CPAP vs. UPPP for a young person

[Saxatilis]

Hey there! Newbie looking for advice.

I was recently diagnosed with fairly severe OSA and the doctor has me starting CPAP but also recommended I consider UPPP (Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty). As the subject line implies I am fairly young and can reasonably expect 40 more years if I live to a "normal" lifespan. Mildly overweight but doing well getting in shape for the last year or so and very healthy otherwise. Unfortunately my nose is incapable of taking in enough air for me to breathe without feeling like I'm suffocating so a "nose only" mask is not an option. I am going to be stuck with some sort of full face mask. I am well aware this process takes a while getting used to but right now the only way I can fall asleep with the mask on is on heavy decongestants and am drop dead tired.

Long story short I have NO interest in becoming Darth Vader every night and having to fight to fall asleep for the next 40 YEARS. Not to mention the associated costs of CPAP gear for 40 years. The UPPP has a 70% chance of fixing my problem altogether and even if if isn't fixed 100% I should be much better off than I am now (my doctors words).

Has anyone out there had a UPPP? If you have I would really appreciate hearing from you. Please give me the good and the bad.

Thanks and wish me luck.

[Goofproof]

One of the advantages of a UPPP in young people, you get to enjoy your mutilation longer than those who have it done when older. Air forced in your airway however can be enjoyed at any age, for life! Jim

[Wulfman...]

Hey there! Newbie looking for advice.

I was recently diagnosed with fairly severe OSA and the doctor has me starting CPAP but also recommended I consider UPPP (Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty). As the subject line implies I am fairly young and can reasonably expect 40 more years if I live to a "normal" lifespan. Mildly overweight but doing well getting in shape for the last year or so and very healthy otherwise. Unfortunately my nose is incapable of taking in enough air for me to breathe without feeling like I'm suffocating so a "nose only" mask is not an option. I am going to be stuck with some sort of full face mask. I am well aware this process takes a while getting used to but right now the only way I can fall asleep with the mask on is on heavy decongestants and am drop dead tired.

Long story short I have NO interest in becoming Darth Vader every night and having to fight to fall asleep for the next 40 YEARS. Not to mention the associated costs of CPAP gear for 40 years. The UPPP has a 70% chance of fixing my problem altogether and even if if isn't fixed 100% I should be much better off than I am now (my doctors words).

Has anyone out there had a UPPP? If you have I would really appreciate hearing from you. Please give me the good and the bad.

Thanks and wish me luck.

Here's a forum search I just did on "UPPP".

viewtopic/t114833/search.php?keywords=UPPP

Your doctor is blowing smoke up your ass and is looking to make a quick buck off of your insurance.
You will still have 100% probability of using a CPAP or Bi-Level machine and maybe even at higher pressure levels for the rest of your life anyway.

You're in serious denial if you believe all that stuff you just wrote. Once they remove all that tissue, they'll never be able to put it back......and you will regret it.

DON'T DO IT!!!


Den

.

[Saxatilis]

Where as CPAP may ensure I will be single my whole life. Yay.

I am mostly joking but I would be lying if I said I wasn't taking my dating life into consideration.

[Wulfman...]

Where as CPAP may ensure I will be single my whole life. Yay.

I am mostly joking but I would be lying if I said I wasn't taking my dating life into consideration.

If you had lost any of your limbs or were horribly disfigured, would you not wear any prosthetics?
If you had poor eyesight, would you not wear glasses? Would you have your eyes removed? I doubt it.

You're trying to paint a much worse picture of this than it really is.
What happens if they remove all that tissue in your throat and then discover that your "real" problem is in your nasal passages? The "source" of obstructive sleep apnea can be in any number of places.......not just the throat.
These machines only apply enough pressure while you sleep so that you can breathe normally.
Any person who would not accept your using it is not worth considering being married to.


Den

.

[Goofproof]

Where as CPAP may ensure I will be single my whole life. Yay.

I am mostly joking but I would be lying if I said I wasn't taking my dating life into consideration.

