This is Serious...

[Guest]

The informative post by flygal6 should be put in our collective wisdom section it may help allay some fears when someone is having surgery.

[rested gal]

Thank you very much, flygal. Excellent post!

[Auricula]

BrianRT said "Keep in mind that being intubated and extubated is traumatizing to the airway. This causes the throat tissue to develop some swelling, which can certainly exacerbate OSA."

When I was intubated for a diagnostic laparoscopy at age 39 my uvula was damaged when the tubes were removed and I felt like I was choking on food for the next 6 months. I wonder if I had a collapsing airway back then or if damage to my airway during that incident contributed to my developing OSA.

The article scares me, especially since I had an ECHO cardiogram yesterday and during the procedure the technician asked if I've been feeling well, a question that was never asked on previous tests (and I've been concerned over becoming short of breath when climbing stairs). Last year this time I was at 3 on a scale of 6 for valve impairment and now I'm worried that I am a step closer to valve replacement surgery.

Something I learned recently is that a history of heart disease in a sibling is considered more dangerous to an individual than is the same in a parent. My brother had 5-way bypass at age 57. He was very physically active (daily 45-min stairmaster) right up to failing a stress test.

[Moby]

http://www.usyd.edu.au/anaes/lectures/OSApatinfo.html

hope this helps

Di

[luneman]