighs the initial difficulty of getting used to sleeping non-supine (or whatever the position is that works for the individual). I have covered this in my original posts.

Whether or not a person has positional sleep apnea can be checked out by a sleep study, as I did. Initial experiments using an oximeter can lead the way. And if you find that you do not have positional sleep apnea, but have to use a cpap machine, that is too bad.

But I do believe it is well worth finding out, instead of just going for the cpap machine - an easy solution in the short-term, but a much more onerous solution in the long term. Incidentally, I no longer have to use any aids to sleep on my side.

As those who know me on this Forum I have been known to get into fights This is not my intention with this post.

So I wish you all well for the New Year, and whatever your "bliss" may be, may it come true for you.

mars

Hi Mars. Thanks for sorting things out and starting another thread on this topic. There is a segment of those with OSA who do have positional apnea and are struggling with treatment. These people will benefit from reading your story. Glad to hear your efforts are still working for you.