Geof, I was diagnosed with 'the apnea' a few yrs ago. I went to the study thinking it would be a joke, but the reality was that I was tired all the time. Meetings. Driving. Anything. I stopped breathing 2 times a minute during my study.
This stuff leads to strokes and heart attacks, right when I started on my CPAP someone I knew had a stroke at 50 attributed to sleep apnea.
With that said, they mentioned loosing weight might help but I have such a big neck it probably wouldn't help. Said they can do surgery but even then thats not guaranteed. The CPAP is a pain but I take it with me everywhere, even camping (I take a car battery and inverter). I feel great now. I got a nice small and quiet machine that fits in my carry on when I travel. No big deal.
Its really hard to get use to, you just have to really push yourself. I spend about 6 months trying to sleep with it every night until I actually slept with it a full night ( I would keep removing the mask in the middle of the night).
I looked into the mouth guards and they don't seem to work for everyone. I figured it was a gimmick.
If you have any questions just let me know.