Note: This post may contain statements that I no longer consider true.
See: The Vivos mRNA Appliance Didn't Improve My Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
I’ve just passed the one month point of wearing my Vivos mRNA Appliance®, so here is an update.
Overall, everything is going reasonably smoothly and the data from my CPAP machine is encouraging. I haven’t noticed any major changes in my daytime symptoms yet, but it’s still early days of a treatment that I anticipate will take 2 years.
Initially, I couldn’t wear the appliance for a week due to the pharyngeal/OSA extension causing me to gag every time I tried to insert the device. After a week of trying to desensitise my gag reflex, I gave up and removed it. This delayed me starting using the appliance for one week, and this update starts from the first night I wore the appliance on 29th September 2020.
Here is a graph of my daily usage since then:
My First Month of mRNA Appliance Usage
As you can see, I was a little erratic early on. It turned out to be harder than I anticipated to wear the appliance for the recommended 16 hours per day, partly because I was trying to only insert and remove it once a day, and partly because I just wasn’t organised enough.
It turns out that a better usage pattern to encourage bone growth is to insert and remove the device several times during a day, and I created a spreadsheet to track my appliance usage and organise my time better, which improved my compliance. My 7-day rolling average is now just over the recommended 16 hour mark and my all-time average is asymptotically approaching it.
I can’t say I’ve noticed massive changes in how I feel on a daily basis yet. I still need a lie down in the afternoon about 3 or 4 days per week, and feel more sleepy than I would like; especially during less-interesting lectures. This may be complicated by some emotional challenges I’ve had lately that have also been disturbing my sleep. I’ve been prioritising my singing in my music studies in the hope that it will improve the muscle tone in my throat, and I was able to stay alert during our very first in-person choir rehearsal last week in the late-afternoon when I’m normally most fatigued.
I’m more convinced than ever that my chronic fatigue is primarily the result of my sleep apnea, so sleep hygiene is my top priority. I listen to my body now when it says “rest!” and I don’t push it. I spend most of my days engaged in mentally demanding music and psychology study, but the only physical exercise I do are the exercises for adhesive capsulitis that my physiotherapist gave me and the myofunctional therapy exercises I do twice a day.
I have expanded and advanced the appliance four times, for a total of 1mm so far. Each time I expand, the appliance feels quite tight in my mouth and I can really feel the pressure for the next day or two, but it isn’t painful. By the time the next weekly adjustment is due, the appliance is quite easy to insert and remove. I’d never say it’s really loose since it always snaps in snugly, but the pressure definitely reduces over the week.
I’m using the appliance with my My Resmed Autosense 10 Autoset CPAP machine set on fully automatic, a.k.a. APAP. I’m anticipating that the pressure required to keep my airway open will drop as my jaws expand and my airway improves, and this should give me an indication of when I no longer need to keep using CPAP.
Here are the AHI and Pressure statistics from the machine for the two month period centred 29th September 2020, the date I started wearing the appliance:
AHI and Pressure statistics for two months centred on the date I started wearing the mRNA
I see a noticeable decrease in obstructive apneas, hypopneas and pressure from the date I started using the appliance. I would expect to see this immediate improvement in someone with mild to moderate sleep apnea due to the mandibular advancement function of the mRNA, but it surprised me to see it in my severe case.
When I discontinued using my SomnoMed MAD with my CPAP machine earlier this year, it was after an experiment where I tried not wearing it for a week and saw no real difference in my AHI scores or pressure reported by the CPAP machine. I had started mewing at the time and was concerned that the tight fit of the MAD would undo any gains that I got through consciously adopting good oral posture during the day. I wanted to know if I actually got any benefit wearing the MAD given that my CPAP machine alone was quite capable of keeping my airway open.
