I learned today I have deviated septum.

I am definitely will be getting a second opinion. I know I have a deviated septum because 24/7 I have one or both nostrils congested. I cant breath through them. I Iive in a small city and went to the local ENT. But for the surgery I will travel to San Diego, California and get the surgery in a good hospital. Even if it doesn't cure sleep apnea I would still do it because I am always congested, summer and winter. I am congested right now.

I love using nasal pillows. I tried using a full face mask, I could not stand the mask for 10 minutes.

king_alvaro wrote: . . . 24/7 I have one or both nostrils congested. . . .

It is normal for one nostril at a time to feel congested.

http://sciencemags.blogspot.com/2010/08 ... cycle.html

How did any of you learn that you were better off with a FFM? Was it just trial and error, which is a lot of $$$? I have never been asked by a dr. or DME if I have a deviated septum (I do), and that seems like a pretty big consideration, as I am learning from reading this thread.

need2snooze wrote:How did any of you learn that you were better off with a FFM? Was it just trial and error, which is a lot of $$$? I have never been asked by a dr. or DME if I have a deviated septum (I do), and that seems like a pretty big consideration, as I am learning from reading this thread.

In my situation, I found that as much as I wish I could tolerate a nasal mask as angcor 580 mentioned, I simply struggle to breath when I have used my Swift FX at night due to sinus congestion. Unfortunately, hybrids have caused the same issues.

So FFMs are my only option even though I need to wear a neck collar so I can run a pressure of 8.5 to keep the AHI below 5. Otherwise, I would need to go up to around 20.

I suspect this is due to the masks pushing my jaw back which they are known to do on some people.

Anyway, I appreciate hearing about everybody's experience with surgery. I was pretty upset initially that this wasn't an option for me due to not having health insurance. But it sounds like I may not be missing anything.

For those of you that it greatly helped, I am very happy for you and wish you continued success.

49er

I have a badly deviated septum, blocking most of my right nasal passage (because of a bone spur) and a good portion of my left one. Most of my life, I struggled with nearly complete blockage at night, and that included the first few years of my CPAP treatment. I should note that my sleep apnea is caused by two factors: the classic OSA soft tissue collapse, and the nasal passage obstruction. The latter might be causing UARS, as well, as evidenced by zero obstructions during my last sleep study, but with plenty of central apneas.

Sleep problems are often complicated. Now, there are several things that helped me go from major misery - full congestions, all the time, inability to get any rest - to getting 6-7 hours of sleep and feeling refreshed. And I didn't have to get surgery. I should also note that I use nasal pillows as my pressures are rather high (the soft tissue in my larynx is really soft). Of all things I did, two are easy to do and I believe made all the difference.

One is regular nasal washes. As incredible this may seem to some, I believe this made the difference from runny nose / sore throat / fever episodes every few weeks, to none in the last 10 years since I've been doing it. I use Neil-Med but you can mix your own sodium chloride and bicarbonate, if you'd rather spend $0.002 a night than $0.03. I don't follow the procedure they suggest but instead use a 10cc syringe to run two full shots through each nostril every morning and evening and blow my nose after each one. This really seems to flush most bacteria and neutralize the rest as I haven't been sick in years, but, most importantly, it keeps my nasal linings from swelling.

The other factor, which works in concert with the first one, is a simple procedure that most good ENT can easily do in their office. I had one done 7 years ago, another two years ago, and I'm doing another one in a couple of weeks. Technology has advanced a lot in those short years and now it is as safe and painless as you would want it to be. I'm talking about turbinate reduction, which is nothing new but when done by an experienced ENT (mine also happens to be a fine face plastic surgeon), is as safe yet effective as you can imagine: you're in and out of the office in 30 minutes and you've already forgotten you had the procedure by the time the local anesthetic has worn out. Needless to mention, despite the surgeon's instructions, I was able to use my CPAP the night after the procedure.

Those two measures combined have made it so my nasal passages stay open enough through the night, despite my deviated septum, that I can breathe just fine with my CPAP. Before that, it was making it almost impossible to use the CPAP as I'd wake up with my nose completely blocked, the 20cm H2O of pressure not being able to pierce it. Now, I get <1.0 AHI (most of those being just false positives) and sleep through the night just fine.

McSleepy