Any Back Sleeping Obstructive Sleep Apnea / Problem Snorers Want An Off The Shelf Hack To Cure That?

I have been obsessing on this for years. Tried the molded in hot water upper and lower fitted devices that fit over teeth and you can dial the lower jaw forward to keep throat open. Actually works some but jaws start aching because of, and not great on upper teeth and a whole lot of big device in your mouth. CPAP ....tried that for couple months and wound up hating it for a variety of reasons. This new procedure with Inspire Sleep where an electronic device is actually surgically implanted and then somehow is "supposed" to stop snoring and sleep apnea. Thousands of dollars and are you freaking kidding me?? No thank you!! You do all that and according to tests definitely not 100%.

Here's what I have been trying to figure out for years after trying this device on Amazon. Wow they have come down in price, I paid like $70 eight or so years ago.



You put your tongue into the bulb and squeeze it a couple times, creates suction and holds the tongue forward with the "stops" on the soft silicone device which go just inside the lips against the teeth. Try making the snoring sound while pulling your tongue forward ... you can't! Problem with that device though is after you drift off to sleep, maybe even before that .... invariably it gets too wet from saliva inside that bulb in a short period of time and the tongue slides back out. Plus you look like a complete DORK with one of these in your mouth and will be mocked by whoever you're sleeping next to. And drool a lot.

But holding that tongue comfortably and securely forward (the tip just some distance past the lips) became an in back of mind goal from that point forward for me, with no real solutions. Even considered trying to find a fabricator this year to make some kind of a spring loaded clip with silicone coating on it. If I could stop the obnoxious snoring and "OSA" and start getting quality sleep after decades of dealing with that, how great it would be.

So by chance and a little ingenuity, I think I lucked into something that really works! Still completely look like a DORK but WOW will find out tonight if my last tweak this morning and getting rid of HALF of what I was trying, greatly simplifying and making foolproof the idea .... really works comfortably. If anyone's interested I will post pics of my device and HACK and how I got there. Cost of about $13 on Amazon for a dozen which are handy as heck for something entirely different. So about a buck for one of these!

 

do share! I think sleep apnea is very common, and a real unaddressed issue. Lack of proper sleep is the beginning of a host of other cascading issues as well. Would love to see what you have come up with.

 

Yep agree with that from everything you read or hear from professionals about the importance of sleep. The tongue falling back to obstruct the throat when back sleeping isn't even confined to being overweight. I was 20-25lbs over for years but no longer and still the same issue. Just looked at Amazon again in writing the above and there's so many devices hadn't seen before, so zero idea on those. If anyone's found one that's convenient and really works please share.

Anyway about 4 years ago I bought 10 stainless steel clips like these on Amazon to use on chips bags and all kinds of other packaging to keep contents fresher once opened.



They're great but lately have been getting frustrated not having enough around as my wife uses them for some things in the fridge too. So went back on Amazon to buy more and came across twelve of these below, that now have rubber coating on the edges, to color code stuff (LOL whatever) and also I guess because morons in reviews were complaining they were hurting themselves on the sharp edges of the uncoated ones.



I noticed in addition to the rubberized edges the spring clip was not quite as beefy as the strong one in the originals I have. For bleeps and giggles I put one of the new ones on my tongue and was surprised to find it didn't hurt, for a short period of time. The tongue is surprisingly tough. But well under a minute and it got old quick. The originals would have hurt right away. But my brain started working with regard to that silicone tongue retaining device again I've tried off and on since I've owned it and saw how it could be effective if the tongue wouldn't (for me) always slide back out after not much time. Here it is leaning on the clip. Actually that V part goes down to accommodate that "thingy" on bottom side of your tongue. So I wondered how this not as strong a spring would feel on my tongue if it was inside the silicone device, and NOT allowing it to slip back out? Quite OK actually with the thickness of the silicone, and wow, yes I could actually go to sleep and still have everything in place, wonky and dorky and cumbersome as it was .... when I would wake up. As mentioned above you CAN'T physically make that snoring sound when your tongue is pulled a short distance past your lips.



