The anoxia that comes with sleep apnea is seriously bad for you, but for at least some people there are other solutions. For instance, do you get apnea when on your back but not on your side? This is typical just from the physiology of the throat. One old remedy for snoring (also associated with being on your back) was to attach something the size of a tennis ball to the center of the back of whatever garment you're sleeping in.

Then there are wearable oximeters. For instance, there’s one that fits on a thumb($180), and vibrates to wake you if the O2 level drops below a certain point.