Surgical Alternative

[Moosa]

Hi,

I suffer from severe Sleep Apnea. An ENT specialist recommended that I consider removing my Tonsils and doing some kind of nose job. I am 60years old and would hate to do surgery. So currently i am enduring using a CPAP machine that causes me to regularly have a sore/scratchy throat. I am using a humidifier function on the machine. Would I need to learn to tolerate the sore throat. Are there remedies or alternatives??

[Julie]

Couple of things - your sore throat may well be due to gastric reflux (GERD) from stomach acid - quite common in apnea patients and Cpap could help, as could some attention from your GP, but whatever the cause, you don't need to tolerate it!

Surgery, that pays for ENT doctors' holidays, has been done in too many cases, and rarely gets rid of apnea in the end, leaving patients with painful post surgical problems and a necessary return within months to still needing Cpap.

There are many ways to make the gold standard of apnea - Cpap - work well for you and I strongly suggest you go that route, with our help if necessary to adjust, and not end up in an irreversible position of having had surgery.

[Miss Emerita]

To add to Julie's thoughts, do you know whether your mouth opens much during the night? Is dryness part of the throat discomfort?

[zonker]

Hi,

welcome to the zoo!

I suffer from severe Sleep Apnea. An ENT specialist recommended that I consider removing my Tonsils and doing some kind of nose job. I am 60years old and would hate to do surgery. So currently i am enduring using a CPAP machine that causes me to regularly have a sore/scratchy throat. I am using a humidifier function on the machine. Would I need to learn to tolerate the sore throat. Are there remedies or alternatives??

sorry to hear you're having a hard time of it. could you tell us which machine and mask you have?

we don't all use the same equipment and while there are principals regarding cpap that cross all types, we may have to make suggestions based on which equipment you have.

if you have already filled out your equipment, please forgive. the forum software no longer displays it for any of us. so if you haven't, don't bother.

but DO let us know.

good luck!

[Nick Danger]

For me the septoplasty was very helpful - lowered my prescribed pressure from 13 to 9 and made it possible to use nasal pillows. The UPPP surgery was a waste.