just started my journey toward getting an inspire system. Have my 1st call tomorrow with them to discuss things.
I'm so fckn done with masks
Curious how this call went? Did you get the pros and cons of this system?
had the call this morning, (1st one had to be rescheduled).
spoke to a pa/nurse type person who reviewed my files, old sleep study and such. Said I was a good candidate, enough to move forward to the next phase with the surgeon.
We spoke about my sleeping habits and why I hated the mask/c-pap.
pros and cons is that where a c-pap is at about 90% reduction in nightly episodes, these are about 70%. Still better then what I have now being I don't use the mask anymore.
the time is a bit long, you need to have it implanted, then a few weeks to heal, then they have a "dial in" period where they have to adjust the settings.
the way it works is that it stimulates your tongue muscle to keep you mouth open. If you think of a c-pap, the air pushes into your mouth to keep the airway open. This does it buy reading your tongue and pushing it up and forward when needed. So some people experience soreness and numbness in the tongue, until it is dialed in.
There is a device you need to hold to your chest to activate and deactivate the device. also if you get up to pee...you need to pause it. It also acts like a c-pap where there is minimal activity once you activate it until you fall asleep, say 30-40 mins.
The battery lasts about 10 years. After that they go in, make a small incision and replace it easier then my fire alarm batteries.
My biggest issue is that device gets implanted below the skin near your chest muscle. I heard that other implant devices (for other issues) get placed behind the muscle. my concern it a few things, that I was advised to talk to the dr about:
1. Can you see/feel it: lets go out on a limb and say my wife just had sexy time with me and is basking in post-orgamic bliss while laying on my chest, will she feel it poking her in the ear?
2. Say I go on a Mr Olympic shredding type workout and get Arnie sized pecs...will this thing look like a toy in plastic packaging bursting through my chest.
3. While 1 and 2 are unlikely, I do want to get back to playing ice hockey, and as a goalie, do I need to worry about front impact issues with pucks and stuff. I'm well padded up but still get stingers and thuds.
that was it for now. I will have an in-home sleep study in a few weeks that is pretty much a watch and some cords and the results will get sent straight to the dr.