Home | Apnea Symptoms | Apnea Treatment | Obstructive Sleep Apnea | Apnea Pillow | Apnea Causes | Apnea Disability | Apnea CPAP Apnea Test | Apnea Side Effects | Types of Sleep Apnea | Testimonials | Sleep Tips | Sleep Apnea | Snoring| Sleep Disorders

Sleep Apnea Treatment

You’ve just been diagnosed with sleep apnea. What comes next? No doubt you’re tired and not thinking too clearly. For the great majority of sufferers there is only one option offered – CPAP. It is not an easy solution to accept and has many drawbacks. But for those suffering with daytime fatigue and worry over long term serious health effects, it is a lifeline.

However, it’s important to understand that there are CPAP alternatives.

In this section we describe alternative sleep apnea cures. Some of the treatments require little effort on your part, and can make a world of difference to your sleep apnea. Others need a lot of effort and planning on your part.

Let’s start with the easy ones!

Easiest Sleep Apnea Treatments

Here are some alternative sleep apnea treatments that are the easy to do – but they will not completely cure your apnea. What they WILL do is help you to get a better night’s sleep while you are looking into permanent apnea solutions.

1. Change your sleeping position

This treatment involves sleeping on your side, instead of on your back. Sleeping on your back is perhaps the worst position to aggravate snoring and apnea events, because sleeping on your back allows the jaw to fall back, as well as the tongue – which cuts off your airway.

2. Breathing solutions

This solution is appropriate for people with mild to moderate apnea, and who have obstructions that are primarily in the outer nasal areas.

Example of breathing solutions include nasal strips and saline drops.

3. Didgeridoo therapy

This alternative sleep apnea treatment involving breathe control therapy focusing on strengthening the airway muscles and calming.

Click to learn more about the didgeridoo and sleep apnea

4. Singing therapy

This is similar to didgeridoo therapy, but more commitment is required to strengthen airway muscles.

Sleep Apnea Treatments That Require More Effort

5. Lifestyle changes

Lifestyle changes that can improve apnea include the reduction or elimination of drinking, smoking, and drugs.

Click to learn 5 all-natural cures for sleep apnea.

6. Dental device (also called Oral device)

A dental device is worn in the mouth to bed and holds your jaw in a forward position, which opens your airway. After a referral from your doctor, a dentist will make a mold of your teeth and create a mouthpiece. You can also buy a generic mouth piece and trim it (or heat it) to fit your mouth.

Click to learn more about sleep apnea dental appliances.

7. Acupuncture

During acupuncture treatment, very fine needles are inserted into areas of your body. This stimulation may facilitate release of body-healing hormones.

Surgical Sleep Apnea Treatments

8. Throat surgery

Surgery can sometimes be an effective way of treating sleep apnea – especially if your apnea is caused by a problem with the structure of your airway.

There are a number of surgical procedures that can open your airway, which involve the removal of tissue. These include the removal of the uvula, adenoids, and tonsils. Other procedures involve stiffening of the upper throat with implants, and repositioning (advancement) of your tongue.

9. Nasal surgery

Just like throat surgery, nasal surgery can be an effective treatment for some sleep apnea sufferers. Nasal surgery can include any of the following types of surgery:

o Straightening of the septum
o Reduction in size of the turbinates, either through tissue removal or radio frequency to reduce underlying bony structure
o Removal of inflamed or infected tissue in the sinuses
o Enlargement or removal of bony tissue in the upper sinus area

To receive a FREE e-course on 7 proven sleep apnea treatments (that don’t use CPAP), please click here.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks

So, how can we help YOU?...

  1. Get your FREE e-course on 7 proven sleep apnea treatments (that don't use CPAP)
  2. Get information on how you can
    start curing your sleep apnea TODAY

25 Comments

  1. Hi, cool post. I have been wondering about this topic,so thanks for writing.

    Comment by KrisBelucci — June 3, 2009 @ 1:57 am

  2. Great post! Just wanted to let you know you have a new subscriber- me!

    Comment by AndrewBoldman — June 4, 2009 @ 7:29 pm

  3. Please send me info on alternative from cpap

    Comment by Elizab Wall — October 22, 2009 @ 12:29 am

  4. Hi I’m an eight grader at Manteo Middle School, we are doing BIG reports on charities like apnea, cancer, or other type of medical things like so. Well i was just wondering if you could email me so i could do a interview with you (which is required for my report)! i feel bad about all with this type or problem and would like to help this cause! thanks for reading this and i hope to hear from you soon!

    Comment by kimberly — January 13, 2010 @ 5:40 pm

  5. If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea CPAP will usually be prescribed. If you do not tlerate CPAP consider an oral appliance.
    http://www.ihatecpap,com has excellent examples of many types of oral appliances.

    Comment by Ira Shapira — January 29, 2010 @ 2:58 am

  6. Thanks for dropping by the site, Dr. Shapira. There are indeed many people who cannot tolerate CPAP (that’s why I set up this site!), and an oral appliance may be a good option for some of them.

    Marc
    Editor, ApneaTreatmentGuide.com

    Comment by Marc — January 29, 2010 @ 4:55 pm

  7. If you want the easiest way to deal with Sleep Apnea and Masks drive you nuts…There really is a better way to deal with sleep apnea than CPAP or surgery. I spent 4 years studying sleep apnea and I believe that the root cause is due to the attenuation of the signal from the brain to the diaphragm muscles when the sleeper enters stage II sleep. This un-intended side-effect of the “reduction of muscle tonus” that occurs during this transition causes breathing to stop. Then, when the CO2 level gets too high, the sleeper makes a rapid inhalation DRAGGING the soft tissue into the airway, obstructing it and waking them up. The reduction of the signal from the brain is causing the problem.
    So… I found this herbal combination product that INCREASES the signal and keeps the breathing going. This addresses the root cause so you don’t make a rapid inhalation and drag the sagging tissues into the airway. The stuff is called Sleep Apnea Relief and I buy it from Nature’s Rite. I’ve been using it for 4 years and it is really great. So you don’t have to use CPAP. I just wanted to let you know.

