Just diagnosed with sleep apnea...

[carnutzzz]

Sleep study showed 10 episodes per hour, which puts me in the mild category. Blood oxygen level never dropped below 91%, which is good. I'm just not getting very good sleep it seems.

My current anatomy seems to be causing the problem. I have huge tonsils. Dr. wants to remove them.

I also have a deviated septum, and thus the Dr. wants to do some nasal work. This is a highly recommended Dr. who I am extremely impressed with so far.

What do I need to know before going through with this?

About me- I'm 34, single, in good shape

Thanks,

[BertBeagle]

Originally Posted by carnutzzz

Sleep study showed 10 episodes per hour, which puts me in the mild category. Blood oxygen level never dropped below 91%, which is good. I'm just not getting very good sleep it seems.

My current anatomy seems to be causing the problem. I have huge tonsils. Dr. wants to remove them.

I also have a deviated septum, and thus the Dr. wants to do some nasal work. This is a highly recommended Dr. who I am extremely impressed with so far.

What do I need to know before going through with this?

About me- I'm 34, single, in good shape

Thanks,

10 years ago I had the same diagnoses. The doctor said there are options - you can have surgery and there is a % (forgot number but the odds were not so great for success) chance that the problem will be fixed and never come back.

The other option was using a CPAP machine. If you don't mind using the machine, he said, the cure is 100%.

I went for the machine and never looked back and have never slept a night without it since. It really did change my life.

There were big differences in your situation and mine worth noting. I was 50 and married a long time. My wife is the one who pushed me to see a doctor about the problem in the first place.

If I were 30 and single - I don't know. I cant imagine, at 30, bringing home a young lady and having to sleep with my machine hooked up. At that age I would have given the surgery a longer look. Plus today maybe the surgery is even better - don't know. The one truth is that the machine takes care of the problem 100% - if you can sleep with it. I have determined that those who say they tried the machine and couldn't sleep with it really don't have SA in the first place. Seems like today that they are handing them out like they did braces for teeth years ago. If you really do have sleep apena then you need help as it is a life saver. I was, at 50, slimmer and fit and not the "typical" looking patient. Still not too overweight or in terrible shape.

Good luck. If you have it, do take some action.

[island_dude]

You need to know a lot. I was diagnosed a couple of years ago with mild sleep apnea. Your numbers are a bit milder than mine were. I was on the CPAP machine for 9 months and found it very annoying. I started talking to an ENT surgeon about options. I was a good fit as far as the recommendation goes: Surgical options are only helpful to people who are in good shape, relatively young and have mild apnea. I would add the further point which is in your favor that having a visible issue helps a lot.

Now here is the part that you don't want to hear: I had all of these things going for me minus a really obvious physical obstruction. We decided to go ahead with the UPPP (don't ask me to spell this one out). It is a short and very painful procedure. I mean really painful. Your mileage will vary though. The initial level of discomfort is not so awful for a couple of reasons. The first is that you get really good drugs in the hospital and the pain is pretty much nuked by it. The second is that the pain builds up progressively over time. The worst pain I had was in my 9th day after surgery. I was already taking the strongest stuff they would let me take home. The doctor doubled the dose and it was barely enough. After the 10th day things got better pretty quickly. Eating is very unpleasant. I lost 20 pounds in a few weeks. It takes a long time before you will be able to eat anything really spicy. I still have issues and its been nearly a year.

You outcome might be good. My initial outcome was great. For the first three months I slept like a baby again. This was a passing condition and one day it was like a light switch. The quality of my sleep got really bad. Was given another sleep test and surprise, I went from being a mild pre surgery to a moderate. Every metric was worse, sometimes much much worse. Before the surgery, the CPAP helped, but I could get away with skipping it for days at a time with out significant issues. Not anymore. The worst part of this is that I have been interacting with someone who had the same experience and I was in denial. I though my situation was unique. No matter how much the guy tried to convince me other wise. Well, he was right and I was wrong. I pay for this error of judgment every single day.

