corvallisgrace75 wrote: I was found to have 10 awakenings/hour.
Let's say your bedroom had a bell that rang 10 times every hour waking you up each time. How healthy and sane do you think you would be after one night? One week? One year? Five years?
corvallisgrace75 wrote: I was found to have 10 awakenings/hour.
Do you know when these events occurred? What positions you were sleeping in? How many minutes you slept in each sleep stage and how many events you had in each stage?
Knowing your AHI is not nearly enough information to make a decision on whether to treat or not. You need more information much of which is in your sleep study summary.
corvallisgrace75 wrote: I think some of my sleepiness could probably be attributed to poor sleep habits, my weight, medications, anxiety, etc.
For sure.
corvallisgrace75 wrote: Thus far, nobody has commented about their sleep habits and the role that these habits may play in contributing to sleep quality and feelings of restfulness.
Search Chicagogranny's posts. She posts nearly every day about how important this is and what to do. Many, many people have poor habits that cause them lots of problems. Granny has a simple thing she posts stating what should be done - use the search funtion.
corvallisgrace75 wrote: Maybe Dr. Littner is still out there. He's from UCLA and I live about 20 minutes away from UCLA. Maybe I should go knock on his door and ask for his opinion-- if it's changed and what he thinks. I'm kidding, obviously.
If you are looking for excuses not to treat, you will find plenty of them. But this will not be a place you want to hang out repeating excuses - most of us are committed users.
corvallisgrace75 wrote: I was told by my sleep doctor that if I had my very large tonsils removed, it would cut my awakenings in half
Cut them in half? If he is honest, he also told you this is a wild guess.
Is your sleep doctor also a practicing ENT? If not, you should get a referral to an ENT who is very familiar with obstructive sleep apnea. Let him examine your airway and give you an opinion on tonsillectomy and possible improvement in your sleep apnea.
corvallisgrace75 wrote: I was told to get them out 11 years ago and that they probably were contributing to sleep issues. But I was too scared to get surgery. Now they have a laser procedure that is much simpler. But the new laser procedure is supposed to be quite tolerable.
Just about all types of surgery have seen improvements in technique over time. But don't expect an easy recovery because lasers were used. The lasers are still
cutting out your tonsils and the pain and recovery are hardly any different than if cut out using traditional surgical tools.
But I would not dissuade you from having the tonsils removed. Just get a second opinion from an ENT/Surgeon and make sure he takes some time to discuss his opinion with you and answer all questions.
I have a very good ENT whom I trust and if he told me my tonsils should come out, I would not worry about and would just get it done.