Surgery as an option over CPAP?

[Jason S.]

A friend of mine tried CPAP and it didn't work well for him. He would wake up with the mask on the floor most nights. He opted for surgery which removed his tonsils, his uvula, and part of his tongue. His airway is now open to the point where he no longer snores or suffers from sleep apnea. His doctor did say his problems were mostly anatomical in nature, so I don't know if surgery would work successfully for everyone.

My internist recommended going the CPAP route and stated the aforementioned surgery was pretty nasty, which of course immediately scared me off from it. But now I'm reading here about risks of glaucoma from CPAP and other negative effects and I'm thinking maybe two weeks of hell recovering from that surgery would be worth it in the long run, not to have to deal with the machine and/or worry about the long-term effects of using it.

Has anyone else looked into surgery as an alternative to CPAP?

[Divreon]

Whats the name of the surgery?

[CPAP SUCKS]

Good for you go for the surgery CPAP is just a LIFE TIME full of pain and money wasted. Look at this forum there are SO MANY problems with CPAP this site was created. It is over prescribed and can lead to complications like GERD and glaucoma. Do yourself a favor choose 2 weeks of misery over the rest of your life?

[BeanMeScot]

2 weeks of misery might actually be worth it, IF it worked. Unfortunately, if you look around, you will find that MOST people aren't "cured" by surgery. I know a guy who had an AHI in the 90's, had his throat cleaned out and has an AHI in the 60's. The surgery didn't change his need for CPAP at all. So what was the point? He said he was still glad he did it because his throat structure was bad enough that he would choke every time he tried to eat.

From what I read, surgery helps about 30% of the time. In which case, you have changed the structure of your throat, could very well have caused yourself issues with eating, for nothing.

[NeurosurgeryNP]

Good for you go for the surgery CPAP is just a LIFE TIME full of pain and money wasted. Look at this forum there are SO MANY problems with CPAP this site was created. It is over prescribed and can lead to complications like GERD and glaucoma. Do yourself a favor choose 2 weeks of misery over the rest of your life?

CPAP is not a lifetime of pain and wasted money in many cases. CPAP has given me my life back. I would nver contemplate surgery when an non-invasive method can control my sleep apnea. Surgery is not curative in many cases and people who have surgery need to cintinue treatment with CPAP. Glaucoma - never heard this before. GERD - many people with untreated sleep apnea have GERD - once my sleep apnea was treated, I no longer have it. Surgery has many risks to include infection and death.