Has anyone had surgery to correct Apnea?

[slix]

I recently had a sleep study and stop breathing 110 times per hour. I understand this is a lot? The experience of the sleep study was one of the worst medical tests I have ever had! I did ok with a nose mask for 3 hours then my mouth opened and they put wrap around my jaw and head and I then started to suffocate as no air would come in or out of my nose at all. I then told them, though never asked, that I broke my nose twice when I was younger. They said that could be a problem...kind of odd to me they never asked if that happened. Still had an open mind and came back to see the doctor there at the center. He only had to say use the cpap or else you will suffer. So then I went to see my personal doctor.
She has recommened I workout vigorously and lose up to 50 pounds, go back to sleep center and try the machines they have available, and go see an ENT doctor. Have lost 5lbs in a week and working towards more. I went to the sleep center today and when they put a full face mask, covering mouth and nose, over my face and turned on the machine I instantly stopped breathing out and became very light headed. The tech helping me said she never has seen that happen. It felt weird when I had no problem inhaling through my mouth but it felt like my throat literally siezed up and blocked all release of air.
Has anyone ever had this issue?

[archangle]

We're sort of the CPAP Vatican around here, with most of us being true believers in CPAP.

Most of the surgery tends to have a low success rate and a lot of permanent side effects. And the apena often comes back anyway.

That "seizing up" bit sounds weird. Did it feel like there was a lot of pressure coming in and you just couldn't breathe out against the pressure, or was it really like something seizing up in your throat?

Losing weight and exercising is sort of a medical myth. It might help apena, but not as often as the doctors tend to think it will. Too much Puritan ethic. "Get up off your backside, you fat slob, and everything will be alright."

Weight loss and exercise is probably a good idea. Just don't count on it fixing your apnea.

For you to get 110 events an hour, you stop breathing for 10 seconds or more 110 times and hour. That's twice a minute. You're not breathing for 20 seconds out of 60, or 33% of the time.

Yea, that's pretty severe.

[ErnieH]

My buddy was told by his Doctor that he was a perfect canidate for the surgery. He was, and it worked 100% for him. I, on the other hand went to my Doctor and was told I was not a canidate at all and would have to wear the mask.

[NanceK]

I just had an osteotomy with genioglossus advancement(Brought out my chin and tongue along with it) and it was successful. I needed my airway opened at the base of my tongue. I left a message concerning this in this forum yesterday. My sleep doctor says it's a permanent fix and unless I gain weight or develop sinus problems, my nights of using the machine are over. I found help through my dentist after over 1 year of having high AHI numbers, even on the machine. Cpap is a successful solution for a lot of people...Then there are those like me. Speak with your internist and your dentist, along with your sleep doctor. You might be able to figure out a solution to your sleep apnea occurrences. In my case, I also needed to find a new sleep doctor. Good luck. I know how frustrating this journey can be.

[archangle]

I just had an osteotomy with genioglossus advancement.

That's a lot more major operation than the more commonly done UPPP surgery. I'm very skeptical about UPPP.

Great that it worked for you.

[Carl LaFong]

My sleep doc is not a big proponent of surgery. She says success rates are generally low, but the best results are in mild to moderate cases. She says many with severe cases getting surgery usually go back on CPAP.

[Emilia]

You should at least look into seeing if your broken nose episodes left you with a lot of scar tissue in your nasal passages.... an ENT should be able to check that and see if there are surgical remedies to open up what may be blocked in that regard. As for the other types of radical surgery to open up throat tissue and the palate.... you are talking about tremendous pain and suffering afterwards for a small chance it will work. Many who have had surgery only get a reprieve for a short time and wind up back on cpap.

If it were I, I'd explore the nose situation first.... but in the meantime, you NEED to be on cpap EVERY TIME YOU SLEEP! With the severity of your condition, you are risking your health on so many levels, not to mention the real possibility of death. Every time you suffocate while sleeping, you are killing off brain cells.... raising your blood pressure.....putting stress on your heart. If you need to lose a lot of weight, it will help to a degree, but chances are your weight gain was due to OSA not the other way around. We have a lot of skinny minnies on this forum with OSA, too!

Put first things first.... GET A MACHINE/MASK NOW AND USE IT EVERY TIME YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES TO SLEEP! The problems you are having with the mask can be fixed... there are a lot of folks here who can offer you help.

Once you have a machine/mask, please take a minute to go up to the User Control Panel (under search, top left) and then to your Profile and then Edit Equipment. Choose your gear from the pull down menus and the choose to show those in TEXT, not pictures. This will put your equipment at the bottom of every post your write automatically, like mine below. Those with the same equipment can help you better than having to constantly ask you what you use!

Once we know what equipment you have, those with the same can help you navigate your problems with it. This is doable.... it may take some time, but in your condition, you must get it to work soon.

[chunkyfrog]

Before CPAP, there was only one surgical solution--tracheostomy.