Here’s the data for the week before and after I stopped using the MAD, on 8th January 2020.:
AHI and Pressure when discontinuing Somnomed MAD use
I was surprised to find that the MAD didn’t appear to have any significant effect on the pressure required to keep my airway open; in fact the pressure required seemed to drop a little without it. In hindsight I should have done a longer experiment before reaching that conclusion though, because sleep is such a variable thing and there’s lots of variability in the data.
I just went back and looked at a longer range of data covering that period, and came to the opposite conclusion. I only wore the SomnoMed with CPAP for 4 weeks before dispensing with it, so here’s the data for an 8 week period centred on the date I stopped wearing it:
AHI and Pressure for the 8 week period surrounding the date I stopped using my SomnoMed MAD with my CPAP machine
With the longer timeframe, I see a significant increase in obstructive apneas and pressure required to keep my airway open after stopping using the MAD. I suspect the reverse effect explains most of the drop in pressure when I started using the mRNA, due it its MAD function.
Based on the longer timeframe, I conclude that my MAD did reduce the pressure required to make CPAP effective. Perhaps I would have been better to keep using the MAD, but I tried to install it one last time when my mRNA arrived just to see if it would still fit, and it didn’t. Maybe there is something to mewing after all.
Mandibular advancement may help get me off CPAP in the short term, but it’s the expansion capabilities of the mRNA that I’m hoping will cure my condition long term. If expansion improves the airway, I would expect to see a gradual decrease over time in CPAP pressure required to stent the airway open. One month is less than 5% of the total treatment time of 2 years that I am expecting, so it’s way too early to make any solid conclusions yet, but I did a linear fit on the first month pressure statistics and there is a slight overall downward trend:
First month Pressure statistics, showing a gradual downward trend
The Median pressure is pretty much level, but the 95% and Peak pressures both show an overall downward trend which is encouraging. I’m really looking forward to seeing if this trend continues next month.
The biggest problem so far has been that my left cheek keeps getting caught during the day in the metal advancer on the left hand side; and it really hurts. The resulting ulcer makes it even more likely to get caught again, so this is causing me a lot more discomfort than the expansion pressure. I hope Vivos can improve the design to use less metal in the advancer mechanism and reduce the likelihood of this in future, like SomnoMed do.
I’ve also started wearing my tennis ball T-shirt again to prevent me sleeping on my back in preparation for weening off the CPAP machine, and it’s taking a bit of getting used to. My adhesive capsulitis hasn’t quite improved to the point where I can lie on my front, and my sore shoulders mean I have to change sides more often than I otherwise would. I’ve just ordered my Bow forward-pull facemask and it’s also going to complicate things. Wearing the mRNA, CPAP mask, Bow and tennis ball T-shirt all at the same time will be a challenge. I’m looking forward to the day when I can drop CPAP out of the picture, and so far the early pressure statistics are encouraging.
Leave a comment if you have any questions and I’ll do another update in a month’s time.
21 Comments
Annie · May 16, 2022 at 12:43 PM
Thank you for your article. I have this device and I am having a really hard time using it. When I put in the top device I am unable to swallow and a lot of saliva accumulates in my mouth. When I put in the bottom device it digs into my gums unless I push it up with my tongue. I am wondering if you have any tips for me. It was quite expensive and I’d like the treatment to be successful but so far Im just not even using it cause of all the discomfort it causes.
Graham Stoney · May 17, 2022 at 9:32 AM
Talk to you provider; Their attention is what you paid for. They can adjust the lower appliance so it doesn’t dig in. You’ll get used to the saliva.
You may benefit from some myofunctional therapy to fix the swallowing.
