Sleep Apnea - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1

Anyone out there have experience / advice for hiking if you suffer from apnea. Do oral appliances work? Perhaps through hiking the AT is a dream I should just let die.

Wannabe

#2

I’ve had a lot of problems with my legs growing together at night. It’s hell when you jump out of the bag to take a leak. I’m gonna wear really tall sock this year to see if that helps.

stilleto

#3

If you are going to snore bring lots of ear plugs and give them to other hikers. You’ll make a lot of friends and they won’t sew your sleeping bag shut.

Brother of the Wind

#4

I don’t gather from their responses that Stilleto or Brother of the Wind really understand the problems of sleep apnea.

Seriously, it might depend on how severe your sleep apnea is. Snoring may or may not be a problem with sleep apnea. Breathing and continuing to breathe is a more serious aspect, and I think, the one you might be concerned about.

I have mild sleep apnea, well, severe if sleeping on my back and not there if sleeping on my side. I may snore softly or not. So, Wannabe, are you able to control your sleep apnea by sleeping on your side. When hiking I think I am almost always a side sleeper. I have never heard about oral appliances, only presurrized breathing machines which canot be plugged into the nearest currant bush and would obviously be too heavy and bulky to bring even if there were electricity.

If there are oral appliances that work,try them out. If sleeping on your side “fixes it” sleep on your side. Ask your sleep doc if they have any suggestions. I hope you find one that works for you (and yes, for others on the trail too, if snoring is involved.)

Medicare Pastor

#5

I am a doctor who has sleep apnea. This is a serious medical condition and needs a sleep study to make the diagnosis and evaluate the significance. In the sleep study the patient has blood oxygen, brain wave, respiratory pattern, and cardiac monitoring. In sleep apnea the airway gets occluded and the blood oxygen falls. Thank God the low oxygen in blood makes us waken and breath. The brain waves tell when really asleep and when awake. Often the patient awakens several times This cycle is most often associated with snoring. If the blood oxygen gets low enough, you die in your sleep of “natural causes!” If you flunk the sleep study, I would never advise a mouth appliance; that is, if you need treatment, you don’t need a mouth appliance in my opinion.

Bear Bag

#6

I am a doctor who has sleep apnea. This is a serious medical condition and needs a sleep study to make the diagnosis and evaluate the significance. In the sleep study the patient has blood oxygen, brain wave, respiratory pattern, and cardiac monitoring. In sleep apnea the airway gets occluded and the blood oxygen falls. Thank God the low oxygen in blood makes us waken and breath. The brain waves tell when really asleep and when awake. Often the patient awakens several times per minute and thus gets little rest. This cycle is most often associated with snoring. If the blood oxygen gets low enough, you die in your sleep of “natural causes!” If you flunk the sleep study, I would never advise a mouth appliance; that is, if you need treatment, you don’t need a mouth appliance in my opinion.

Bear Bag

#7

Good thoughts Bear Bag. I am also a doc, one who has treated severe cases of sleep apnea (OSA) surgically. The only consistently successful treatment for severe OSA is maxillomandibular advancement, a surgical proceedure performed by an Oral/Maxillofacial surgeon. Lots of big words, I know, but basically, get a sleep study to assess the severity, and rest assured there is hope, even if it necessitates surgery. The alternatives are rather severe, including a statistically greater chance of high blood pressure, weight gain, heart disease, diabetes and early death.

Scorch

#8

Wannabe, I am a dentist trained in the fabrication of oral appliances to treat sleep apnea.
Oral appliance therapy can be beneficial, if the appliance is made by a dentist specifically trained its fabrication.
CPAP therapy remains the gold standard of sleep apnea therapy, but is totally impractical for the trail. The oral appliance, which enhances the airway by opening the bite and advancing the lower jaw, may be able to achieve 60-80% of the results attainable by the CPAP machine.
In any case, first you’ll need a sleep study done in a reputable sleep center and then a diagnosis made by a qualified physician utilizing the results of the sleep study. If you feel the CPAP is not for you, then seek out a qualified dentist to fabricate the oral appliance.
Moderate to severe sleep apnea can be a fatal disease. Get treatment, but don’t give up the dream.
Tom Jacobsen DDS

Photofall/MrClean

#9

Personal experience only - I’m not a doc or dentist…
Sleep study showed sleep apnea and got a CPAP. My dentist made an oral appliance that helped. CPAP is best but not practical on the trail. Mouthpiece is much better than nothing but no where near the CPAP sleep.

Ed

#10

Wannabe
You’ve gotten some good advice, hopefully it will help you get through the trail. But even though your immediate goal of getting through the trail is obviously important to you, there will be life afterwards. As a general dentist for over 4 years, and now an OMS (surgeon) for 24 yrs, there is one simple principle that has held true as I have interviewed patients sent to me from other professionals for your problem: “when all you have is a hammer in your tool box, every problem looks like a nail”. So take all the advice, lose any necessary wgt., start simple and non-invasive, but don’t be afraid to get all the data, or be afraid of surgery. The overall statistical success rate for mod-severe OSA using CPAP is only 70%. 60 - 80% of 70% (re;MrClean) is…well you can do the math. Be careful who you believe (present company included…)
Hope you have a great trip!
Scorch

scorch

#11

I have hiked on the AT knowing I had sleep apnea, but not treating it, so of course I’m that guy that kept you awake. Even the “special” mouth guard didn’t help much. As a favor to myself and fellow hikers, I went for a sleep study and have been diagnosed with sever sleep apnea with my setting at 11(pretty high up there). As I plan my next big hike, I am very discouraged with the lack of choices. I’ve looked at the travel cpap’s, for a mere $700+ and 2+ lbs added to my pack, not to mention packing the hose and mask, plus the multi-day battery only lasts 16hrs. So this leaves me with surgery (if I qualify)? I wish there were better answers. Turtle

turtle

#12

My setting is 7 so it’s mild. It’s highly doubtful if a battery operated cpap will ever exist for back country hikers. Car campers, maybe. When I sleep in shelters which is often, I take a stick about 2 feet long and put it next to my nearest neighbor and tell him that it is his duty and responsibility to give me a shove with that stick if I start snoring. I tell him I won’t get mad if he uses it and that everyone in the shelter is counting on him to do his duty. When I get poked for snoring, I roll over on my stomach and it usually gets quiet. So far so good and people usually thank me in the AM.

Francis

#13

I’ve been on a CPAP for about 5 years and have been bummed for most of that time that I cannot sleep well with out the CPAP, so must go with marginal sleep while camping. In desperation I tried a relatively inexpensive ($90) mouth device… and it works!!!
https://www.zyppah.com/products/zyppah-original?variant=2745219777
I still use my CPAP when I am at home, but when I am on the road the Zyppah does the trick. It works better than my wife’s $1800 mouthguard as it has a simple rubber band that hold my tongue from blocking my air. It took me only one night to get used to having the device in my mouth. If you can get used to a CPAP then a mouthguard is simple.

Jeff