Inspire Therapy Treats Sleep Apnea without a Mask

Have you been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), but the CPAP machine just doesn’t work for you? A treatment offered at Murfreesboro Medical Clinic & SurgiCenter —called Inspire® therapy—may be an option to help you reduce your snoring and relieve your sleep apnea symptoms. Inspire is now offered in Murfreesboro to patients across middle Tennessee suffering from sleep apnea.

Inspire therapy is a mask-free solution for people with obstructive sleep apnea who’ve tried and struggled with CPAP. Through a simple-to-use system including the Inspire implant, remote, and app, Inspire therapy lets you control your OSA treatment from the palm of your hand—without the need for a CPAP machine.

How Inspire therapy works

How does Inspire therapy work? When we sleep, our airway muscles and tongue relax. That’s not a problem for most people. If you have sleep apnea, however, the tongue can relax into a position that actually blocks your airway.

When your airway is blocked, you get less oxygen to your brain. That triggers you to wake up to take a breath. This cycle happens repeatedly while you sleep—keeping you from getting the quality sleep your body needs, causing you to feel exhausted, and potentially leading to more serious health complications.

To help prevent this problem, the small Inspire implant delivers gentle pulses that move your tongue out of the way each time you take a breath. This keeps your airway open while you sleep soundly—no mask or hose required.

Inspire therapy effectiveness

Another important question, of course, is does Inspire therapy work? Inspire is a safe and effective therapy with 10 years of FDA approval. According to recent studies:

• 90% of bed partners reported no snoring or soft snoring
• 91% of people are satisfied with Inspire therapy
• Patients had a 79% reduction in sleep apnea events
• 94% of patients say Inspire therapy is better than CPAP and would recommend it to others

Covered by most insurance plans

The vast majority of U.S. insurance providers—including Medicare, Veterans Affairs (VA) and major commercial carriers—cover Inspire therapy for those who have tried and struggled with CPAP.

To be a candidate for Inspire therapy, you must meet the following FDA indications:

• Age 18 or older
• Diagnosed with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea
• Have tried and struggled with CPAP

Inspire therapy has been clinically tested for people with a body mass index (BMI) up to 40. Over 90% of U.S. adults are within this range. Most insurance policies have a BMI policy in place for Inspire therapy coverage.

Patients should check with your insurance provider to confirm coverage.