I must be doing it wrong, I have never considered my XPAP as a sex tool, it hardly vibrates. Jim

I think your partner waking up with a corpse next to them would be a turn off, unless they had lots of INS. Would not wearing a hearing aid make you more sexy, I doubt it, but it would MAYBE help me keep my mouth shut cutting down of bickering. 'Jim

[Saxatilis]

@Wulfman

Thank you for the advice.

If I had gone my doctors way I would have already scheduled the surgery. No, I do my homework and try to make informed decisions. Hence why I am posting here.

Of course any surgery has risks. I am well aware that many, if not most UPPP patients still use CPAP. So the question really becomes the odds of success of surgery (also considering side effects) higher or lower than the odds of me being able to stick with CPAP over such a long period of time.

Thats why I would really like to hear from someone who has actually had it done.

[Saxatilis]

I must be doing it wrong, I have never considered my XPAP as a sex tool, it hardly vibrates. Jim

[Guest]

Unfortunately my nose is incapable of taking in enough air for me to breathe without feeling like I'm suffocating

You need to get that nose fixed before you do anything esp UPPP.

IF you can't breath room air thru your nose yet think something else will fix your problem you are mistaken my friend. You do know that low O2 affects our decision and choice making, right?

Have you read the UPPP search items posted above for you?

[Wulfman...]

@Wulfman

Thank you for the advice.

If I had gone my doctors way I would have already scheduled the surgery. No, I do my homework and try to make informed decisions. Hence why I am posting here.

Of course any surgery has risks. I am well aware that many, if not most UPPP patients still use CPAP. So the question really becomes the odds of success of surgery (also considering side effects) higher or lower than the odds of me being able to stick with CPAP over such a long period of time.

Thats why I would really like to hear from someone who has actually had it done.

I've never actually had it done, but my sleep doctor "hinted" that I may need to have my throat enlarged. Not once did these assholes actually ask me if I could actually breathe through my nose. I had been a mouth-breather all of my life until I started this therapy.......then, by using some "tricks" of my own, I became a nasal breather while I sleep.
I should also mention that my sleep doctor had prescribed a pressure of 18 cm. for my therapy. I almost immediately changed my machine's pressure to 10 cm. and found (using software with downloaded data) that I could get AHIs below 1.0 right away. I realized my sleep doctor was clueless and I cut him loose after a couple of visits after I started therapy.
I've become very cynical about some of these doctors, have become very passionate about the benefits of this therapy and after being on this forum for almost 12 years, reading the (horror) stories of others, I try to warn the users of the pitfalls of doing what their doctors recommend.
So, don't let them talk you into something that could have far more long-term effects.


Den

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[49er]

Hi Saxatilis,

Welcome to the forum.

Has an ENT done a nasendoscopy of your airway to see if having a septoplasty and turbinate reduction would improve your nasal air flow thus leading to better comfort with pap therapy?

To answer your question, having a UPPP would be one of my last options regarding sleep apnea treatment even if I failed to succeed with pap therapy which you haven't even tried. And most surgeons won't even operate until you have given it about 6 months. So if your surgeon is pushing to operate without you having tried the machine, he definitely doesn't have your best interests in mind and is looking to make a quick buck.

49er

[Goofproof]

@Wulfman

Thank you for the advice.

If I had gone my doctors way I would have already scheduled the surgery. No, I do my homework and try to make informed decisions. Hence why I am posting here.

Of course any surgery has risks. I am well aware that many, if not most UPPP patients still use CPAP. So the question really becomes the odds of success of surgery (also considering side effects) higher or lower than the odds of me being able to stick with CPAP over such a long period of time.

Thats why I would really like to hear from someone who has actually had it done.

I don't think OP's on the Internet is what I'd use to determine what parts i'd have cut out of my body, maybe if I personally knew a few that had had it done, and the long term results, but then again as Dr. House says, "Everyone Lies"! But I find it's not as much about lying, as it's about know knowing enough about what they are passing on as fact.

