Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

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BuddhaCat
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Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by BuddhaCat » Sat Jul 04, 2015 11:18 am

Happy 4th, everyone!

I had gastric sleeve surgery a few weeks ago and am healing well. Interestingly, though, my AHI has been way up since I got out of the hospital. (Typical AHI = 1; after surgery, as high as 4.5.)

I realize that 4.5 isn't high for a lot of people, but it's appreciably higher than I've had for a year. I definitely notice the difference.

I began to suspect that general anesthesia had something to do with it. Either that or it's time to replace my mask! I can't think of any other variables...

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Julie
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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by Julie » Sat Jul 04, 2015 11:35 am

The anesthetic completely relaxes all your muscles and tissue, so it's very likely the reason - it can take weeks for the effects to wear off. Did you tell your MD and anesthetist about your apnea beforehand? Did you ask that Cpap be used in the recovery rm and your room (if you had one)? We all have to remember to do that whenever we have any level of anesthetic, even short acting ones, so the anesthetist and/or MD can compensate with 02 if needed, or whatever they use.

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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by Krelvin » Sat Jul 04, 2015 11:48 am

BuddhaCat wrote:my AHI has been way up since I got out of the hospital. (Typical AHI = 1; after surgery, as high as 4.5.)
More likely the surgery has changed how you sleep, after all you had gastric surgery.

Saying your AHI is up to 4.5 without any kind of indication of what the break down of that number is would make it very hard to guess what the cause. Could me you are having more CA's due to being uncomfortable and are moving around a lot more than before. Just a guess...
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BuddhaCat
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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by BuddhaCat » Sat Jul 04, 2015 12:51 pm

Julie wrote:The anesthetic completely relaxes all your muscles and tissue, so it's very likely the reason - it can take weeks for the effects to wear off. Did you tell your MD and anesthetist about your apnea beforehand? Did you ask that Cpap be used in the recovery rm and your room (if you had one)? We all have to remember to do that whenever we have any level of anesthetic, even short acting ones, so the anesthetist and/or MD can compensate with 02 if needed, or whatever they use.
Julie, yes -- they knew about my OSA and I was told to bring my CPAP to the hospital with me. They were very conscientious about that.

Interesting to know that it might take weeks for the effects to wear off!

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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by chunkyfrog » Sat Jul 04, 2015 12:54 pm

It makes sense. If the drugs affect your bowels, much can go wrong.

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BuddhaCat
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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by BuddhaCat » Sat Jul 04, 2015 12:56 pm

Krelvin wrote:
BuddhaCat wrote:my AHI has been way up since I got out of the hospital. (Typical AHI = 1; after surgery, as high as 4.5.)
More likely the surgery has changed how you sleep, after all you had gastric surgery.

Saying your AHI is up to 4.5 without any kind of indication of what the break down of that number is would make it very hard to guess what the cause. Could me you are having more CA's due to being uncomfortable and are moving around a lot more than before. Just a guess...
Interesting point, Krelvin. I haven't downloaded any sleep data in a long time, because I've been so stable for a year. It's probably time for me to do some more research.

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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by BuddhaCat » Sat Jul 04, 2015 12:57 pm

chunkyfrog wrote:It makes sense. If the drugs affect your bowels, much can go wrong.
Without going into details, chunkyfrog, yeah -- you've got a point!!!

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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by JDS74 » Sat Jul 04, 2015 2:00 pm

Here is an interesting article on the subject.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC524108/

It reinforces the idea of making sure your doctors are well informed about any apnea issues you have prior to any sedation.

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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by BuddhaCat » Sat Jul 04, 2015 4:02 pm

JDS74 wrote:Here is an interesting article on the subject.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC524108/

It reinforces the idea of making sure your doctors are well informed about any apnea issues you have prior to any sedation.
Thanks! This is a great resource.

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"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by chunkyfrog » Sun Jul 05, 2015 7:29 pm

I will let you all know Tuesday morning.
My revision is a 2 hour outpatient procedure, so I will be using my own machine as soon as I have the urge.
When I stayed overnight, the bozo who set up the hospital machine turned the good data off; dag-nabbit!

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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by Tassie Devil » Sun Jul 05, 2015 7:46 pm

Not with me. I had general anesthesia a bit over a week ago for dental implants.

But we are all different with different metabolic reactions so that does not mean others have not experienced it.

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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by SewTired » Mon Jul 06, 2015 1:29 pm

BuddhaCat wrote:Happy 4th, everyone!

I had gastric sleeve surgery a few weeks ago and am healing well. Interestingly, though, my AHI has been way up since I got out of the hospital. (Typical AHI = 1; after surgery, as high as 4.5.)

I realize that 4.5 isn't high for a lot of people, but it's appreciably higher than I've had for a year. I definitely notice the difference.

I began to suspect that general anesthesia had something to do with it. Either that or it's time to replace my mask! I can't think of any other variables...
Both general anesthesia and pain killers can change your AHI significantly. Both can cause issues for several weeks after you discontinue. At 4.5, your sleep doctor isn't going to recommend any changes UNLESS your cpap is for other reasons. If you feel considerably worse, however, give your sleep doctor a call, especially if there were any concerns at the hospital about low oxygen levels.

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chunkyfrog
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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by chunkyfrog » Mon Jul 06, 2015 7:46 pm

I am afraid I have too many variables to help with my data.
General anesthesia, plus pain meds, plus having to sleep on my back,
pretty much adds up to cr@p. But I'm feeling better.

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Re: Anyone have higher AHI after general anesthesia?

Post by chunkyfrog » Tue Jul 07, 2015 12:24 pm

Update: my data this morning was right in line with usual numbers, except my leak rate was very low--(2)
-- probably an effect of sleeping on my back, with well-controlled pain.
Some anesthesia has remained in my system. Yeah, I can tell.

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