Anyone have surgery

Not having much luck with my Cpap machine after 6 weeks. It's been nightmarish honestly. I'm sticking it out however because I forked up a lot of money to get to this point. Has anyone had surgery for severe sleep apnea and if so has it helped?

Thanks

Surgery rarely helps and we'd much rather try to help you with gettting your Cpap working. What machine - full name & model # - and mask do you use? What are your pressures set at? What else can you tell us - e.g. specifically what isn't working for you - mask problems, sleep problems, be as detailed as possible.

Using a Respironics machine with a full face mask. It's been a circus getting it calibrated to the proper setting. The mask leaks and I feel the pressure is too high but based on my sleep study it need to be this high. I can't fall asleep which creates a litany of other problems. I ramp it from 10 to 14 but once it's at its max sleeping is difficult. Not to mention feeling like a freak with all the tubes and headgear.

Is yours an auto machine or a straight CPAP? I was like you when I was using a straight CPAP with a pressure of 12. I had bad leaks, I struggled to sleep at high pressures, hated the lound sound of the machine and the leaking air, etc. Honestly, it didn't get better for almost 4 years. Then I bought myself an APAP machine so that I would only get the pressure I needed. At this point I realized how bad my leaks were (over 30% of the time I had a major leak) so I switched to the P10 nasal pillows. Now, I have no leaks, my pressure is at 7.5 for most of the night (despite the doctor telling me I need 12) and I have around 2-3 apnea events per hour (which is good).

If your machine isn't an auto machine, I would get one. Make sure it has data you can extract off of it, and try nasal pillows, they tend to produce less leaks and make less noise than most masks.

Don't give up yet. It took me over 4 years, but I've finally got this all figured out and am sleeping great

Respironics makes hundreds of models - what does yours say right on top? How old is it? Is it an auto or not? Which mask?

If you want help, you have to give something to go on (and please look at the other questions I asked earlier - they matter!).

My first experience with CPAP was the same as yours - plus I didn't want to spend the rest of my life wearing a mask to bed. So I had the UPPP - no change. Septoplasty - made it easier to breathe and lowered my CPAP pressure from 13 to 9, but no effect on AHI. I had a genioglossal advancement and a hyoid advancement - worked for a year, then AHI bounced back up to 80 or so. Having sent my ENT's kids through college and paid for his most recent Mercedes, I decided enough with the surgeries and gave the CPAP a serious effort. I'm now very comfortable with CPAP (and have been for a couple of years).

The only surgery I would do if I had it to do over was the septoplasty.

Respironics System One Remstar Pro by Phillips with built in humidifier CFlex Plus. Amara Gel Full Face Mask. Set at 14. Auto. Brand new. Struggling with leaks and pressure being too high however it's what the study says I should be at. It's uncomfortable to sleep in and to fall asleep without aid has been troublesome even when I ramp it.

The only surgery that can eliminate sleep apnea is a tracheostomy: http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sl ... leep-apnea

The others that you may hear/read about have a very poor success rate and often cause additional complications. We get people here all the time who have had the surgeries and still need to use cpap.

Your best shot is optimizing your cpap therapy with help from the people here. Not what you wanted to hear, but that's the way it is.

Black Italian wrote:Respironics System One Remstar Pro by Phillips with built in humidifier CFlex Plus. Amara Gel Full Face Mask. Set at 14. Auto. Brand new. Struggling with leaks and pressure being too high however it's what the study says I should be at. It's uncomfortable to sleep in and to fall asleep without aid has been troublesome even when I ramp it.

Black Italian,

Are you limited to full face masks due to being a mouth breather or would nasal/nasal pillow masks be an option? Many people (not everyone) find them alot easier to use, particularly in controlling the leaks. And even if you are a mouth breather, many people have still successfully used nasal masks by taping their mouths or using a chin strap. Not trying to steer you away from full face masks but just giving you as many options as possible since finding the right mask is such an important part of therapy.

49er