I would have it in place on the device and get my tongue mostly dry with just enough moisture to push it into the bulb when the clip was pressed open. If completely dry I couldn't and again ... too much moisture in there was/ is the problem in the first place. Anyway it holds it in place, even if you get excess moisture down lower in your mouth under the tongue at first you need to get rid of by swallowing.



So kind of a breakthrough, and I would find I could sleep real solid for maybe up to 3 hours, which is good for me. Seven to eight hours straight probably not going to happen. But when I got the CPAP equipment some years back of course there was the one night observation sleep study, to confirm it was needed, and how the settings should be made initially by the supplier. So those segments of sleep were still getting mucked up.

But damn even though everything is light ... that's a cumbersome rig with major dorkiness on top of major dorkiness. So I wondered, since the width of the clips acts as a stop from going past a certain point into my mouth, same as the vertical stop on the silicone device which go inside the lips against upper and lower teeth .... if I could find a way to lose the silicone device. I mentioned the pressure of the new clips' springs on the tongue was such that it didn't hurt for short period of time, so I tried with fingers bending the centers of the clip's 2 surfaces outward a bit and thought I had it, when I wrote the first post above. I put it on my tongue and left it there for about 10 minutes and it was OK! Very light. No slip. Only half the DORK effect of the double rig and there's about a quarter inch of adjustment of how far into the clip to place the tongue. No point pulling tongue out further than necessary if you can't physically make a snoring sound at a certain point.



So I tried that last night and after about an hour it too became uncomfortable from tightness. Just wanted to try to sleep so put the double rig on again. Then this morning got up a couple hours before I wanted to completely get up, ditched the silicone and bent the clip further. The tongue is more rounded on the bottom so this shape.



That seemed to do the trick. Went back to sleep for another couple hours, with no more pressure discomfort on the tongue, easy to swallow any excess saliva and the clip still stays in place and very light. Cleaning is easy with like Polident or Efferdent solution and very warm water for 3 minute soak in a glass. Was doing that every morning anyway with a "mouthguard" to keep from grinding teeth while asleep. WHICH now is no longer necessary to wear with the tongue in between.

So that's where "I" am currently in my quest to comfortably and conveniently as possible hold the tongue forward so the airway is kept open. Haven't tried with it sleeping on my side yet ... probably going to be an issue with some "moisture" on the down side, but certainly less than with the silicone thing. For sure everyone's mileage will vary with tolerance for this kind of hack but it works IMO. Ideally I would like a plastic silicone coated clip with a lighter spring that just gripped the tongue lightly enough to keep it from slipping, shorter handles, and wide enough for a stop like these or some kind of a vertical stop. The width stop is pretty simple though.

 

Now this is a fascinating threar I will certainly follow HA!. Thanks for sharing your experiences @LTLakerFan. I too have always had problems with snoring (or, actually, in my case it's more my wife who has a problem, as it does not prevent myself from sleeping well most of the time), but have not found any working solution so far.

Good luck with your (re)search!

 

I'm afraid I'll have to keep looking lol. You're right, that's a lot to work with. I didn't have great luck with the mouthpiece, and sleeping on my side is a must.

 

Which mouthpiece are you referring to?

And yeah as far as my clip on its own I’ve realized that to prevent the tongue from falling back too far and the width stop to work the mouth has to stay shut. If jaw drops down like happens unconsciously when snoring …. uhhh …. the tongue then is no longer far enough forward. Duh! Welp back to the Double Dork setup for now and the drawing boards. I do actually have another semi-effective prop for under the jaw/chin to keep it shut but enough for now. Hopefully for any other DIYers the focus on keeping the tongue forward helps.

 

I have used the mouth molds before, and have gone so far as try to cut them in half, reconnect them via some most likely unsafe way to create a bit of an underbite to jut the jaw forward. Wasn't happy with results. My wife hasn't complained about my snoring for awhile, so maybe I don't anymore? hahaha, I guess I'll have to ask. I think I'm a light snorer.