When the doctor looks down your throat for OSA?

I remember when I went to my doctor to see if I had OSA. Gosh, this feels like an eternity ago. (And still not done with tests.)
My doctor looked down my throat and said that it looked like I may have OSA. But I think I recall him saying I have a little ''thing.''
What could that mean? Is it a floppy egiglotis? Big tonsils?

What does a doctor usually look for when he looks down your throat for sleep apnea? Narrow airway? Narrow throat?

Now that someone brought up Egiglotis, I'm wondering if there could be any correlation.

He's looking for narrowing of the airway as you guessed. The reason(s) for narrowing may be different in different people, but if the reason in your case was your epiglottis (which you could then be told needed removal), you would have heard it by now. And it's not something that's done in any case... occasionally an eager ENT surgeon will suggest that someone's tonsils are extra large and that he can remove them. Unfortunately there don't seem to be many patients who've benefitted from that surgery (as adults) by not having to use Cpap and, in fact, may have more trouble using it (as they usually still need it post surgery) because their anatomy may have been changed by the surgery in ways that make using Cpap more difficult.

You're about to go on your Cpap journey with Postitnote's help... focus on that now, and if in the future, after you've given it a good trial and been helped to optimize Cpap, you still are not sleeping well, that would be the time to look for other answers, but in general most people who have surgery to avoid Cpap end up less satisfied than they would have if they had not had it. Right now you have all your 'parts', leave them alone unless things get to some extreme place where you have given Cpap the best trial you can - that would be over a matter of many months, having tried different masks, settings, etc, not a matter of being unlucky with the first mask or two you try or a couple of pressure settings on a machine. For heaven's sake, ALL of us have been on the same journey, but how many have you seen go through the absolutely endless questioning (ahead of time) that you have? You apparently haven't taken advice to find more help for your anxiety - and I'm afraid you're setting yourself up for failure with the help you are now going to get with Cpap. Find some way to break the cycle, do it with help from a new therapist or yoga or whatever works for you, but all of your questions don't have magic answers here because you keep finding new ones no matter how much we reassure you... your problem isn't Cpap, or your epiglottis, or some DME, but your anxiety, and you need to find answers for that.

Seriously, if your doctor finds a "thing", and then goes no further, that "thing" looked harmless to him.
Honest! Doctors jump all over anything that looks scary!

Julie wrote:He's looking for narrowing of the airway as you guessed. The reason(s) for narrowing may be different in different people, but if the reason in your case was your epiglottis (which you could then be told needed removal), you would have heard it by now. And it's not something that's done in any case... occasionally an eager ENT surgeon will suggest that someone's tonsils are extra large and that he can remove them. Unfortunately there don't seem to be many patients who've benefitted from that surgery (as adults) by not having to use Cpap and, in fact, may have more trouble using it (as they usually still need it post surgery) because their anatomy may have been changed by the surgery in ways that make using Cpap more difficult.

You're about to go on your Cpap journey with Postitnote's help... focus on that now, and if in the future, after you've given it a good trial and been helped to optimize Cpap, you still are not sleeping well, that would be the time to look for other answers, but in general most people who have surgery to avoid Cpap end up less satisfied than they would have if they had not had it. Right now you have all your 'parts', leave them alone unless things get to some extreme place where you have given Cpap the best trial you can - that would be over a matter of many months, having tried different masks, settings, etc, not a matter of being unlucky with the first mask or two you try or a couple of pressure settings on a machine. For heaven's sake, ALL of us have been on the same journey, but how many have you seen go through the absolutely endless questioning (ahead of time) that you have? You apparently haven't taken advice to find more help for your anxiety - and I'm afraid you're setting yourself up for failure with the help you are now going to get with Cpap. Find some way to break the cycle, do it with help from a new therapist or yoga or whatever works for you, but all of your questions don't have magic answers here because you keep finding new ones no matter how much we reassure you... your problem isn't Cpap, or your epiglottis, or some DME, but your anxiety, and you need to find answers for that.

But Julie, read this viewtopic/t106076/Upper-Airway-Resistan ... -UARS.html


''I am a UARS guy. I just found out why I don't respond to CPAP therapy even though I can tolerate high pressure without any issues. The reason is I have a floppy epiglottis and the epiglottis will fold back to the airway wall to obstruct the airway.

Here are video and article for the condition. CPAP will not treat it and actually make it worse due to the anatomy of epiglottis.
I have a surgery scheduled in two month to remove part of the epiglottis and will report back the result. ''

Enchanter - You have had NO reason or indication to believe you have UARS! No one has suggested you have it. So what if some other dude does? Or 1,000 other people? What about someone else who has cancer? Or Lou Gehrig's disease? Or diabetes? You are going to drive yourself crazy, and us into the bargain. If you want us (and anyone else) to take you seriously, stop flailing around in thin air about nothing - stop looking for trouble where it ain't - there's plenty of real trouble to go around, you don't need to look for it, but right now all you likely have, if anything, is a mild case of sleep apnea. That's all until further notice.

Call your Dr. and get those test results.

Julie wrote:He's looking for narrowing of the airway as you guessed. The reason(s) for narrowing may be different in different people, but if the reason in your case was your epiglottis (which you could then be told needed removal), you would have heard it by now. And it's not something that's done in any case... occasionally an eager ENT surgeon will suggest that someone's tonsils are extra large and that he can remove them. Unfortunately there don't seem to be many patients who've benefitted from that surgery (as adults) by not having to use Cpap and, in fact, may have more trouble using it (as they usually still need it post surgery) because their anatomy may have been changed by the surgery in ways that make using Cpap more difficult.