Maybe you are a luck case and between your deivated septum and your tonsils you have a sure cure, but don't count on it. I was talking to one of the techs at the sleep center and he says he hasn't ever gotten anybody who's numbers have improved enough to "cure" them.

My advice: Do not rush into this. CPAP sucks, but there are worse things. Take your time and get other opinions before you leap. Once they do a UPPP on you, you will be officially out of surgical options. I wish you the best and I hope that you really are one of the lucky ones that can benefit from the procedures.

[mattdavis11]

32 here, and have it. It didn't take a doctor to figure it out though. I'm sure there are countless people that are worse off. If I do anything soon, it'll be the CPAP. Has worked well for my dad, and my best buddy chose the machine at age 30.

[aap1966]

Professional view;

"General information only"...which means I don't know the details of your case and you can't sue me.

1. Get the tonsils out.

2. Calculate your BMI http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ If more than 22, lose weight..that almost always will help to some degree although it may not be curative. The more overweight you are, the more benefit weight loss will normally give you.

3. Avoid evening sedative drugs, ie, alcohol and sleeping tablets.

4. If the problem is ongoing despite the above, strongly consider a CPAP machine. Apart from the risk of being strangled by your sleep deprived partner, OSA is an independent risk factor for cardiac disease, ie Heart attacks, heart failure. Also there is strong evidence that the daytime solomneance associated with OSA sleep is a significant risk for trauma (Motor vehicle accidents, industrial accidents, etc.)

[cantdrv55]

Single? The CPAP machine is a romance killer. Birth control X 1000. I use the machine but I've been married 24 yrs.

[Rick Lee]

What are the telltale symptoms of sleep apnea?

[id10t]

I've been using a CPAP machine for 3 years now... had no idea as to how bad I really felt all the time before.. won't go without it now. Key is to getting a mask that fits - there are all kinds, spend the $$ to hop around thru different masks and hose arrangements, but once you know what works for you, you've got it. I was lucky - the mask they used on me in the study was a perfect fit and very comfy.

Rick - I was falling asleep at the keyboard waiting for small things to finish doing, fighting to stay awake during meetings, falling "asleep" and hearing but not being able to see or function in class, etc. Wife/kids/neighbors/local seismic monitors all claim that I tend to snore just a tad.

All gone with The Machine. Praise The Machine.

[Rick Lee]

I sleep terribly at night, but am not often tired during the day. I usually catch a nap on Saturdays and feel all caught up for the week. But the nights where I get a good sleep are few and far between. Two best nights of sleep of my whole life were the night after I ran the Berlin Marathon, having slept in a car the night before and driven all day after the race and the day after I DIY'ed my whole move into my new house. Other than that, my sleep always sucks.

[mattdavis11]

If you're good in the sack, she'll keep coming back.

Rick, snoring, waking up tired, not making it through the day with out feeling drowsy, etc.... While you are asleep, your brain says "I aint getting enough oxygen, get up!", and you never attain a degree of REM that your body requires for a sustainable period of time.

[BertBeagle]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

What are the telltale symptoms of sleep apnea?

Tired all the time. Easily fall asleep during the day. Thats what everyone says.

But the #1 symptom is snooring very loud followed by stopping breathing for a period then snorting causing you to almost wake up then repeating the process many times each night. When you wake up in the morning with your uvula (normally small) stretched to over 1" long and actually laying on your tung - getting sucked down your throat when breathing in and then flapping out over your tung when exhaling almost choking you - then you know you've got it. When no one will stay in a motel room with you. When in college and kids in the next dorm suite complained of the snoring. When your wife and family are about at wits end dealing with the snoring. When they race to bed to try to be asleep before you turn in and actually ask you to please wait for them to fall asleep before going to bed. If it takes some time each morning to have your mouth recover from sleeping and you have to be careful in the process or risk damaging something in your mouth. I could go on and on. I had all this and more.

