I worry about developing sleep apnea, not only for the effects on my health, but also on my relationship with my partner.
A medicine that treated sleep apnea would be revolutionary for so many people.
A medicine that treated sleep apnea would be revolutionary for so many people.
That's not really much of an issue. There's an adjustment period, and there's a bit of an art to finding an appropriate mask. One that fits perfectly fine for you might have an exhaust port that blows air in your partner's face. Or the one that your partner can't hear at all might sound thunderously loud in your ears.
But all in all, your partner would much rather have you sleep with a mask than choke all night.
Careful skepticism of new treatments is always warranted, but even if it only helps 5% of patients with OSA in absolute terms that’s a huge population impact.
Skepticism is very much warranted. CPAP is the gold standard because nothing has come along that comes even close. I'm much more optimistic about an upcoming generation of micro-implants that stimulate various throat muscles than I am about pharmaceutical treatments using stimulants.
Edit: to be clear, I am not dismissive of any OSA patient's concerns. But most of their issues are a consequence of shitty titration and poor support from their sleep docs.
Yes yes love conquers everything and whatnot. Doesn't change the fact that some people need absolute silence to fall asleep and a CPAP machine is very disturbing to them. So they have to sleep with earplugs which, again, is an issue for other reasons.
Please don't generalize your own experience with your partner onto all of us.
I had a friend stay with me for a week or so, and they use a CPAP machine. Due to the poor sound insulation in the house, I could hear the machine from the guest bedroom to mine. It was one of the few times when I had to find some really long-form content on youtube to leave it playing all night on the tv in my bedroom to drown out the repetitiveness of the CPAP machine. For the first few hours of the first night I ended up waking up two or three times an hour because of the repetitive sound of the machine before I realized it.
I used to use a CPAP but now use an approved dental appliance (fancy word for an expensive mouth guard that readjusts your jaw). I would incorporate a spray that actually helps, if only just a little.