Somnoplasty

patseguin · Post by **patseguin** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:23 pm

There are the palatine tonsils at the back of throat and a lesser-known set down in your throat by the back of your tongue. I never knew they existed either. The 1st doc went over the films with me and showed where the mass of the tonsils was pressing on and closing up my airway. The 2nd opinion doctor was kind of arrogant and pointed at his eyes when I handed him the films. I asked if it was necessary to put a tube up my nose and down my throat when I have films and he pointed at his eyes again. He said I had a slightly deviated septum and the lingual tonsils "didn't look that pronounced". It was the 2nd doctor who ordered my sleep study and swallowing study. The sleep study showed apnea and I am now on CPAP. However, CPAP doesn't solve anything. I still have throat problems when I am NOT sleeping and I still wake up dozens of times at night and never get any rest.

socknitster · Post by **socknitster** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:45 pm

What a jerk! I would find it hard to take him seriously. That is just rude!

Thanks for the tonsil education.

Wish some docs didn't have such a God complex!

Jen

Pickwickian · Post by **Pickwickian** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:25 pm

I had the UPPP and LAUP surgery done in 2001. I was in the hospital for 4 days because they had to give me a Tracheostomy. I was in pain and away from work for 3 weeks. I had the trach for 6 months before they took it out (at my insistance). The doc wanted me to keep the trach for as long as I could tollerate it. He replaces the trach tube with something called a stoma stent. He had me cap it during the day then uncap it at night for sleeping. I hated it and made him remove it. I had to go back on my CPAP once the stoma stent was removed.

Some of you may be scratching your head and wondering why I had the surgery and still had to use a CPAP. Well, my OSA got to be so bad that my CPAP at the highest setting was not working for me anymore. Once te surgery was done, I went from 20cm H2O (and not working) to 14 cmH2O and feeling much better. Today I'm on an Auto PAP and my ave pressure is 15.3 cmH2O.

I would only recommend the surgery to someone that had a scenerio like mine... I had to do it or I was not going to last very long.

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:42 pm

[quote="Pickwickian"]I had the UPPP and LAUP surgery done in 2001. I was in the hospital for 4 days because they had to give me a Tracheostomy. I was in pain and away from work for 3 weeks. I had the trach for 6 months before they took it out (at my insistance). The doc wanted me to keep the trach for as long as I could tollerate it. He replaces the trach tube with something called a stoma stent. He had me cap it during the day then uncap it at night for sleeping. I hated it and made him remove it. I had to go back on my CPAP once the stoma stent was removed.

Some of you may be scratching your head and wondering why I had the surgery and still had to use a CPAP. Well, my OSA got to be so bad that my CPAP at the highest setting was not working for me anymore. Once te surgery was done, I went from 20cm H2O (and not working) to 14 cmH2O and feeling much better. Today I'm on an Auto PAP and my ave pressure is 15.3 cmH2O.

I would only recommend the surgery to someone that had a scenerio like mine... I had to do it or I was not going to last very long.

socknitster · Post by **socknitster** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 7:25 am

Snoredog, I've had two doctors tell me that the tongue tether (info found here:)

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S= ... =menu188_6

Is a variation on an old technique and isn't proven to work well. Logically, to me, it sounds like an awesome technique. Since this is happening (the trial) in my backyard (only an hour away) I scrutinized the requirements for the surgery and they are quite stringent--including the fact that you have to be an x-cpap'r to qualify.

I am guessing this is the first tongue tether to be adjustable. So perhaps it has more hope of success than previous ones. It is one to watch. I barely qualify for it except for the non-cpap compliant thing. My bmi is at the upper limit.

Pickwickian: have you looked into any oral appliances to help position your tongue/jaw? I am being fitted for the TAP. You can see more info about oral appliances at:

http://quietsleep.com/oralappliancether ... escrip.cfm

The diff appliances are on the right side of the screen. Click on one for more info. TAP is near the bottom.

My pressure is also pretty high and I'm hoping to bring it down and take care of mouth leaks with TAP. Best case scenario would be to get off cpap but I'm not placing any bets on that. I'm just hoping to make cpap therapy easier (higher pressures seem to correlate to aerophagia, a real prob for me).

Jen