Help me please to get a good night's sleep!

[Baffled Ben]

Hi All,
I have recently been diagnosed as having sleep apnea where you stop breathing dozens of times a night and your brain has to wake up to start you off again. That explains why I have had such fatigue for the last couple of years.
As is often the case it mainly occurs when I am lying on my back. The traditional cure is to sew a tennis ball to the back of a t shirt but I seem to be able to sleep on all sorts of lumpy things without feeling the need to roll off my back!
So I was wondering if someone on this forum might be kind enough to have a go at designing a device I could attach to the back of a t shirt or wear on a chest strap that would maybe vibrate like a mobile phone when I laid on it. I can do basic soldering etc to construct it but don't have the knowledge to come up with a safe and practical design. The problem is made more complicated by the fact that I sleep best on my front so a simple mercury type switch wouldn't be able to differentiate between me lying on my front and on my back.
I would really appreciate any help anyone could give.
Cheers!

 

[dave9]

It seems like this would be difficult to accomplish because if you're tusseling around to end up on your back, you might as easily dislocate the sensor that determines your orientation.

I wonder if a harder mattress would help to make the tennis ball more pronounced, or if you used something harder than a tennis ball.

I don't know the strength of a mercury switch glass capsule but would wonder if it is a bad idea due to the risk of it breaking. Doing a web search for alternatives to mercury switches I see the following but unfortunately you did not mention your location which is everything when it comes to finding cost effective components:

https://www.newark.com/c/sensors-transducers/sensors/tilt-switches/non-mercury-tilt-switches

Anyway what I would suggest is using something like the following:

- Non-mercury switch
- Pager motor (or whatever you feel is enough stimulation to alert you), and consider the voltage to make powering it easier.
- Power supply, something common like a 5V USB phone charger, or 12VDC switching AC-DC adapter commonly used for computer networking equipment et al (cheap on an electronics surplus site or ebay, etc)
- Basic LM317 voltage regulator circuit in series between your power supply and the pager motor if the motor needs lower voltage than a supply you can find that is cost effective. For enough money you can find a PSU with any voltage or one that has adjustable output voltage.
- If your non-mercury switch can't handle the current of the pager motor, then instead of wiring direct from PSU through switch to pager motor, you'd wire PSU to switch to a relay, to its coil contacts to energize the relay with the switch, then the relay normally open contacts (which go closed contact when the motion switch activates) have the PSU and the output to the pager motor, and everything shares a common ground.

I don't understand what you mean by a simple mercury switch not working if you laid on your front because that would result in the switch being at 180' orientation to lying on your back, which is something many common mercury switches can discriminate against, would only close the circuit if oriented one way and not the other (or by only using one pair of electrical contacts if it can sense both orientations), but since I am suggesting a non-mercury switch, you'd simply read the datasheet to see what the orientation specs are for it, then may need to fine tune that as you attach it to a belt or clothing and experiment with positions you have in bed.

If you wanted to make it rechargeable to avoid wires that is another option but requires you to also pick a battery type, size, enclosure, and learn the relevant parameters for charging and discharging. There is only so much we can do remotely before the project becomes highly dependent on what learning curve you're willing to tackle to construct this device, and what the budget is.

Hopefully you realize what I was describing above which was a pretty simple circuit where the position switch just closes the circuit between the PSU and pager motor, or energizes the relay if needed to handle more current than the switch can. This is a classic relay circuit so a web search for how to use a relay would suffice in demonstrating use of one.

 

[Ylli]

The traditional cure is to sew a tennis ball to the back of a t shirt

No, the traditional cure is a sleep study and likely a CPAP unit. Alternate treatments include surgery or implants.

 

[davenn]

I would really appreciate any help anyone could give.

No, the traditional cure is a sleep study and likely a CPAP unit.

I have a CPAP unit for sale​

 

[Baffled Ben]

Thanks for the help dave9, very much appreciated and points me in the right direction.

Sadly CPAP not an option as I have a skin condition that would be aggravated by wearing a mask.

 

[WHONOES]

My Brother-in-Law suffers with sleep apnoea and uses a mask at night which has largely cured the problem.
I would suggest that you see your Doctor and explain your problems as there may be a solution. I don't think a DIY solution is appropriate or safe.

 

[Tha fios agaibh]

If you are alerted about your position it disturbs your sleep just as much as an apnea event.

If Cpap therapy doesn't work there are other options. I would check with a sleep doctor to get his opinion either way.

Some have had great success with wearing a cervical collar which holds your chin up which helps keep your airways clear.
Others use tape on their mouths so they breathe only through their nose. They sell tape specifically for this purpose with a small hole to avoid suffocation.

 

[Martaine2005]

and experiment with positions you have in bed.

Uh huh...I’ll take that advice. Thanks Dave.

Martin

 

[Tha fios agaibh]

Uh huh...I’ll take that advice. Thanks Dave.

Martin

That's the other reason for being tired the next day.

 

[Baffled Ben]

Many thanks everyone for your advice. I strongly suspect surgery would be the recommended treatment for my problem so just wanted to check out all other options first. Good point Tha fios agaibh that an alarm would wake me as much as apnea events but I was hoping it would train me to stay off my back and I wouldn't need to use it permanently. And thanks Whonoes for your valid concerns over DIY devices, duly noted.

 

[Tha fios agaibh]

Surgery works but it's not a permanent solution.

CPAP is not an option as I have a skin condition that would be aggravated by wearing a mask.

They make Cpap masks that don't even touch your face. Again, its worth asking a sleep specialist to see if there are alternatives.

Best regards,
John

 

[davenn]

moved to off-topic lounge as it isn't electronics

 

[mrgrtt123]

It is better to get an opinion from a professional, I hope that you will able to have a good night sleep soon.

 

[Baffled Ben]

It is better to get an opinion from a professional, I hope that you will able to have a good night sleep soon.

Many thanks mrgrtt123. You're all talking sense, I must overcome my reluctance and go see a doctor!

 

[Sunnysky]

also consider a Chinese Dr (TCM) and get acupuncture and herbs for extracted strong medicine tea and join a community of similars. Get educated on the causes and treatments. read research , see Dr. https://www.cpap.com/blog/cpap-pressure-setting-cpap-apap-bipap/