You're about to go on your Cpap journey with Postitnote's help... focus on that now, and if in the future, after you've given it a good trial and been helped to optimize Cpap, you still are not sleeping well, that would be the time to look for other answers, but in general most people who have surgery to avoid Cpap end up less satisfied than they would have if they had not had it. Right now you have all your 'parts', leave them alone unless things get to some extreme place where you have given Cpap the best trial you can - that would be over a matter of many months, having tried different masks, settings, etc, not a matter of being unlucky with the first mask or two you try or a couple of pressure settings on a machine. For heaven's sake, ALL of us have been on the same journey, but how many have you seen go through the absolutely endless questioning (ahead of time) that you have? You apparently haven't taken advice to find more help for your anxiety - and I'm afraid you're setting yourself up for failure with the help you are now going to get with Cpap. Find some way to break the cycle, do it with help from a new therapist or yoga or whatever works for you, but all of your questions don't have magic answers here because you keep finding new ones no matter how much we reassure you... your problem isn't Cpap, or your epiglottis, or some DME, but your anxiety, and you need to find answers for that.

+1

Julie wrote:Enchanter - You have had NO reason or indication to believe you have UARS! No one has suggested you have it. So what if some other dude does? Or 1,000 other people? What about someone else who has cancer? Or Lou Gehrig's disease? Or diabetes? You are going to drive yourself crazy, and us into the bargain. If you want us (and anyone else) to take you seriously, stop flailing around in thin air about nothing - stop looking for trouble where it ain't - there's plenty of real trouble to go around, you don't need to look for it, but right now all you likely have, if anything, is a mild case of sleep apnea. That's all until further notice.

I get what you're saying. But why wouldn't I possibly have that? Sometimes I feel my airway is blocked or it's hard to get in air without effort.

Enchanter wrote:[

Here are video and article for the condition. CPAP will not treat it and actually make it worse due to the anatomy of epiglottis.
I have a surgery scheduled in two month to remove part of the epiglottis and will report back the result. ''

You do have surgery scheduled? When did this happen? I am confused, does this mean you don't want the CPAP machine that postit has sent you?

Why wouldn't you have a 1,000 other things? You feel restricted for air (something you can only be aware of while awake) because of your anxiety... there is a well known (to doctors) syndrome where patients think there's something stuck in their throat, when there really isn't and it's called Globus hystericus. Look it up... I'm not saying you have that at all, but it's an example of the kind of thing anxiety can do to you. Don't you get that you're literally going to make yourself sick with all this? Even if you never were to begin with? We all feel bad for you and hope you get better, but in the meantime... CHILL!

CANCUN - He doesn't have anything scheduled - he was quoting something he read.

cancun wrote:

Enchanter wrote:[

Here are video and article for the condition. CPAP will not treat it and actually make it worse due to the anatomy of epiglottis.
I have a surgery scheduled in two month to remove part of the epiglottis and will report back the result. ''

You do have surgery scheduled? When did this happen? I am confused, does this mean you don't want the CPAP machine that postit has sent you?

I was quoting another member on here. Of course I am grateful for the CPAP being sent. All I'm saying is that this is my life and I have to make sure that I'm not overlooking anything. You know, others on here told me to not overlook everything. That's what I'm doing, but people tell me to just stick to CPAP. Not saying that's bad, but I'm just pointing out another possibility. I read that thread last night. The guy wasn't helped with CPAP because of his floppy egiglotis.

Julie wrote:Why wouldn't you have a 1,000 other things? You feel restricted for air (something you can only be aware of while awake) because of your anxiety... there is a well known (to doctors) syndrome where patients think there's something stuck in their throat, when there really isn't and it's called Globus hystericus. Look it up... I'm not saying you have that at all, but it's an example of the kind of thing anxiety can do to you. Don't you get that you're literally going to make yourself sick with all this? Even if you never were to begin with? We all feel bad for you and hope you get better, but in the meantime... CHILL!

CANCUN - He doesn't have anything scheduled - he was quoting something he read.

Trying to chill. Mucluos is the one who is having a surgery in 2 months. What about Upper Airway Syndrome? That could make it harder to get in air at night and make it harder to breathe too. Why wouldn't I have that? Isn't that similar to sleep apnea?

Maybe the "Thing" he's looking far is a Fat Wallet, and he thought yours was undersized. Go out and get one with a chain and zipper like truckers use. Jim

Goofproof wrote:Maybe the "Thing" he's looking far is a Fat Wallet, and he thought yours was undersized. Go out and get one with a chain and zipper like truckers use. Jim

Jim that wasn't necessary. Enchanter should see an ENT to check for sure. It's better to find out than wonder and worry. Everything that gets ruled out leads to a better diagnosis in the end. Enchanter has good insurance.

postitnote wrote:

Goofproof wrote:Maybe the "Thing" he's looking far is a Fat Wallet, and he thought yours was undersized. Go out and get one with a chain and zipper like truckers use. Jim

Jim that wasn't necessary. Enchanter should see an ENT to check for sure. It's better to find out than wonder and worry. Everything that gets ruled out leads to a better diagnosis in the end. Enchanter has good insurance.

Do I need my doctor to send me to one or do I go out on my own to find an ENT?