Katy · December 3, 2020 at 3:50 AM
Graham, thank you so much for sharing your journey and research and insights here! I hope you get wonderful results from the appliance! Just curious if you were a clencher/grinder and have seen that lessen since you’ve gotten your appliance. I recently had a balloon septoplasty/turbinate reduction, which has made a big difference in my nasal breathing, but I still have to mouth tape at night. I started looking into the DNA appliance to try to improve my perio health (despite obsessive oral hygiene), in the hopes that it might help me stop clenching and mouth breathing at night, as well as decrease awakenings and daytime fatigue. I went to a consult with a DNA provider but haven’t gone for the scan/work up yet, as I’m still concerned about how the appliance would affect my gums/mild bone loss. The provider told me it might help my condition, but no definite answer. My dentist referred me to an orthodontist after the NTI device wrecked my bite. I assume ortho would be more damaging than the DNA, although I’m not sure about Damon braces. Don’t think I could handle braces at this point in my life, though! My periodontist told me at my first visit to her that she could see root resorption on my lower front teeth, caused by braces.
My children have started Myobrace, so I’m hoping they won’t end up with the same issues I have one day. My 7-y-o son’s pediatric dentist (not the Myobrace provider) told me he’d need bicuspid extractions + braces and that palate expansion wouldn’t work because then his upper jaw would be too wide for his lower. He assured me many of the people who are my age that I know have had extractions and suffered no negative effects. He said all 3 of my boys’ tongue ties were fine, no need to release, but the Myobrace provider said 2 boys definitely needed releases and wouldn’t be able to advance through the program without releases. Pediatrician and ENT said they were fine, too. I’ve asked them about Dr. Zaghi’s research, and they said there’s not enough evidence at this point…but we’re going to try this because I know what the alternative leads to, and it’s exhausting.
Graham · December 3, 2020 at 7:38 AM
Thanks Katy, I hope so too. As far as I’m aware I’ve never been a clencher/grinder as my teeth don’t have any of the typical wear patterns and I’ve never had TMJ problems. I’ve learned quite a bit about it though while doing my research as it’s common in people with obstructive sleep apnea. Dr Felix Liao talks about it in his book 6 Foot Tiger, 3 Foot Cage, and he’s convinced that it’s the body attempting to keep the airway open. When this is successful, it can result in an AHI in the normal range on a sleep study even though the airway is deficient and sleep is being affected. The arousal index should pick this up though as should the scalp sensors on a full polysomnograph. I gather conventional medicine sees clenching/grinding as some kind of habitual problem but I can’t see how this can be true given people don’t clench and grind while they are awake. Seeing it as an airway issue makes a lot more sense to me. I have many friends who grind their teeth and I’m trying to get them to have sleep studies because I suspect that all have OSA, but they just keep getting given new mouthguards which only mask the problem. I’m afraid the medical/dental professions as a whole have a long way to go in terms of addressing the root cause of these illnesses and there is going to be a lot of resistance because the status quo is very profitable for certain groups.
If you’ve read my story, you can probably guess that I’d be getting a second opinion on your son’s pediatric dentist’s recommendation. I would only be having teeth extracted if the situation was life-threatening and the extractions would somehow solve that. Dr Bill Hang advises people like you to get a signed statement in writing from the dentist saying that he will pay for extraction reversal treatment if it turns out to be necessary, and if he won’t commit to this then don’t go ahead with it because it means he doesn’t really believe it’s the best course of treatment. If expanding your son’s palate to the correct size makes the upper jaw too wide for the lower, then the problem isn’t the upper jaw being too wide, it’s the lower jaw being too narrow. This is significant because the tongue is attached to the lower jaw and if your son grows up with a lower jaw that’s too small, his tongue will have nowhere to go during sleep other than backwards into his airway, and he’ll end up like me. It boggles my mind that someone as highly educated as a dentist can’t see this simple anatomical fact.
