My sleep apnea cured?

DWaldman wrote:Why do you have to be so mean?... I think you are not getting enough sleep.

You are giving them free passes.

Wulfman... wrote:Actually, I was just about to ask something similar in a different context.........
WHY would someone post on this sleep apnea CPAP help forum that they had UPPP surgery and now self-determined themselves to be "cured"???

I'm glad to hear from someone successful with UPPP or other CPAP alternatives. I'd love to have some surgical alternatives to CPAP. If UPPP is the solution for some people, I'm glad to hear it. I also want to hear from those who have problems or failure with UPPP.

I have no doubt that UPPP is the magic bullet for some.

I really DO hope we find some surgical/mechanical alternative to CPAP at some time.

Thomas, thanks for posting. I hope it works out well for you long term. I would still warn people that UPPP isn't that successful for many people.

archangle wrote:I'm glad to hear from someone successful with UPPP or other CPAP alternatives. I'd love to have some surgical alternatives to CPAP. If UPPP is the solution for some people, I'm glad to hear it. I also want to hear from those who have problems or failure with UPPP.

I have no doubt that UPPP is the magic bullet for some.

I really DO hope we find some surgical/mechanical alternative to CPAP at some time.

Thomas, thanks for posting. I hope it works out well for you long term. I would still warn people that UPPP isn't that successful for many people.

Amen on all counts.

I did a little research on it. There are competing numbers out there and it seems it's also dependent on how extensive the surgery is, and WHO gets it, i.e. whether they are a good candidate. Success rates from 40% all the way up to 90% depending on the criteria. If it's like other surgeries they'll also attain higher success rates over time. As other said it also looks like in some cases it may improve things a lot yet cpap may still be required.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1942134-overview

Quite an interesting link - but it does tell me that patient selection is important and only certain ones are likely to do well.

Julie wrote:Quite an interesting link - but it does tell me that patient selection is important and only certain ones are likely to do well.

Not surprised that patient selection is key to a successful surgery as I guess it is with any procedure. However, with the UPPP operation, I never saw any information until this link as to what was key for a successful outcome with this surgery. I found this very interesting.

""Stage I patients had a palate size of 1 or 2 based on a modified Mallampati scale and tonsil size of 3 or 4 based on the Brodsky scoring system. These patients are the best candidates for surgery with a reported success rate of 80.6%. Stage II patients have a palate position and tonsil size of 3 or 4. Their success rate following uvulopalatopharyngoplasty was 37.9%.

Patients with a body mass index greater than 40 kg/m2 were classified as stage III and had a success rate of only 8.1%. ""

archangle wrote:

Wulfman... wrote:Actually, I was just about to ask something similar in a different context.........
WHY would someone post on this sleep apnea CPAP help forum that they had UPPP surgery and now self-determined themselves to be "cured"???

I'm glad to hear from someone successful with UPPP or other CPAP alternatives. I'd love to have some surgical alternatives to CPAP. If UPPP is the solution for some people, I'm glad to hear it. I also want to hear from those who have problems or failure with UPPP.

I have no doubt that UPPP is the magic bullet for some.

I really DO hope we find some surgical/mechanical alternative to CPAP at some time.

Thomas, thanks for posting. I hope it works out well for you long term. I would still warn people that UPPP isn't that successful for many people.

None of us (including the OP) will know for sure until somewhere down the road. He only had the surgery about three weeks ago. That's why in a previous post, I suggested he return and let us know how things turned out in about a year AND after another sleep study to confirm how successful it was.

About the time I was diagnosed, I did some reading about the "pillar procedure" and others.
To me, the CPAP therapy route seemed to be so much easier than surgery of any kind.


Den

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Hey, I will take sleeping with machine vs going under the knife anyday. Most people I know who have had elective surgery have regrets. This machine is a small price to pay for better health. And as one twelve step group puts it... It only works if you work it.

Right now, surgery is NOT a first line treatment for OSA.
A viable alternative (sadly, in the future) would not only have to be at least as effective,
but less expensive; for the financing to ever be available for its development and testing.
Right now all that is offered is that which could too easily be equated to bloodletting.
Medicine moves like a glacier, over the sad remains of its failures.

chunkyfrog wrote:Right now, surgery is NOT a first line treatment for OSA.
A viable alternative (sadly, in the future) would not only have to be at least as effective,
but less expensive; for the financing to ever be available for its development and testing.
Right now all that is offered is that which could too easily be equated to bloodletting.
Medicine moves like a glacier, over the sad remains of its failures.

I'd call it more like amputation, only you don't have the option of a prosthesis, to help get your loss back! Jim

Since some people read that link, the Google search term I used in case anyone is interested which brought up some other good hits as well was "UPPP success rates". Personally I have no interest in even looking into surgery at this time, let alone doing it, but it's interesting to read about.

The thing about sleep apnea "surgery" is that there can be any number of problems which led to the sleep apnea. Nasal passages (surgery for turbinates and/or deviated septum), jaw position (MMA surgery), throat muscles collapse, UPPP (or variations), and probably some more including GERD and related LES problems.
That doesn't even get into the Central or Mixed versions either......for which there are no surgeries available to my knowledge.

When someone comes on the forum (as they have in the past) and proclaims they either had or were contemplating "surgery" for sleep apnea, they are usually questioned about WHICH surgery they were talking about.


Den

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Lets see... Getting used to a small machine that helps me sleep better, or letting some money hungry surgeon cut on me...

As I have mentioned previously on this forum, most people, including well respected sleep apnea surgeons would agree that pap therapy should always be tried first. The question though is even in best case scenario (person tried to optimize therapy with this forum's help), the person finds that pap therapy isn't working, how long should they continue with pap therapy if they have been trying for at least a year before pursuing alternatives? Another year, two years five years, ten years? Or stay on pap therapy no matter what?

49er

Good point...

It's always easy to be righteous on someone else's dime, but you have to decide for yourself.

Heart Jumping wrote:I agree with the people not afraid to "speak the truth". In fact I did just that on a cancer forum the other day. This woman posted all excited "my surgery worked, they didn't find anything in the lymph nodes, I'm cancer free, I don't need chemo!". I asked her to post her obituary and told here "don't kid yourself, the cancer is going to be back in a year or two even if you can't handle the truth".

And I did that without even know whether she really was cured, without asking her any questions, without having any idea what her true prognosis was, or offering her any caring words of encouragement. Because, you know, I wanted her to know "the "truth". I just like being truthy.

HJ,

You may be off base:

https://www.zocdoc.com/answers/7086/doe ... olve-chemo

""In some cases, if a tumor is diagnosed early, surgery may be curative and chemotherapy will not be needed.""

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2015/10/02/c ... ncer-study

"Now, a landmark study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, finds that many women with early stage breast cancer can skip chemotherapy and do just fine."

49er