Hello all,
I have been just diagnose with sever sleep apnea.  The Dr. said I stop breathing for 10 second or more 42 times and hour and 246 times in one night.  Is that bad?
It all started in June of 2004 I went to the emergency room with shortness of breath and chest pain.  The Dr. said I had and enlarge left side of heart, small airways disease, and pulmonary hypertension.  Now the good news is they think the pulmonary hypertension is apnea related.  This has been a long ride with all the different Doctors to get this far, and I am excited/hopeful that the Bipap will help allot.

The Bipap machine I have is the ResMed's VPAP III bilevel HumidAire 2i, my mask is the Mirage Swift with nasal pillows, are these good?
My setting are 14/8.

I have trouble sleeping on my sides now, please any help with be great.

Did anyone get the UPPP surgery? is it any good?

Quote:

The Bipap machine I have is the ResMed's VPAP III bilevel HumidAire 2i, my mask is the Mirage Swift with nasal pillows, are these good?

I'm not a doctor, but yes, that's excellent equipment.  You are lucky!    

I would stay as far away from UPPP surgery as you can.

Hey guys,
I also am newly diagnosed with Severe Sleep Apnea.  What is the UPPP Surgery and what is so wrong with (other than any surgery is not necessarily good)?

Rob


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Rob

Rob wrote:

Hey guys,
I also am newly diagnosed with Severe Sleep Apnea.  What is the UPPP Surgery and what is so wrong with (other than any surgery is not necessarily good)?

Rob

Quote:

Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) is a surgical procedure for the treatment of severe  Obstructive Sleep Apnea. In UPPP, soft tissue on the back of the throat and soft palate (the uvula) is removed. The tonsils and possibly other excess tissue may also be removed, if present. The procedure increases the width of the airway at the throat opening, improves the opening ability by interrupting muscular action, and “squares offâ€� the palate to enhance its movement and closure. UPPP does not address apnea or snoring caused by obstructions at the base of tongue.

Link to Article

The biggest problem is that it isn't very successful, and the second is that it is extremely painful, and the last is that you will more than likely end up on CPAP after and it makes CPAP more difficult to use.  

Lets put it this way, if there was a surgery that would solve sleep apnea, don't you think that everyone would have it done and avoid CPAP?  

We all would like a treatment that we could do once, and have it last forever, but currently it does not exist for the vast majority of people effected by Sleep Apnea.  CPAP currently is the gold standard for treatment.  There are some other treatments that work for some people, but generally do not solve the sleep apnea problem.  Personally I will be doing CPAP until a treatment as effective as CPAP comes about...

Mike,
I read the article last night and I have to admit until now I was not aware of the procedure.  Again, I'm new to all this and of course will discuss with my Doctor.  Thanks for the information.

Rob


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Rob

I recevied a phone call yesterday about my sleep study, yet they didn't really tell me alot. I'm to see the sleep study Dr. Sept. 26th but the nurse told me I woke up 37 times an hour and my oxygen level drops to 80 when I'm sleeping.  They want me to get a mask and have another study done Sept.2nd. Later that day a Home Healy Supply Company called me and wanted to know if I could travel to their store  to get fitted for the mask on Monday. They said they would come to my home if I would rather have them do that but by going to the store they could fit me alot better. I was sent for the sleep study because I was having alot of muscle and joint pain all over my body. The pain clinic that I was sent to by my FP  said they couldn't help me , that I needed to be seen my a rheumatologist . I was told I have fibromyalgia. I'm now being teated for that , Cymbalta 60 mg twice a day and Lidoderm pain patches. I also have acid reflex and take two Nexium a day and have COPD which I do home breathing treatments for 2-4 times a day plus use Servent. I had surgery twice lat year, first one they went through the throat to remove two disc in myneck and a spacer added . It didn't heall right so they had to go through the back of my neck to add more screws. They said I have degenerative disc disease and boney spurs.  My question is , is all this realted to sleep apnea or is it my other medical problems that is causing my sleep apnea?

Rob, you might want to go to this link, then scroll down near the bottom to go to interesting discussions about UPPP surgery - a surgery that I would not choose at all:

LINKS to surgery, turbinates, Pillar, TAP experiences

The neurologist that I visited does not believe in fibromyalgia.  He says that it is the illness du jour.  I have to admit that is what started me on this little journey.  I seriously thought that I had it.  I was so tired all the time that I could barely stand it.  My regular Dr believes that some people do have it.  I was not in HORRIBLE pain, but every day I had a pain somewhere.  What finally sent me was that I was walking along and my leg buckled, for about 24 hours this continued.  Then, it went away and a couple of days later, the other leg did it.  I was about nuts by then.  It like to have driven me crazy.  I still believe that people have fibromyalgia.  I may not, but I think that some do.

Hello Raintree!
I see your post kinda got lost in the heap there.  I guess the short answer would be that fibromyalgia, sleep apnea and reflux disease share some common ground, the other stuff is pretty independent.  All those things certainly disrupt sleep quality, and that may play into this.  Sleep apnea can make reflux disease worse, and vice versa.  The negative pressure from the apnea may draw gastric material up into the esophagus and create the irritation, and the gastric contents, if they hit the upper airway, create swelling and can worsen the obstructions.  And fibromyalgia symptoms can worsen with poor sleep.  I've seen numbers like 25-80% of fibromyalgia patients have sleep apnea.  And your next question is, "Great, if I fix one of them, will the others one go away?"  Maybe somewhat.  Start with the sleep apnea and do what you can to improve your overall sleep hygiene.  Use the AL Canada Workbook for good sleep tips:
http://www.lung.ca/sleepapnea/handbook/Sleep_Apnea_Action_Handbook.pdf
Good luck.
sleepydave