As far as your dentist’s reassurance that many people who have extractions suffered no negative effects, how does he really know this? I didn’t realise the impact my orthodontic extractions had on me until 35 years later, by which time it was too late to go back and tell my childhood orthodontist. He’s probably dead by now. There are many people like me suffering from negative effects which you’ll find on Facebook forums like Extraction Orthodontics Reversal and Adult non-surgical palate expansion. 80% of people with OSA are undiagnosed and the symptoms aren’t easy to spot because the daytime tiredness comes on very gradually as the muscles in the throat lose tone due to ageing. Most people probably just assume that it’s a normal part of getting old and don’t realise that they’re not sleeping or breathing properly. Teeth grinding can mask an OSA diagnosis, and even if they do get diagnosed with OSA, many orthodontists deny the connection. My sleep specialist wasn’t even aware of it and he treats the condition every single day. When I said I wanted to explore palate expansion he declared my case “too complex” for him and referred me to another sleep specialist who also wasn’t aware of the connection either. Yet it’s mentioned as a risk factor in the literature on MMA surgery. The message just isn’t getting through to the people who are causing the problem.
You have to do a fair bit of research online to find people like me talking about what really causes obstructive sleep apnea and the link to conventional orthodontic treatment. There are orthodontists who get this, but they are in the minority. I’d suggest referring your son’s dentist to Bill Hang’s Extraction Retraction Regret Syndrome site and running a mile. Conventional practitioners will say there’s “not enough evidence” that extraction/retraction harms the airway but frankly this is bullshit and it’s the other way around: there’s not enough evidence that it doesn’t. There are published studies showing that retraction reduces airway volume and the studies which purport to demonstrate that it doesn’t are low quality retrospective studies that make a lot of unchecked assumptions. Despite what they say, the orthodontics profession is not actually evidence-based. When enlightened orthodontists like John Mew started pointing out the damage they do, they said: “Show us the evidence”; even though they don’t have evidence that what they are doing is safe and effective to start with. He showed evidence back in the 1980s and got shunned for it; they ultimately even took away his license. The burden of proof should lie with conventional orthodontists to show that what they are doing is safe. It may well be that some people get away with having their airway retracted if they happened to have a particularly large airway with excess volume genetically, but there are plenty of people like me suffering from retractive treatment when what they actually needed was expansion to meet their genetic potential. If you think it’s exhausting now, imagine what it will be like for your son when he’s my age if you go through with the treatment his pediatric dentist is recommending.
I’ll leave you with a passing comment Dr Derek Mahony’s receptionist said to me after he told me I needed CPAP immediately and referred me to an ENT because he thought I needed DOME and MMA surgery to fix the problem long-term: “I bet you wish you hadn’t had those teeth extracted.”
David · December 3, 2020 at 11:38 AM
Katy, just a quick comment regarding perio health. My functional doctor that I work with swears by xylitol gum, which is known to modulate the PH in your mouth and kill harmful bacteria that lead to cavities and gum disease. I have made this a staple in my regimen by chewing 2 pieces after each meal. I don’t know to what degree your periodontal issues are clenching related, but just something to consider.
David · November 17, 2020 at 5:26 AM
Hey Graham, so sorry to hear about everything you’ve been through. I myself have been suffering from UARS for the last 15 years which stems from a tongue tie and then retractive orthodontics (headgear and braces). Several years ago it progressed to full blown insomnia, chronic fatigue, anxiety, IBS, muscle pains – everything. It was the worst thing I ever experienced. I’m currently doing homeoblock which I know you’ve spoken about fondly, and I’m curious how that compares to your experience with DNA.
One thing I don’t understand is why does DNA take 2 years? With Homeoblock you do 0.125mm every week, whereas my understanding of DNA is double that (0.25mm every week, or even every 4-5 days). DNA also requires more compliance time, 16 hours compared to 8-10 hours with Homeoblock (just wearing it at night, basically). I’m targeting 6-8mm expansion which comes out to about a year. In theory, DNA should take half that time. I’ve heard providers quote these long treatment times, and yet some patient stories suggest treatment time as short as 6 months to get the full 6-10mm expansion. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that’s about the maximum we can get with these appliances.
Also, you may have noticed in your research that Homeoblock makes contact with far fewer teeth, only touching the first molars on the top and then the pre-molars on the bottom. I can’t make up my mind if this is a positive or a negative. Seems like the more teeth the appliance touches, the better the overall alignment will be and the better you can preserve the bite. At the same time, I think it gives less flexibility for the body to “self-correct”. What do you think about this?
