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Doctors know professionally and many of us know personally that snoring hurts health and relationships. Meanwhile, treatments are complex, expensive, time-consuming, and often unsuccessful.
I would like to share with you my own snoring problem and what I did about it.
In 2002, after my very loud snoring strained my own relationship, I underwent a sleep study at Montreal’s Mount Sinai Hospital.
I was diagnosed with mild to moderate sleep apnea. I was given three therapeutic options: purchase a CPAP Machine, buy a dental appliance or have surgery. I decided against all three. The first two were prohibitively expensive, while doctors said surgery had low success rates and side effects.
I did nothing. Meanwhile my relationship ended, in large part because of my snoring.
Three years later, and now a B.C. resident, I attended UBC’s Sleep Disorders Clinic. I received the same diagnosis and the same three recommendations. Better medical coverage allowed me to try the two appliances. But the oral device caused extreme mouth and teeth pain. The CPAP therapy was highly uncomfortable. I did not want surgery.
I went back to basics. One of the simplest techniques thought to ease snoring is to sleep on a tennis ball, forcing the snorer to sleep on his or her side. This addresses what experts believe to be the main cause of snoring, sleeping on the back.
For my initial prototype, I just duct-taped a tennis ball to my back. Twenty prototypes later, I developed the REM-A-TEE, a cotton T-Shirt with three Styrofoam cylinders, each about three inches thick, sewn into its back. It’s the tennis-ball principle: if the wearer rolls onto the back, the foam inserts create a gentle resistance so the snorer returns to his or her side.
The shirt’s pressure is great enough to prevent the snorer from rolling over, yet gentle enough to ensure the device doesn’t wake the wearer up. By stopping snoring before it begins, the snorer enjoys a restful sleep.
The REM-A-TEE re-educates a snorer to sleep on the side. It did that for me: My partner tells me I don’t snore anymore. Moreover, 10 other couples have tried the shirt and their non-snoring partners all report great success.
Snoring-prevention devices can cost anywhere from $100 to $4,500. The REM-A-TEE costs $32.99.
I do not claim that the T-Shirt completely stops snoring. Based on my own experience and that of others, however, I do believe it eases snoring significantly, to the point where both partners can sleep well at night.
I have had personal and at times painful experience with a legitimate health problem. It has cost me in many ways. It is my fervent desire to help others, both snorers and their partners, to get past this issue and both enjoy a good night’s sleep – all without paying thousands of dollars on time-consuming, painful therapies with limited success rates.
If the REM-A-TEE is something you would like to try we would be delighted to help you.
Yours very truly,
Sean Kerklaan
Vancouver, BC
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