sleep apnea

[lazydays]

I'm at a crossroads and could use some advice. I recently had a sleep study completed and the results show i have severe sleep apnea when lying on my back and moderate sleep apnea when lying on my side. The doctor said his recommendation would be a cpap machine but he did say surgery is an option.

My father had surgery where they remove tissue from the back of his throat and he said it was the best thing he ever did. This was about 10 years ago. My step-mother had the surgery where they make the tissue at the back of the throat stiff and hard and this worked for a few years but now she has started to snore again.

So I'm looking for a recommendation. Should I pursue the cpap machine and hope I can sleep with it or should I pursue some form of corrective surgery?

[AlphaDog]

I've always been in favor of going with the least invasive option first. Your doctor did recommend the CPAP machine, with the surgery mentioned only as another option. Did you ask him why? That's what I'd be wanting to know.

[ztirffritz]

You can probably borrow or rent a CPAP machine. The only thing that comes in contact with you is the mask which you would likely need to purchase. Try it. If it doesn't work, get surgery. My brother designs the masks for Phillips Respironics CPAP machines. There is some good information on their website.

http://global.respironics.com/default.asp

I need to do the sleep study test also. My wife is starting to become insistent.

[kanesa]

I just had a sleep study done on Monday night. I don't know the final results but the technician seem to suggest I had sleep apnea. He put me on the CPAP about halfway through the night. I slept with the nasal mask on but it was annoying. He said I did well. I will get the results of the test later this week and talk to the doctor later in the month. I would certainly research the surgery option and see if it is a permanent fix and how successful it is.

[$tevie]

I seem to recall that the surgery is not always successful.

I have one friend who loves his cpap and another one who could not deal with it at all.

It's probably none of my business, but are you overweight? Losing weight is cheaper and less invasive and more healthy and most often works like a charm.

[mattkime]

i sleep on my stomach, would that help?

[Go To Top]

Just had final interview at Sleep Centre. Dr. did not show up so a tech or nurse read me results. Said I had 5% apnea. I could have surgery, Cpap or mouth appliance.
I chose none and got the hell outta there. I told her I felt I only slept 2 hours in the test. Not important I guess. Test room was not sound proof and light proof. I live in a mtn cabin so not used to city sounds. I'll let you know how much Medicare will be charged. Office refused to tell me. I think it is a giant moneymaker for the Dr. On my only consult with him, 5-10 minutes, he took 2 long calls on his iPhone. I will write him to tell him he is the rudest Dr. I have ever seen, with CC to my Dr. I watched a crappy video tho. Think I fell asleep during the showing.

[GeneL]

lazydays, does your insurance (I assume you have some kind of coverage) pay for a CPAP machine and mask? There's NO question in my mind that starting with CPAP is the only intelligent thing to do.

The surgery is tremendously invasive and, despite your father's result, in most cases it is not successful. I have seen at least five sleep specialists in the 20+ years since I was first diagnosed and none of them encouraged me to have the surgery, except as an absolute last resort.

After years of failure in finding a mask/machine combo that worked for me, I have finally been using a full face mask and a specialized Respironics AutoSV BIPAP machine with some success. I have to say that discomfort with the mask is still the biggest issue for me, but I'm doing my best to adapt.

You may have better success with finding a mask that works for you.

Based on your doctor's comment, I'd say that you'd be "insane" to jump right in to having such invasive surgery before giving CPAP a shot. Also, how is your weight? If you are overweight, losing some pounds can have a tremendous effect on your problem. Some time ago I went down 20 pounds and the sleep study that I had at the time showed that my apneas had disappeared and that I no longer needed to use a machine. Unfortunately, it's been impossible to keep my weight down lately.

If you need a machine and don't have insurance coverage, I may still have a CPAP that I "graduated" from stored away. You could have it if necessary along with several masks that I wasn't able to use. They'd have to be checked out and the machine set up by your sleep specialist's RT, but this is a possible solution. PM me if you're interested and I'll look around to see if I still have the equipment. Call it a "Free Stuff Monday" donation.

The good news is that a lot of people do get tremendous benefit from using a CPAP. It's worth a shot!

Best wishes,

GeneL

[lazydays]

Thanks for all of the great comments. After reading them and some articles I found via google I don't think the surgery would be a good way for me to go. I am in the process of scheduling an appointment with the sleep specialist to go over the specifics of what they found during the study and then start talking about machine's and what my insurance will cover. Thank you again for all of the advice regarding cpap vs surgery.

GeneL you are correct that I am overweight, currently at 219 which is about 19 pounds lighter than I started the year with. So I am making progress but it is slow. Once I know what my insurance will cover I will contact you to talk about what equipment of yours I may be able to make use of. Thank you for the very generous offer!

I have a question for GeneL and all of the rest of you CPAP users. Where you able to pick any machine you wanted and have the insurance pay a set amount of the bill or did you have to purchase one from their list? I am primarily concerned with noise level and having the humidification option. Did you rent first? What is that process like? Thanks again.

[Fritz]

http://puresleep.com/

http://www.putanendtosnoring.com/mouthpiece.htm

weight and snoring may be related to apnea.