Graham · November 17, 2020 at 1:25 PM
Thanks David; yes, it’s been a living hell. I’m sorry to hear you’ve been there too, and am glad to hear you’re giving the Homeoblock a go. How are you finding it?
I think the expansion rate and compliance time are more functions of the patient’s bone plasticity than the appliance, since they’re so similar.
I’m prepared for 2 years treatment because my sleep apnea is severe: my untreated AHI was 39 on my last sleep study.
At the moment I’m expanding 0.25mm/week, but I can’t see that continuing for the full 2 years because that would be a whopping 24 mm. At some point I’ll either slow down, or stop earlier. As you say, 10 mm is probably the upper limit for these devices.
There are three different versions of DNA appliance: acrylic, hybrid and wireframe. The Homeoblock photos I’ve seen are all wireframe appliances with a bite block. I suspect that the acrylic version of DNA is less likely to tip teeth if expanded too quickly, although this is just my own speculation. Unfortunately it takes up more valuable space in the mouth.
Yes, I think you’re right about the acrylic version constraining natural growth. I’ve heard of several people maxing out their first DNA appliance and needing a second one, which may go some way to allowing the body to “self-correct” as you put it. However, the acrylic only covers the molars and it’s the other teeth which really need to move for expansion to occur anyway. Everything’s a trade-off I guess. Let me know how your Homeoblock goes!
David · November 19, 2020 at 7:04 AM
Interesting, I wasn’t familiar with the different flavors of DNA. Homeoblock is going fine so far. I’m averaging 1/8mm every 5 days, which is faster than the protocol recommended by Belfor and my provider but slower than most DNA protocols. Closing in on 2mm expansion now. Sleep has improved a bit but continues to be frustrating. Still waiting for that magic moment where life returns to normal. But my impression is that changes don’t happen linearly. If you think about the IMW as a proxy for the radius of your airway, each linear increase in length corresponds to a quadratic increase in size. Similarly, there’s a quadratic type of relationship between airway size (ie smallest cross-section) and the flow rate of air going through it. That’s what’s waking me up really, not apneas but the turbulence from the airflow. So I think the best is yet to come.
I’m using the appliance in conjunction with a host of other things – mewing, mastic gum chewing, good posture and nutrition, even red light therapy on my teeth and gums. So far, I think it’s helping. I regularly find the palate expanding faster than the expansion I’m doing with Homeoblock and it will start to feel loose. Obviously the first few mms are easy, we’ll have to see if it continues.
Two things I don’t like about Homeoblock. Firstly, I do think the springs in the front are increasing my overjet. I’ve been having lifelong problems with overjet which I was keeping in check with my retainer. Once I took the retainer off, it started happening again, and I think Homeoblock is only exacerbating it now. The second thing is I’ve developed some gaps between the 2nd premolars and the the first molars on the bottom. Almost like the expansion is not propagating all the way to the back. I wish the lower appliance covered more teeth frankly… but anyway, these are all trivial, cosmetic concerns. If I can start sleeping normally and get my life back, I don’t really care about having the “perfect smile”. My orthodontist did that once already and look where it got me. I’m sure you’re in a similar boat at this point in your journey.
Graham · November 19, 2020 at 8:15 AM
Thanks for the update David. I think you’re right about improvement being non-linear. Some people with mRNA get an immediate sleep improvement due to the mandibular advancement function, but my sleep apnea is too severe for that to make much impact until the expansion kicks in, and that’s going to take time. Does your Homeoblock do mandibular advancement?
I’m also augmenting my therapy with mastic gum, good oral posture, a chewy diet with bone broth, and myofunctional therapy. I’m curious what red light therapy is and how it helps?