With cpap my mouth feels the same when I wake up as when I went to sleep. I use to get horrible hangovers. I have not had a hangover since using the cpap machine. Before I could never get enough sleep. Now I can rarely sleep more than 7 hours and feel like I am rested every morning. I can go a few days on 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours sleep and then I need a good nights sleep of 7 hours.

After my initial exam and sleep study and before using a cpap my doctor made an incredible understatement. He told me that I had no idea what a good nights sleep was and that I was in store for a surprise.

This is why I say that those who say they try the machine but cannot use it are blessed because they really do not have the problem. Or it is minor and not requiring treatment. My wife loves the sound of the cpap machine. The newer ones are quite and very small for traveling.

My wife read about sleep apnea in the paper and urged me to see a doctor. Before that we had never heard of it. That was 10 years ago and I have never spent a night without cpap. Almost did in England once when the current fired my machine in the middle of the night. I stayed up the rest of the night and had a new machine before dark the next day.

[Rick Lee]

Ok, I'm sure I don't have it then. Thanks.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

What are the telltale symptoms of sleep apnea?

not enough oxygen getting to your brain leaves you tired, grumpy and potentially brain damaged...

I got my nose fixed last time I broke it. Sucked for about a week post op, then was great, air would pass through either nostril, which is a lot more important than it sounds.

I think they do a uvuloplasty, which is different from what I had done, for apnea/snoring.

[mattdavis11]

Funny Bert, not the condition, but the CPAP machine.

My dad got a new one last year and it was too quiet for my mom. I think he threatened her with the alternative.

[Don Plumley]

I had my tonsils out and deviated septum fixed about 10 years ago. I kept getting sinus infections from the crap caught in my tonsils. Yummy. I snored a lot less for a while too.

Funny story: When it looked like I was going to have the sinus surgery, I thought about it, and since I was going to be asleep, decided to have a vasectomy at the same time. So I kept calling urologists and asked, "What are you doing next Wednesday at 8AM?" When I found one with time on his surgical calendar, I said, "I'll be the guy asleep on the table - have at it."

[cantdrv55]

I get those nasty bits in my tonsils as well. I think their called tonsiloliths. Anyway, I am going to ask about having my tonsils yanked. Just wanted to hear from you fellas who's had this done; how bad did it hurt afterwards?

[artplumber]

Originally Posted by carnutzzz

Sleep study showed 10 episodes per hour, which puts me in the mild category. Blood oxygen level never dropped below 91%, which is good. I'm just not getting very good sleep it seems.

My current anatomy seems to be causing the problem. I have huge tonsils. Dr. wants to remove them.

I also have a deviated septum, and thus the Dr. wants to do some nasal work. This is a highly recommended Dr. who I am extremely impressed with so far.

What do I need to know before going through with this?

About me- I'm 34, single, in good shape

Thanks,

For someone with mild apnea, it seems a little much to undergo the knife. Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty is 50% effective for all comers. However, certain anatomic findings increase the potential success rates. For no sat less than 90% CPAP is even a bit of overkill. Talk to a sleep doc (pulmonologist) before you have a surgical intervention. You don't even qualify for nocturnal oxygen.

[K.B.]

I have sleep apnea. Tried the machine for a month. Lost so much sleep I couldn't take it so I quit trying. MY 11 yr old daughter wasw also diagnosed with central sleep apnea. (not obstructive) Not sure where to go from here , for either of us.

[Mo_Gearhead]

At about 50 (eight years ago) my R.N. wife complained about my episodes of sleeplessness. She insisted I have the 'study' done.

Hospital room.
Too cold.
Twenty wires stuck on/hooked to you. Can't even turn over without feeling them.
Strange bed/mattress/pillow/sheets.

********** Now try and sleep Sir!

(See above)

Plus ...doors slamming, noise in the corridors, unfamiliar sounds, etc.

Junk science IMO unless they come wire me up IN MY OWN BEDROOM!

Still have my tonsils (that is indeed a cause).
Still have wife complaining!

Good luck.

[Gene Wilkes]

More common than you would imagine! http://sleepapnea.respironics.com/