UPP Surgery

[Just had it done]

Just had the surgery done last Thursday. I had UPP, Septo and Somniplasty and my turbinates worked on.

I have to admit, the first 24 hours was rough, but the pain has been nowhere near what has been described on this board or in articles. For those of you considering the surgery and don't becuase of the pain, I would advise, from somone who just went through it, that it is really not that bad.

I am back at work 5 dyas after the surgery and talking fine. There is still some soreness and irritation, but nothing that is unmanigable.

I am already breathing better overall, will be some time to see how it affects my OSA, will keep people posted.

[GoodKnight]

I am having a similar surgery today.
I'll let you know how it goes.

[josh]

Must be nice to have recoverd so quickly...

I was not back to work for a month after I had mine done...which included the deviated septum. My biggest problem was that I could not eat/drink ANYTHING, for fear of throwing up.

Just my 2 cents...

[wabmorgan]

Both of you...please keep us informed.

I had septo-rhinoplasty done about 2 months ago.

I am now debating tonsil removal and maybe UPP.

[Guest]

I'd avoid the UPPP surgery. It is largely ineffective.

Here's a link to a thread about it:

viewtopic.php?t=10283

[wabmorgan]

Thanks.... I will defainly be talking to ENT about this the UPPP.

MAybe the tonsil removal is the way to go?

I was on CPAP RX of 10. Didn't seem to help. Went to AutoCPAP. Rx of 5 to 14. Found presure was at 11 or 12 most of the time.

After nasal surgery, I now find presure to be at 5 to 7.

I do feel better.... somewhat.... but still find myself tired at times.... some worse than others.

MAybe if I also lost some weight. I'm about 25lbs over. I had lost a LOT of that about 2 years ago, pior to going to CPAP.... but I gained it back:( BUt I do remember feeling a lot better then, even that I wasn't on CPAP.(I hadn't been dianosed at the time either.)

[GoodKnight]

Well I am back from my surgery and I have to agree with "Just had it done": the pain is tolerable and manageable and is not a reason to avoid the surgery, but I would recommend that anyone consider it very carefully.
I didn't have much time before my surgery to describe it so here goes.
I had previously had RF Turbinate reduction which helped a lot to free up obstruction in my nose.
But after being on APAP and CPAP since Dec 2004 and only able to get my AHI to between 4 and 9 and also having quite disturbed sleeping (even though my sleep apnea was being treated effectively), I sought some surgical solutions.

I had what is called Phase One of the Riley-Powell treatment which consists of Uvulopatal Flap procedure which folds the uvula up to the soft palate and sutures it there, RF reduction of the back of the tongue, and GA(genioglossus Advancement).
You can read more about it here, who are the same people who did my surgery http://www.sleepsurgery.com/osasurgery.html

I can tell that I am already sleeping better.
The first night after surgery my AHI was 0.8
The second night it was 2.8
I have never had it so low.
My pressures are set at 8 to 12 and stayed on 8 all night with only an occasional excursion to 9 which the machine does to see if it has any effect and when it doesn't it reverts back to 8 in a short period of time.

[Guest]

I'm glad to hear you didn't have the UPPP, but was surprised to read you had the GA without MMA. Aren't those surgeries normally performed in tandem? Or are you waiting until this heals before you undergo MMA?

[GoodKnight]

The doctors tell me that 70% of patients are cured with the surgery that I had.
MMA can be done next and is very succesful, but it is not a surgery to be taken lightly.
What I had done is much easier than MMA.

[Guest]

I'm familiar with the MMA and GA surgeries as I researched them extensively for my own case. You're right; MMA is a major deal. The rate of success for MMA/GA is phenomenal, but I have not seen data indicating much success with the GA. I hope this works for you and that you'll share the findings of your upcoming PSGs over the next months and years as you continue to follow up and verify the long term results.

Best of luck to you!

[Just had it done]

I am on day 8 since having the UPP, septo and somniplasty and the turbintes done.

The pain is gone for the most part. There is definitely still some irritation and soreness, but again, nothing too bad.

I have had been able to eat some mashed potatoes, butternut squash as well. I made the decision not to have anything solid for two weeks, just to give everything time to heal and not irritate my throat.

The amount of air I can breathe now, just when I am awake, is no question worth the surgery. I have been sleeping more soundly, but will not be able to tell how effective it has been for several weeks.

I will keep everyone updated and things progress, but as of now, I could not be happier with the results of the surgery.


Some post op advice:
-When you are in the hospital, where the oxygen mask with the humidifier at all times. Keeping my throat moist helped a great deal with the pain and with healing. Once you are home, get a humidifier and spend at least 15 minutes of every hour breathing in the warm, wet air.

-Children's Benedryl (liquid) helps greatly with the congestion and headaches.

-French onion soup is what I lived on for the past week. Remove the cheese and the rest you can eat. There is bread soaked to mush in the soup which helps with your digestive system.

-Half frozen gatorade was my best friend

-Clean your nose out with saline twice as much as your doctor recommends

I will post more as I have time.

[Guest]

Here's some pertinent information from TAS.

Another message board that covers OSA surgery is Sleepnet.com Non-Cpap forum.

There are many who will perform a GA...but as an isolated procedure, the success isn't great, and not well documented. On the other hand, in combination with the MMA (upper and lower jaw advancement), the GA blends in like a hand in glove. The base of the tongue is advanced with the jaws as one unit...the documented success of this combination is about 95%.