I think the theory with an overjet is that once the maxilla is expanded sideways and forwards, the mandible should move forward into the correct position. It seems counter-intuitive to expand the maxilla forward, but the mechanics of the TMJ mean that the mandible ultimately moves forward further than the front teeth do. The treatment conventional orthodontists apply to fix an overjet by retracting the front teeth is exactly the opposite of what you need, and that’s why retainers are necessary to make it work. I can’t claim to be an expert though, since I’ve never had an overjet so I haven’t researched it much but I recall a video by Mike Mew on the subject.
As for conventional extraction/retraction orthodontists… there’s a special place in hell for those bastards.
David · November 20, 2020 at 3:14 AM
No mandibular advancement on the Homeoblock. Like you said, it’s expected that the mandible come forward a bit just from the expansion, but there’s nothing in the appliance that juts out your mandible to increase airway size.
Regarding red light, check out this article: https://redlightman.com/blog/red-light-therapy-improves-all-oral-health/
It says: “Some studies even look at the potential to strengthen the periodontal bones without the need for surgery. In fact, red and infrared light are both well studied elsewhere on the body for the purpose of improving bone density (by supposedly interacting with osteoblast cells – the cells responsible for bone synthesis)”.
So it’s a bit speculative, but I think red light should, in theory, stimulate bone growth. And that’s what we’re after with Homeoblock / DNA.
Also, bone broth sounds great; I need to start making some myself. From the research I’ve done, the big 4 as it relates to bone synthesis are Vitamin D3, K2, calcium, and magnesium. I personally supplement these daily.
My overjet is actually tilting the front teeth forward so that they are angled at a diagonal. I was having this problem prior to Homeoblock so I don’t think it’s fair to blame it all on the appliance. Could be my upper lip tie which I have yet to be removed. But I don’t think the overjet is actually a good result – it’s not my maxilla expanding forward, but my front teeth tilting out. That’s my impression at least. Fortunately, my back teeth are not tilting and that’s what really matters to me now.
Graham · November 20, 2020 at 8:09 AM
Thanks for the red light link; I’ve added it to my list of things to check out.
I’m a little wary of taking supplements; I get that we need calcium in particular to grow bone, but some studies have found increased risk of kidney stones and heart problems with calcium supplements, so I prefer to get my nutrients from bone broth, meat, fish and heaps of green leafy vegetables. I’ll ask my dentist about what supplements he recommends next time I see him.
Katy · December 3, 2020 at 3:10 AM
David, I’m so sorry you’ve gone through all of this, too. Hope you get relief from the Homeoblock soon. Just curious about how you received a UARS diagnosis. I recently had a sleep study, which only showed 2.6 apneas/hr, and when I asked about UARS, my doctor gave me a funny answer about how many doctors don’t look at RERAs and that mine was the same as my apnea #. I was glad I didn’t have apnea, but I have almost all of the UARS symptoms and was hoping that diagnosis might allow my insurance to cover the DNA appliance (I was quoted up to US$12k). The sleep doc said I only slept 2.5 hours total, which felt about right, as they’d strapped a thick, stiff, Velcro cardiac monitor around my chest that had no give to it, doubled up because they usually use it on larger men. No way I could sleep much in that pain.
The doc told me he thought my clenching (which they didn’t measure) and poor sleep were from anxiety and recommended cognitive behavioral therapy. Is clenching one of your symptoms, and if so, have you gotten any relief from the appliance? I’m going to have my tongue tie released in Feb., along with 2 of my children, who just started the Myobrace program. Did you have your tie released? Any relief from that?
I was doing pretty well for a couple years on an NTI device, but it wrecked my bite, and now I’m back to a traditional nightguard and clench more than ever. I’ve developed deeper perio pockets since switching back to a traditional nightguard, too. That is increasing my anxiety and poor sleep, but I didn’t find out about that until after my sleep study.
