Post surgery

So I was using a CPAP for about a month and then I had a surgery for deviated septum and removal of some bone in the top of my sinus.

I have noticed no change in my AHI number using the CPAP at night.

During titration I had 9 to 10 events per hour.

The sleep mapper app tells me my AHI is anywhere from .3 to 3.2 on any particular evening.

My pre-surgery level was essentially the same.

Can someone tell me whether or not the CPAP is helping and whether or not the surgery is helping and/or your own experiences

TIA

G

georgeniebling wrote:So I was using a CPAP for about a month and then I had a surgery for deviated septum and removal of some bone in the top of my sinus.

I have noticed no change in my AHI number using the CPAP at night.

given that apnea is caused almost exclusively in your throat, not your nose...

well, you connect the dots

georgeniebling wrote:So I was using a CPAP for about a month and then I had a surgery for deviated septum and removal of some bone in the top of my sinus.

I have noticed no change in my AHI number using the CPAP at night.

During titration I had 9 to 10 events per hour.

The sleep mapper app tells me my AHI is anywhere from .3 to 3.2 on any particular evening.

My pre-surgery level was essentially the same.

Can someone tell me whether or not the CPAP is helping and whether or not the surgery is helping and/or your own experiences

TIA

G

A Sleep Study would be the only way to tell for sure. Esp. since we don't know what mask, machine, or pressure you are using.

Personally, I don't have any faith in Sleepmapper.

Well, I had the reverse problem. I had all the excess tissue removed from my throat and lower palette by a laser. It was done in 1997, and now they do surgery. They removed a lot of tissue. The Dr at the time looked into my nose and must have seen a deviated septum and enlarged turbinates - but said nothing. I have been told since that it is a big problem up there, so this Dr. was intentionally ignoring the problem.

Sleep studies (and my sleep) did not change, of course, because my lower palette and throat likely had nothing to do with my problem. Most my AHI results are from hypopneas and flow blockages. This condition occurs in all members of my (birth) family. I am the only one who was finally diagnosed properly by a pulmonologist and given CPAP - though she wants me to have nasal surgery at some point. They have been to ENT's and none of them ever connected the dots. So none of them use CPAP and none sleep well.

Dr's should look at both areas and then decide what needs to be done. The surgical ones tend to jump to cut, because it's how they earn a living. With the current state of medicine, the old "multiple opinions" before any procedure is important. It shouldn't be necessary - but it is.

I'm sorry you had to suffer needlessly. Physicians tend to only look at one thing and not the whole picture. I am being straightforward when I say ... get another doctor! If you used a data producing CPAP machine - they should have looked at your results - the data would have indicated where the problem was. If they didn't look at the results, then they subjected you to what could have been needless surgery. Please don't feel badly - as this has happened to many of us with some problem at some point in our lives. It is definitely not your fault. Good luck - and I hope you get the relief you need.

Jon

When I had my Septoplasty and Polyp removal it made absolutely no difference in my AHI readings. My doctor told me not to expect any changes.