Luckily an observant doctor (not NHS) spotted that sleep problems could be part of my trouble, and got me tested for sleep apnea. It was a breakthrough in my health turnaround. My oxygen levels are back up to normal today.
If I hadn't had the time or the money to seek out medical help outside the NHS, I could have tested myself at home for this, or at least, now I could, using apps on smartphones, and downloadable computer software. Dr Mercola gives the details. He suggests a new treatment method. I used a CPAP machine to force in air through a face mask, when my own breathing slowed down (hypopnia) or stopped (apnea), which it did sometimes for over a minute at a time.
Home Testing Technologies
Myofunctional therapy strikes me as an excellent first step if you suspect you might have sleep apnea, before you start sinking money into sleep studies, expensive machines, and/or oral surgery. Furthermore, there are technologies available that can help you determine whether or not you may have a problem that may require seeing a specialist. These home technologies can also be used to evaluate how well an oral appliance is working. For example, you can:
- Measure your snoring with iPhone apps
- Record the sounds of you sleeping using Audacity, a free software program available online
- Measure your blood oxygen levels with an oximeter. Oftentimes, if you have sleep apnea, you're going to have a drop in blood oxygen. When it drops to a certain level, it indicates you have a problem