David · December 3, 2020 at 11:27 AM
Katy, it technically wasn’t a UARS diagnosis since most doctors don’t even know what that is. The one I worked with initially blamed my insomnia on *anxiety* and prescribed me sleeping meds. Of course this is backwards; if I didn’t have a narrow airway stemming from tongue tie, retractive orthodontics and so forth, I wouldn’t have all this anxiety to begin with. But my sleep study showed a low AHI / high RDI, which was enough to fall under “sleep apnea” for insurance purposes. I never waited on insurance for Homeoblock / DNA since I was desperate to get started and there’s no guarantee of coverage anyway. That said, if you can get a sleep study showing low AHI / high RDI like I did (particularly if RDI > 15), and then are unable to tolerate CPAP and make that clear to your doctor, it would certainly increase your odds of coverage.
Regarding clenching, I probably do it a bit. Nothing major. With Homeoblock, sometimes I wake up and find myself biting down on the bite block which I perceive as a positive since it simulates chewing stress. Clenching is almost certainly a symptom of SDB, so you will want to address that first and foremost imo.
My release is scheduled in 2 weeks! I actually consulted with Dr. Zaghi about it and he gave the green light, so we’ll have to see what happens. If you’re moving forward with the release, I would make sure that a) you have enough tongue space for it to rest on your palate and b) you do it in conjunction with myofunctional therapy. This presentation (https://youtu.be/G9GrUw7YJD0) by Zaghi is particularly good regarding tongue space. And yes, mouthguards are unfortunately just temporary measures that will make the problem worse long-term. Always better to address the problem head on, which it sounds like you’re on track to doing.
Dave · November 14, 2020 at 8:44 AM
Graham,
Shouldn’t CPAP mostly resolve your daytime symptoms? If not, do you question whether you do in fact also have CFS in addition to the OSA?
– Dave
Graham · November 14, 2020 at 9:01 AM
Hi Dave,
In theory it should, yes; but I don’t think CPAP is really the “gold standard” wonder treatment it’s made out to be. My brother-in-law has used it for years and told me that while it stopped him snoring, it didn’t alleviate his daytime tiredness. I haven’t had a sleep study with mine, but I suspect I’m not sleeping as deeply as I should and at times I find it difficult to breathe with it on. I also have another reason for disrupted sleep this year because my father died in February and this has had a huge emotional impact on me. I still have the flu-like symptoms of CFS but that could be the cumulative result of not sleeping properly for most of my life and they seem to be slowly improving. While my priority now is on complying with my mRNA treatment, I also restarted Dan Neuffer’s ANS Rewire program 5 months ago. My daytime fatigue seems to be improving slowly, particularly if I make a conscious effort to rest periodically even when I don’t feel particularly tired.
Cheers,
Graham
Dave · November 14, 2020 at 9:31 AM
Very sorry to hear about the passing of your father, Graham. I tend to agree with you about CPAP, but being fed the line “it’s the gold standard” by doctors had me second guessing things for a while. Keep up the good work, and best of luck with your treatment.
Graham · November 14, 2020 at 9:36 AM
Thanks Dave. I think most doctors don’t really understand OSA, can’t spot the symptoms, don’t know the risk factors to look for, and when they do come across it they follow the mainstream published research that says CPAP and MAD are the solution.
lauren · November 4, 2020 at 11:04 AM
how is your nasal breathing?? is that one of the benefits you’re looking forward to??
Graham · November 4, 2020 at 4:10 PM
I think it could be better, but it’s all I’ve ever known so it’s difficult to say. I am hoping for an improvement, but I haven’t seen one yet.
John · November 2, 2020 at 12:08 AM
Thanks for the update. Interesting that you’ve advanced the DNA 4 times already in a month. My dentist says to only advance it every other week. So in a month I will only advance 1/2 mm.
Graham · November 2, 2020 at 7:25 AM
That’s probably not bad advice, because it’s really important not to expand too fast. I can’t see how I can sustain 1mm/month for 2 years. At some point I’ll need to reduce it; but so far it seems to be going OK.