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Hi Giovanna, and welcome to the forum. Sleep Apnoea, you've probably realised by now, is actually a common condition, but is only recently being made more aware of here in the UK as to just how common it is. The British Lung Foundation have just completed their 1st year of a 3 Year OSA Campaign they're currently running, so the UK should be well and truly aware of Sleep Apnoea during this time.
Good to hear your husband's been diagnosed, as his health and tiredness should now improve with successful treatment.
Regarding the Provent, the company seems to be on a massive promotion campaign at the moment, but unfortunately I've not heard too many good reviews as yet - only a few, but time will tell.
Take a look at this post I put up a short while ago on this forum about the PROPOSED NEW ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT here in the UK, and if successful it will be available on the NHS.
Giovanna, welcome, your husband would need to test it while having another sleep study otherwise there is no way of telling how many times he stops breathing on average per hour. I saw it on TV here in Australia last week and my sleep specialist was being interviewed for his thoughts and he had the same opinion as Kath. I'm very sceptical myself, I don't know how it can keep your airway open and if you have Central Sleep Apnea where your brain tells your nervous system not to bother breathing, I don't see how it would help there. I would suggest you keep going down the CPAP track and the sooner the better for your husbands sake.
Interesting that your sleep specialist agrees too Terry. I'm wondering if that's why they're getting heavy on the marketing of it, hoping for more people to try it and boost it's use, and I'm sure it will help 'some' people.
Giovanna, check out my new blog KATH'S BLOG. I've briefly touched on the subject of OSA definitely been hereditary (my own Mum died at 49 of a heart attack, and we're almost 100% sure she had undiagnosed sleep apnoea). I'm going to be blogging in the future just on this subject too.
Glad you found us :)
Giovanna, it's good to hear that has started using CPAP, the damage this illness can cause is bad as you have touched on with your husbands uncle and father. It is more than likely hereditary, I have been diagnosed with depression as I wasn't diagnosed with SA itill last year some 48 years too late. The depression has now lifted but I don't know what other damage it has caused me. Make sure he sticks with it and encourage and support him as much as you can. The major problem most of us have is with the mask, so if he has any questions or problems get him to ask on here, good luck.
Very interesting Terry, and I know for a fact it wouldn't help me. The comments were very interesting, especially this one:-
"Looking at the research articles, which are mostly paid for and sponsored by the manufacturer of the product, it appears that Provent reduces the incident of apnea episodes by 40-70%. Since the definition of sleep apnea is an AHI level of 5 or greater, this means any patient with a starting AHI of much more than 10 to 15 would not have their apnea normalized by Provent. Most people with sleep apnea have AHI (apnea hypopnea index) levels of 30 to 50, which means only people with very mild sleep apnea will really benefit from Provent. The other issue is dropout. In one study of 51 patients, only 34 were still using the Provent at 12 months, meaning that the dropout rate was 33%, which is only a little better than CPAP. Also, a number of studies showed that at least a third of patients just don't respond to Provent. All in all, not a very impressive performance for such an expensive system.
The truth is that CPAP is the gold standard of OSA treatment, and that with some work and adjustment, will bring almost any apnea patient into an AHI of less than 5! Other options such as Provent, and oral appliances, do not work as well, and really are only useful for those with mild apnea. Also, the costs of CPAP treatment for most insured patients is negligible, and Provent is mostly not covered."
My guess is that it may help some people with very mild OSA.
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