I have brought you up to date on what happened to me and millions of other Phillips CPAP equipment users in previous posts (Sleep Apnea and Burning Mouth – 2020, Sleep Apnea and Burning Mouth Update – 2022, and A CPAP Update – 2023), and here is the latest.

This morning I read that Phillips Respironics will no longer make and sell these machines that caused so much concern. You can see the most recent and updated story at ProPublica.

What does this mean for people with sleep apnea? Less competition in the market, for certain. Phillips Respironics was the leader by far.

What does this mean for people with Burning Mouth Syndrome/Disorder?

First, I hope you know about this and have stopped using your defective machines. Second, I hope you have seen your apnea specialist and found alternative therapies to help you. And third, and most importantly, if your apnea was caused by being overweight like mine was, I hope you will take that seriously and find something that helps you.

So, let’s talk about the elephant in the room these days. Weight loss meds that have big results but may have big side effects in the long term and definitely have big price tags in the short term.

These are the medicines that have been FDA-approved so far. They are mostly effective by making you feel more full except Orlistat, which changes the way your body absorbs fat.

• Bupropion-naltrexone (Contrave)
• Liraglutide (Saxenda)
• Orlistat (Xenical, Alli)
• Phentermine-topiramate (Qsymia)
• Semaglutide (Wegovy)
• Setmelanotide (Imcivree)

There are BMI and underlying conditions requirements to get insurance approval and doctors are all over the map when talking about how long you would be on these drugs. One thing is pretty clear though, unless you are changing your lifestyle while on the drug, the weight may return quickly when you go off it.

If you decide to take this route, check drug interactions carefully, and as always, I recommend keeping a pain diary so that you can be aware of any increase in BMS pain, or a positive trend that could be too subtle to see otherwise.

Let me know what you have decided to do about your sleep apnea and if you pursue a weight loss drug. All of us with BMS are very interested to know if it affects BMS pain either positively or negatively!

Good luck out there.