Review of Snorerx anti-snoring mouth piece.

Backstory: I am legendary for waking the dead. People get off my boat, sleep at the opposite end of the house. We are never bothered by bears at night.

The last straw came the night that my eight year old twin grand-daughters spent the night for a sleepover with my wife who makes up a large bed on the floor in our living room for the kids while she sleeps on the couch. I am in the bedroom.

Somewhere around midnight one grand-daughter awoke in a full panic and climbed onto the couch with my wife. She was terrified by the sound of my snoring. We live in the woods, have no visible neighbors, lots of trees and blackness, and that is enough to spook the kids without my help. But the bottom line is that was the first time she heard me snore.

At about 2am, two hours after my grand-daughter awoke in a panic, I awoke with the most excruciating sore throat imaginable. In fact, it was so sore that I couldn't remain laying in bed and got up. I have had many sore throats from snoring while in a deep sleep, but this was in a league all its own.

In those wee hours I sat down at the computer and started researching everything that pertained to snoring relief. I was not about to go through this pain a second time. I discovered SnoreRX, and noted it was one of two mouth inserts that was FDA approved. Also, I noted it was sold and stocked by Walgreens just down the street. For $60, I didn't think twice in light of my trashed throat.

Turned out that I had caught a mild case of strep which caused swelling in my throat fully exacerbating the whole snoring debacle. But I had purchased the mouthpiece and elected to give it a try.

Instructions are clear. Essentially, fill two mugs with cool water. Heat one to boiling. Drop the mouthpiece into the boiling water for precisely one minute then drop it into the mug with cool water for about a second. Insert it into your mouth and bite down to make an impression of your teeth. Pay attention to the scale on the side of the mouthpiece so that the writing is upright. Afterward the writing will tell you what plate fits the top jaw.

I would suggest that you do not bite down excessively hard when forming the impression because that kind of pressure moves your teeth and that will be what's left as an impression. I did this and think it was a mistake. I think this is one of the reasons for many complaints about teeth feeling out of place after use. I am allowed one more redo and I might go for it at a later date. I would say just bite down firmly wiggle your jaw to improve the impression and release.

The manufacturer also suggests you wear them awhile during non-sleep hours for a couple of days to get used to the feel of something in your mouth. My throat hurt so bad, I wasn't about to waste three days of gentle acclimation while I was dying. But having a foreign object in your mouth can cause you to salivate excessively so a break in period is recommended. (For me this stopped entirely by the third night of use.)

I was astounded by the results. Reviews show SnoreRX works better for some than others. For me it was 100% effective. Prior to using SnoreRX, my normal sleep pattern deteriorated to an initial 2 1/2 hours of sleep before awakening to use the bathroom. Followed by about three hours of sleep. After that is was a crap shoot. But I rarely slept more than five or 6 hours. And I was aware of how much of the day I was tired and would doze off if I sat down for any length of time. This was never a pattern for me. I figured I was suffering from sleep apnea but never brought it up to the doctor because the whole CPAP issue seemed dreadful was still a non-starter for me.

My first night of use, even as uncomfortable was this foreign object in my mouth, I slept 6 hours straight and deeply. 2nd night, 7 hours straight, no getting up to use the bathroom. 3rd night... 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. WOW.

I have used this unit every night since purchasing and sleep sound for an average of 7 hours. My wife gives me a morning report on my snoring and claims that is is very light. This resulting with the mouthpiece on its smallest offset, which is one click. I start conservatively, but can see myself move up to two clicks out of curiosity. Twice I have noted my lower jaw falling free from the plate. I believe my snoring resumes and awakes me enough to set my jaw and go back to sleep.

I will say there have been a number of mornings that my teeth feel like they have been rearranged, but I feel this is due to the fact I bit down excessively hard when setting the impression, and also because I might be biting down hard in my sleep. It is one of the complaints I encountered in reviews, but for me the tradeoff for sound sleep was well worth the minor morning discomfort and the longer I use the mouth-piece the less of an issue this becomes.

I took the time to give as accurate account of this product as I am able because for those who suffer from restless nights, unhappy wives and terrified children, there might be some appreciation for first hand experience from a user.

The reason I gave the SnoreRX four out of five stars, is that the lower half disengaged from the upper half of the mouth-piece after about three weeks of use. I mashed it back together with no loss of effectiveness, but clearly this requires some re-engineering. Also, the mouthpiece might be somewhat large for a female or smaller mouth. Otherwise, for $60 and and sidestepping CPAP, this is a no brainer. I highly recommend.

Have a good one.