Following are some snips of posts from members here and TAS who have had UPPP:

Welcome to the forum! I had UPPP and Deviated septum surgery in 1995. 6 months later had a cpap. I'm also claustrophobic. There are masks out there now that you won't feel closed in on while wearing. It's worth a try, because this treatment really makes you feel better. If I had it to do all over again I would still have the nose done (I could only breathe using 1 nostril) but would not have had the UPPP. Good luck in your treatment, whichever path you choose.

Hopefully before my insurance company commits to buying this machine I can convince them to reimburse me for an apap. Looking forward to a good nites sleep again since my UPPP did not work out that well. Thanks again for all the posts it is helpful to know that there is a place to go for good advice from people who have been there and done that.

I've had both and neither were lasting. I had the UPPP 20 years ago and it was moderately effective for a year or so. I recntly had three sessions of somnoplasty and I'm back to where I started. CPAP is the only thing that I found that works.

A bit of history. I was first diagnosed about 10 yrs ago and opted for UPPP surgery (uvulopalatopharynogoplasty) because after my first experience with CPAP in my sleep study I didn't think I could deal with it every night. Well, what they tell you before the surgery and what happens is like night and day. Their description of the surgery "It will be like the worst sore throat you have had." Actual experience, weeks of extreme pain, months to feel better in the throat and over a year before my throat felt normal. The good part was a 35 lb weight loss because I couldn't eat. The surgery (or maybe the weight loss or maybe both) worked for about a year. 1 1/2 years later I was back to exhaustion and depression due to poor sleep. Another sleep study and I started CPAP.

I agree on NOT having the UPPP. I had it done about 7 years ago and wish I never did. I would try the Pillars or Somnoplasty over UPPP.

Gip

I had the UPPP surgery several years ago and for almost a year following surgery I slept restfully. Now the osa is back.

I have had the UPPP and really couldn't tell a difference afterwards. The treatments for Sleep Apena have various results for different people based on my reading and participation in this forum. If I were to start my journey in trying to cure my Sleep Apena again I would have started at Stanford to begin with or would have consulted with a Doctor that could tell me actually what the cause is for my sleep apena. I feel confident with the staff at Stanford who in a matter of minutes while being examined told me that it was my tongue causing my sleep apena not my UPPP. UPPP in my opinion for me was a waste of time and whole lot of pain for no results.

Out of frustration, scheduled surgery. UPPP, turbinat reduction, and septoplasty. For what it's worth, it's as painful and miserable of a process as you've all likely been told about. I knew it was going to be painful and knew it had a less than stellar chance of success, but I wanted to roll the dice to see if I could untether myself from the need for a machine/mask. This was early April 2006.

Recently had a new sleep study and found that the surgery was not successful (altho I was told that there may still be some healing to do).

A plastic surgeon and orthodontist both agree that I am a good candidate to have both my upper and lower jaw advanced. I have already had the UPPP with deviated septum done, to no avail.

My sister had the UPPP surgery and it didn't do a thing for her, other than make her talk funny, and whatever she drank come out her nostrils.

My friend who swore by UPPP and had his done by one of the best surgeons around, now has his apnea back full bore, after less than a decade, AND has all the swallowing issues associated with UPPP.

It's been about 2 months or so and now I have my Resperonics Bi-PAP-Auto. My pressure setting as prescribed from my doctor is 17/11.
I went from not being able to tolerate a CPAP from 10 years ago to falling asleep in about 20 min or less the past for nights.
Another little tid bit of info I had the UPPP done and all the other nasal goodies that goes along with it. This was in 1997.

Beware of UPPP surgery. Lots and lots of pain, very few success stories. My untreated AHI 1 year after surgery was 94, and I still snored.

Well ya'll, unfortunately, I had the UPPP surgery a year ago last January. I thought it helped tremendously, until I had another sleep study, and the results were worse.

I was going to say too, about the snoring...I've definitely stopped snoring with my UP3...but, I still have severe apnea, so someone can be fooled if they think if they aren't snoring, they don't have apnea any more.

There is no way to know how effective the surgery has been other than periodic followup sleep studies. The results are sure disappointing.

[Just had it done]

I am on day 12 and the pain is completely gone. There is some irritation but that is all. I am completely off pain meds, only using Cetacaine to numb the throat.

I am able to drink normally, no regurgitation or liquid in the nose. My voice is also fine, sounds just the same as it did before the surgery.

I read all those posting and have to say that is a sampling of negative reviews. In doing my own research, i spoke with 6 people who had the same procedure done by my Dr. and of those 4 were very successful, 2 have gone back for additional surgeries. Of those 4, they are all more than a year out since surgery and are sleeping fine, CPAP FREE!!

Again, I will keep posting as time goes on, and certainly once I have my next sleep test as to my progress and the effectiveness of the surgery, but as of now I would recommend it 1000%.

[OSAGuy]

Glad to hear the recovery is going well and that you seem to be getting good results. Please keep us posted going forward, as I'm interested to hear about your long term results. I have thought about having it done, but have avoided it, not because of the short term pain that is involved, but because of what I have read and been told about the long term results.

[josh]

Question...what is a GA? I am very familiar with the MMA, as I am having that done within the next year or so, but I am just curious as to what a GA is...

Thanks!