My CPAP Treatment Journey

MarcoSil wrote:Heart Jumping,

My surgery was a Septoplasty with bilateral turbinate reduction. The septoplasty fixes the deviation (mine was 70% blocked). The turbinates are some membranes in your nose that basically condition (filter and humidify) the air that you breath. As we age the turbinates (like the rest of our body) can lose shape and become "flabby". The procedure just basically cleans them up and improves their functionality. My Doc made it clear that this would not get rid of the apnea, but it would probably reduce the required pressures and help with my persistent post nasal drip. It did both. Pressures came down from 16+ to about 9. The drip is much better as well.

The surgery lasted all of 25 minutes but requires a general anesthesia. My Doc put a splint in to help the septum heal in place after he straightened it. There was no gauze or other packing. I had to live with it for 1 week and could not breath through my nose at all. I couldn't use my APAP for a month. Like I said, just really uncomfortable but no real pain, and my wife would say that in general I don't tolerate pain well. When the splints were removed, I was amazed at the sensation of being able to breath well through my nose and within 6 months I was able to switch to pillows/nasal masks and get rid of the full face mask.

There have been significant improvements in surgical methods during the past 10 years. My Doc actually used a laser.

If you research the surgery online, you can scare yourself into inaction if you are not careful.

MarcoSil wrote:Heart Jumping,

By the way, did you notice the improvement in exhaling after changing to the DreamWear nasal mask? I found that I had the problem with the P10 and felt that it was due to the tendency for the pillows to "pinch" closed if not inserted properly.