Need opinions on tough decision. Before I realized I was hypermobile, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and chose to go with the dental appliance instead of CPAP. It worked great at first, but now 9 months later my TMJ is regularly subluxating such that I often can’t open my mouth all the way. The sleep dentist is wary now that she knows I am hypermobile but thinks it is a flare that will calm. My rheumatologist thinks I shouldn’t be using a dental appliance period. I haven’t been back to the sleep specialist since suspecting HSD, and my appt with the EDS specialist isn’t till October. So “ask your doctor” doesn’t work so well! I don’t want to do permanent damage to my TMJ, but honestly I care more about being able to sleep! lMy reasons for wanting to avoid CPAP vary from justifiable to lame, but my fear is that I will fix the apnea only to sleep worse overall because my insomnia will be triggered by having a machine attached to my face (every little thing that irritates at night fires up that good ole sympathetic storm and off we go.) When medical advice conflicts between silos, what do you do? Should I go back to the sleep specialist? Get yet ANOTHER new doc for TMJ? (Uggh!) I am medically educated myself (veterinarian) but the issues we deal with are just so complex… it’s exhausting.

Posted by ClaireS at 2023-03-15 14:19:13 UTC