Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread

My name is Mert, and today is 3 weeks post-op for tonsillectomy, reshaping the soft palette, fixing a deviated septum and reducing the turbinate glands in my sinuses. In my sleep study I was found to have 124 apnea events per hour, so my breathing interrupted twice a minute, and my oxygen was down at about 82. I am quite claustrophobic, so pretty much couldn't sleep in any mask...and the cpap had to be turned up so high I panicked because I felt I couldn't exhale, so that led to surgery. Well, that and the fact that my tonsils were 3 and 4 times larger than normal.

As of right now, only three weeks in and still not fully recovered from surgery, I am not snoring, my sinuses are clear and I am actually dreaming again (I couldn't remember the last dream I had before surgery). I would say that the first two weeks were the most miserable thing in my entire life, and I have a history of kidney stones, so I know a little something about being miserable. If you can live with the cpap, do so, cause tonsillectomy and the soft palette reshaping is about the worst thing an adult can go through and not be life threatening, imho.

I am looking forward to this weekend, my first cigar in about 4 weeks!

[BigCat]

Originally Posted by LordOfWu

My name is Mert, and today is 3 weeks post-op for tonsillectomy, reshaping the soft palette, fixing a deviated septum and reducing the turbinate glands in my sinuses. In my sleep study I was found to have 124 apnea events per hour, so my breathing interrupted twice a minute, and my oxygen was down at about 82. I am quite claustrophobic, so pretty much couldn't sleep in any mask...and the cpap had to be turned up so high I panicked because I felt I couldn't exhale, so that led to surgery. Well, that and the fact that my tonsils were 3 and 4 times larger than normal.

As of right now, only three weeks in and still not fully recovered from surgery, I am not snoring, my sinuses are clear and I am actually dreaming again (I couldn't remember the last dream I had before surgery). I would say that the first two weeks were the most miserable thing in my entire life, and I have a history of kidney stones, so I know a little something about being miserable. If you can live with the cpap, do so, cause tonsillectomy and the soft palette reshaping is about the worst thing an adult can go through and not be life threatening, imho.

I am looking forward to this weekend, my first cigar in about 4 weeks!

Thanks for that story, it is interesting to hear about the other types of treatment available. I weighed the possibility of having the procedure you did, but chickened out after reading stories about how bad it was and how there was no guarantee that it would work completely. Sounds like the pain part of those stories was accurate. Of course, my biggest worry popped up when I read some people complaining of loss of taste due to the clamp they use to hold your tounge down. I couldn't bear the thought of not enjoying my cigars anymore, so CPAP for me! I wish you luck in your recovery. I'd love to hear updates as you progress.

Originally Posted by BigCat

Thanks for that story, it is interesting to hear about the other types of treatment available. I weighed the possibility of having the procedure you did, but chickened out after reading stories about how bad it was and how there was no guarantee that it would work completely. Sounds like the pain part of those stories was accurate. Of course, my biggest worry popped up when I read some people complaining of loss of taste due to the clamp they use to hold your tounge down. I couldn't bear the thought of not enjoying my cigars anymore, so CPAP for me! I wish you luck in your recovery. I'd love to hear updates as you progress.

I haven't noticed a loss of taste, but I didn't have the most refined palette before the surgery either! The pain thing...yep, absolutely as bad as they say...I've had a 7mm kidney stone, and this was pretty much dead even with that! Bottom line is, you gotta do something about it if you have it. Good for you that the CPAP worked, that's clearly the better option!

[BigCat]

Originally Posted by LordOfWu

I haven't noticed a loss of taste, but I didn't have the most refined palette before the surgery either! The pain thing...yep, absolutely as bad as they say...I've had a 7mm kidney stone, and this was pretty much dead even with that! Bottom line is, you gotta do something about it if you have it. Good for you that the CPAP worked, that's clearly the better option!

Well if you are cured and don't have to use CPAP, that is definitely a better option. I'm used to the CPAP now and it helps a lot, but it definitely makes it tough to sleep close to my wife, who is bothered by the exhaust air. It is a little bit of a downside. As you said though, we gotta do something about it.

Enjoy that first cigar!