    Comment by Steve — February 17, 2010 @ 11:50 pm

  8. Hola a todos los que sufrimos este mal:

    He usado el cpap por cuatro anos, pero baje de 15 kilos y ya no lo uso no porque los doctores me lo hayan quitado sino porque siento que he mejorado y no ronco como antes pero hoy en un programa del Dr. Oz vi que hay una alternativa que se introduce en la boca para la apnea no grave.

    Espero que alguien me digo donde la puedo encontrar como se llama etc.
    Gracias

    Comment by RosaMaria — August 1, 2010 @ 10:39 pm

  9. Have brought the program and lost my link to the recipes for weightloss.
    could you resend please

    Comment by Yvonne Townsend — September 25, 2010 @ 2:11 am

  10. Hi Yvonne – I have your email address and will send you the recipes.

    Marc

    Comment by Marc — September 28, 2010 @ 9:28 pm

  11. For those who can tolerate a CPAP machine yet still suffer from apnea side affects I would recommend a few other therapies that have proven themselves to work and work well for most patients. First, try to give the CPAP machine a chance. The efficacy of this therapy will increase over the first few weeks you do this and the notion that the CPAP will “fix” the problem the first time it is used is not at all true. Sunlight/vitamin D absorption is helpful for treating daytime lethargy. Oxygen concentration via an o2 tank or inhalant is also very helpful for lethargy and the “after effects” of using the CPAP machine. Because this machine forces air into your lungs for the entirety of the time it is being used. When the mask is taken off in the morning, our bodies may feel weak because the oxygen level in our blood has dropped off somewhat. So to summarize, sunlight+oxygen+CPAP= success.

    Comment by Nicholas — March 27, 2011 @ 9:48 pm

  12. THANKS for the good info.My nerologist got very mad at me because I wouldn’t use the CPAP(I am very clostrophobic)I can’t help that,so I didn’t go back to him.Now I have some alternitive choices to look into.THANKS. Anne

    Comment by Anne — May 11, 2011 @ 4:18 am

  13. And thanks for your kind words, Anne!

    Marc
    Editor, ApneaTreatmentGuide.com

    Comment by Marc — May 11, 2011 @ 3:47 pm

  14. I’m reading through your information now and it’s very interesting. My husband has had sleep apnea for about 20 years and we only just realised a couple of years ago that he had it. We just put it down to chronic snoring and didn’t think much else until it was brought to our attention that it is actually a quite serious condition.

    Comment by Sonya — August 6, 2011 @ 12:25 am

  15. You’re absolutely right, Sonya – sleep apnea is not a condition to be ignored.

    I hope your husband is able to conquer his sleep apnea!

    All the best,

    Marc

    Comment by Marc — August 15, 2011 @ 4:32 pm

  16. Interesting post and I like that you start by correcting the body position. It’s unfortunate that so many folks start with invasive, expensive therapies like CPAP and surgery – when they can simply try rolling onto their sides.

    I’m biased of course… I have really bad apnea and after years of struggling with CPAP and a dental device, I created the rematee bumper belt. Sleeping on my side completely stops my snoring and sleep apnea and the rematee bumper belt ensures I remain on my side all night.

    Comment by Sean — August 18, 2011 @ 9:11 pm

  17. Please tell me what kind of doctor do you go see that will tell you WHY you have sleep apnea.

    Comment by Bev — February 20, 2012 @ 3:22 pm

  18. Hi Bev,

    Your best bet is to visit a sleep center. There’s a good directory of sleep centers on this site: SleepCenters.org

    Hope that helps,

    Marc

    Comment by Marc — February 20, 2012 @ 7:55 pm

  19. Recent news carried some information on a round “band-aid” type which fits each nostril and allows breathing. The name was something like ‘Protec’ but i have not found any onfo on it.
    Do you have the name for that?

    Comment by Jodie Price — March 5, 2012 @ 6:07 pm

  20. Hi Jodie,

    The product is actually called Provent. You can get more info on the product here: http://www.proventtherapy.com/about-provent.php

    Hope that helps,

    Marc

    Comment by Marc — March 5, 2012 @ 8:53 pm

  21. I

    Comment by edward fuchs — March 9, 2012 @ 12:27 am

  22. I AM TRYING TO ORDER YOUE 20 EXERCISES LESSON TO DOWNLOAD
    BUT EVERY TIME I TRY TO DOWN LOAD AND ORDER NOTHING HEAPENS.
    Can you help me out here, as ,the price is 47.00,and i want to get these exercises for my sleep apea

    Comment by edward fuchs — March 9, 2012 @ 12:35 am

  23. wer

    Comment by edward fuchs — March 9, 2012 @ 12:36 am

  24. I have sleep apnea. I can not use the CPAC machine.
    I sleep in my bead on my rt side for about 2 to 3 hours, and then I have to get up and sleep in semi-setting position in my Recline the rest of the night. I also take a 15mg sleeping pill Temasapam..Can you help me.
    billloop@verizon.net 1-863-967-5952

    Comment by William R. Loop — March 11, 2012 @ 1:53 pm

  25. Hi William,

    Thanks for your message. Have you looked into these sleep apnea treatments?

    http://apneatreatmentguide.com/sleep-apnea-treatment/

    Marc

    Comment by Marc — March 15, 2012 @ 5:46 pm

Leave a comment