How Can I Treat Sleep Apnea at Home Without CPAP?

It’s really important to treat sleep apnea appropriately. It’s a serious condition that can actually lead to chronic conditions like hypertension and heart disease. Many professionals will recommend CPAP therapy with a CPAP machine to treat sleep apnea, but the machine can be quite uncomfortable to use, as it requires the use of a face mask or nose piece during sleep. The machine is also loud, so it can disturb a sleep partner when it’s operating. And in addition to all that, a CPAP machine is big and bulky, so it can’t really be used portably unless an expensive portable unit is purchased.

The problems with CPAP therapy add up to become one big problem: it complicates and disrupts a patient’s lifestyle significantly. This is a big deal for many patients. It can also affect how willing a patient will be to continue with CPAP therapy and treat his or her sleep apnea.

While a CPAP machine will work well for many patients, it may not work well for others, and there might be a better alternative for you.

Oral appliance therapy uses a custom-made, convenient-to-use oral appliance to treat sleep apnea. It works especially well for cases of sleep apnea that are aggravated by TMJ (jaw joint) disorder, but it works well in many, many other cases. Oral appliance therapy really is therapeutic for the muscles in the jaw and throat. It helps these muscles relax which prevents the airway from collapsing or getting blocked. In doing so, the oral appliance effectively prevents the causes of sleep apnea and offers a better night’s rest.

An oral appliance is custom-made for patients to suit their anatomy and to be very comfortable to use. Sleep becomes much more comfortable too. Of course, you can use the appliance from the comfort of home, as it’s a simple mouth insert you put in at night when you sleep and take out in the morning.

The appliance fits similarly to how a sports mouth guard fits, so it’s very easy to take in and out, and even to clean and maintain. You just wear it at night, keep it clean, and that’s it. There are no masks or machines involved, and you won’t have to replace supplies and filters like you would with CPAP therapy.

If all that sounds easy enough to you, then get in touch with us here at Koala® Center For Sleep & TMJ Disorders. We have multiple clinics in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin, so please visit our Appointments page for our locations’ addresses. We invite you to book a consultation with us here at our clinic, and to do so, please either visit that page to find the location nearest you, or call us. We’d be very happy to hear from you for any reason.

We hope we’ve answered your question of “How can I treat sleep apnea at home without CPAP,” and we look forward to speaking with you soon!