We hear every day where people are cured, and it never has been proven that they are, it also doesn't mean they will stay cured, so they go happy, dieing more each day, when they could have done better, with AIR. Jim

[BlackSpinner]

Hey there! Newbie looking for advice.

I was recently diagnosed with fairly severe OSA and the doctor has me starting CPAP but also recommended I consider UPPP (Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty). As the subject line implies I am fairly young and can reasonably expect 40 more y I am going to be stuck with some sort of full face mask. I am well aware this process takes a while getting used to but right now the only way I can fall asleep with the mask on is on heavy decongestants and am drop dead tired.

Long story short I have NO interest in becoming Darth Vader every night and having to fight to fall asleep for the next 40 YEARS. Not to mention the associated costs of CPAP gear for 40 years. The UPPP has a 70% chance of fixing my problem altogether and even if if isn't fixed 100% I should be much better off than I am now (my doctors words).
.

Get the cpap working for yourself. Decide to make it work (Mine worked the first night, no problems other then a red nose bridge solved by a liner). When you have been on it for a few months and can think straight, then re-evaluate the surgery. Right now you are sleep deprived and would happily salute and bomb a hospital if told too ( from studies done on sleep deprived people). Before you chose a surgery that could have your food coming out of your nose as you eat, get your brains working.

And, no it is not a barrier to sex. You can have sex anywhere you want. No one says you should wear it while having sex (unless you want to play fighter pilot / rebel bombing the death star) You need to wear it while you sleep so you will have the stamina and desire to have sex in the back of a VW.

[Saxatilis]

Where as CPAP may ensure I will be single my whole life. Yay.

I am mostly joking but I would be lying if I said I wasn't taking my dating life into consideration.

If you had lost any of your limbs or were horribly disfigured, would you not wear any prosthetics?
If you had poor eyesight, would you not wear glasses? Would you have your eyes removed? I doubt it.

You're trying to paint a much worse picture of this than it really is.
What happens if they remove all that tissue in your throat and then discover that your "real" problem is in your nasal passages? The "source" of obstructive sleep apnea can be in any number of places.......not just the throat.
These machines only apply enough pressure while you sleep so that you can breathe normally.
Any person who would not accept your using it is not worth considering being married to.


Den

.

Prosthetics? Probably.
Poor eyesight? No I would probably get that fixed if i could instead of wearing glasses.

Having been looked at by multiple doctors my "real" problem is everywhere. Nose, throat, tonsils, adnoids, palate, deviated septum, AHI 80+. Odds are this would not be a one time deal. I know.

Breathing normally is the end goal yes, however, in order to get to the "breathing normally" stage I need to be able to
1) fall asleep without drugs or being drop dead tired.
2) STAY asleep
Neither of which seems to be happening any time soon on CPAP.

Finally,
"Any person who would not accept your using it is not worth considering being married to"
In an ideal world this would be true but this is the real world and first impressions can make or break a potential relationship.

Who said anything about marriage anyway ;p

[Saxatilis]

Get the cpap working for yourself.

trying my damndest.

Decide to make it work (Mine worked the first night, no problems other then a red nose bridge solved by a liner).

see above and lucky you

When you have been on it for a few months and can think straight, then re-evaluate the surgery. Right now you are sleep deprived and would happily salute and bomb a hospital if told too ( from studies done on sleep deprived people). Before you chose a surgery that could have your food coming out of your nose as you eat, get your brains working.

If I could get to sleep on CPAP in the first place and STAY asleep on CPAP this would be much less of a problem in the first place.

And, no it is not a barrier to sex. You can have sex anywhere you want. No one says you should wear it while having sex (unless you want to play fighter pilot / rebel bombing the death star) You need to wear it while you sleep so you will have the stamina and desire to have sex in the back of a VW.

[/quote]

With all due respect, BULL****. Of course it isn't a barrier to the physical act of sex but it is certainly a relationship barrier.