Apnea surgery

I've been having a lot of issues with aerophagia over the last month. Every night I wake up at 2-3 am in horrible pain in my stomach. I've tried several things to stop it. I've even lost 20 lbs in the last month but it hasn't helped. My last try was to lower the epap from 18.6 to 15. Hasn't helped. I'll try limiting ipap some to do the auto increase. My AHI has gone up since lowering the epap. Went from 1 to 2 events per hour.

Went to ent Tuesday to discuss options. Short of driving to Canada to try and get the alaxostent to see if I can lower pressure, I may end up having apnea surgery. I know there is a lot of good and bad stories but I can't take waking up in pain everyday.

Any other suggestions are welcome

Just curious, have you been checked for a heital hernia or ulcer?

Greg Riddle wrote:I've been having a lot of issues with aerophagia over the last month. Every night I wake up at 2-3 am in horrible pain in my stomach. I've tried several things to stop it. I've even lost 20 lbs in the last month but it hasn't helped. My last try was to lower the epap from 18.6 to 15. Hasn't helped. I'll try limiting ipap some to do the auto increase. My AHI has gone up since lowering the epap. Went from 1 to 2 events per hour.

Went to ent Tuesday to discuss options. Short of driving to Canada to try and get the alaxostent to see if I can lower pressure, I may end up having apnea surgery. I know there is a lot of good and bad stories but I can't take waking up in pain everyday.

Any other suggestions are welcome

Hi Greg,

I found downloading this document very helpful:

http://doctorstevenpark.com/the-truth-a ... ea-surgery

If you decide to go that route, personally, I wouldn't have the surgery without having a nasal or sleep endoscopy of your airway to see where the obstruction is.

I would also visit this old forum:

http://www.needsleep.net/apnea/apneainf.html (non cpap forums)

There are some very helpful posts, particularly by billinseattle.

You also might visit this site:

https://www.inspiresleep.com/inspire-therapy/

Finally, if you decide to any surgery, I would ask the surgeon what the percentage of his/her patients were able to get their AHI below 5 and for how long, this lasted.

Any reason you are not considering a dental device?

Good luck with your decision.

49er

Finally, if you decide to any surgery, I would ask the surgeon what the percentage of his/her patients were able to get their AHI below 5 and for how long, this lasted.

THIS is very important. The definition of success for a surgeon is very different then that of a sleep specialist. ("the operation was a success but the patient died " is an but appropriate joke)

Your definition of success is an AHI below 5, not a percentage decrease in your AHI.

Greg Riddle wrote:I've been having a lot of issues with aerophagia over the last month. Every night I wake up at 2-3 am in horrible pain in my stomach. I've tried several things to stop it. I've even lost 20 lbs in the last month but it hasn't helped. My last try was to lower the epap from 18.6 to 15. Hasn't helped. I'll try limiting ipap some to do the auto increase. My AHI has gone up since lowering the epap. Went from 1 to 2 events per hour.

Went to ent Tuesday to discuss options. Short of driving to Canada to try and get the alaxostent to see if I can lower pressure, I may end up having apnea surgery. I know there is a lot of good and bad stories but I can't take waking up in pain everyday.

Any other suggestions are welcome

In addition to 49er's list, this guy is great and the website is very informative as well.

http://www.sleep-doctor.com/contact/

musculus wrote:

Greg Riddle wrote:I've been having a lot of issues with aerophagia over the last month. Every night I wake up at 2-3 am in horrible pain in my stomach. I've tried several things to stop it. I've even lost 20 lbs in the last month but it hasn't helped. My last try was to lower the epap from 18.6 to 15. Hasn't helped. I'll try limiting ipap some to do the auto increase. My AHI has gone up since lowering the epap. Went from 1 to 2 events per hour.

Went to ent Tuesday to discuss options. Short of driving to Canada to try and get the alaxostent to see if I can lower pressure, I may end up having apnea surgery. I know there is a lot of good and bad stories but I can't take waking up in pain everyday.

Any other suggestions are welcome

In addition to 49er's list, this guy is great and the website is very informative as well.

http://www.sleep-doctor.com/contact/

I agree that is a great site.

I would also visit http://www.sleepapneasurgery.com/ which is the site of Kasey Li, who is considered to be one of the best surgeons for doing MMAs.

Have some reading to do. Thanks all

http://umm.edu/health/medical/reports/a ... leep-apnea You may find some useful info in this link.

As I remember the surgical definition of UPPP success is a reduction of AHI by 50%.

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijoto/2013/290265/ another journal article.

There's a link to a youtube video in the useful links in my signature line. A few people have reported it works, and it's free to try.

Also try sleeping on your left or right side. You might also try sleeping in a recliner.

These may or may not work, but they're easy to try.

archangle wrote:There's a link to a youtube video in the useful links in my signature line. A few people have reported it works, and it's free to try.

Also try sleeping on your left or right side. You might also try sleeping in a recliner.

These may or may not work, but they're easy to try.

I tried allowing on both sides and in a recliner. On my sides the aerophagia gets worse. Recliner, I can't sleep in a recliner forever. I need to be in bed with my wife. What did help it's sleeping in my back with upper body elevated, but lately it hasn't helped much. I've been having trouble staying on my back

msla wrote:http://umm.edu/health/medical/reports/a ... leep-apnea You may find some useful info in this link.

As I remember the surgical definition of UPPP success is a reduction of AHI by 50%.

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijoto/2013/290265/ another journal article.

I did some reading and the clinical definition is 50% reduction. Even if it was just 50% I could at least lower the pressure to a more tolerable level

Thanks for the links

Greg,

In the past, I found wearing a neck collar enabled me to lower the pressure when I needed higher pressures with full face masks. Unfortunately, I found them very uncomfortable for various reasons but many people on this board have had great success.

49er

knothead wrote:Just curious, have you been checked for a heital hernia or ulcer?

no

I limited the ipap to 20.6 last night. no stomach pain but AHI was 4.1

Greg Riddle wrote:

msla wrote:http://umm.edu/health/medical/reports/a ... leep-apnea You may find some useful info in this link.

As I remember the surgical definition of UPPP success is a reduction of AHI by 50%.

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijoto/2013/290265/ another journal article.

I did some reading and the clinical definition is 50% reduction. Even if it was just 50% I could at least lower the pressure to a more tolerable level

Thanks for the links

Keep in mind that number of events has no relationship to pressure needed to prevent events. Reducing the number of events may not reduce your pressure needs. Some people have a much harder time with cpap after surgery.