Apnea cure?
I recently had sinus surgery to open up my sinuses to allow better draining and to resolve persistent sinus infections. During the 3 week recovery, my surgeon would not permit the use of my APAP machine. Surprisingly, I slept well, had no noticeable loss of energy, no sleepiness, and my wife reported less "noise" coming from my breathing compared to when I was using the machine. My question is, if this surgery had some positive effects regarding my apnea, how can I tell - other than subjective evidence on how I feel after sleeping without the machine. Other than how I feel, is an expensive sleep study the only way to determine whether I need to continue my therapy.
RE: Apnea cure?
You can tell using your machine. Use it a week at its current settings to see if the data is the same as before.
Then turn it down to, say, 6 and use it a few nights. See what happens.
But keep in mind, sleep apnea does not happen in the sinuses. It happens in the throat. So unless your throat was swelling along with the sinus areas, I sincerely doubt it "cured" your sleep apnea. What you may be feeling is your nasal passages are open now and you are able to breathe better. But your throat may still be closing.
PaulaO
Take a deep breath and count to zen.
RE: Apnea cure?
Hi Bob Difley,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Good luck to you and hang in there for more answers to your question.
trish6hundred
RE: Apnea cure?
Back in the early 90's I was diagnosed with a 'sleep disorder'. At that time that's what they called it. I had brought in a video tape to an ear, nose, and throat specialist and it showed me trying to suck in air all the time. A sleep study revealed not breathing 20 seconds out of each minute... all night. I had all those severe symptoms of sleep apnea, couldn't stay awake driving for 20 minutes. Falling asleep in the shower in the morning.. etc.., many other things. I had it really bad. At that time they recommended surgery. No mention of a cpap machine. 1985-90 was when they were first being tested so pretty new stuff, particularly here in Maine.
The surgery removed and smoothed out the back of my throat ( I had abscesses from tonsil infections from my teens) Removed my uvula (thing hanging down in your throat) and repaired a deviated septum in my nose. I noticed a 100% difference the very next morning. I thought I was cured.
This year I got a cpap machine, years later from the surgery, as my wife has always told me I still have periods of non breathing and breaking through. So, I got an apap machine. My initial settings showed my AHI ranged from 15-19 episodes/min. After tweaking it for a few days I've got it down to 0.50-2.50 most nights. I've noticed much more energy and less 'old man' falling asleep with the tv at night.
So I figure before my surgery my AHI was probably pushing 60. The surgery brought it down to under 20 and the apap machine down under 5.
So, in my experience, surgery made a big difference but the apap machine had to finish the job.
Your cpap machine can be sort of a sleep study. What's the before and after surgery numbers?
Please keep in mind that I'm a student of apnea but only a recent user of a machine.
RE: Apnea cure?
Hi Bob, I would use your machine and see what pressure it gets up to, if your airway stays open I would slowly reduce the low pressure just to see how low you get before the machine kicks in. If it very rarely does then you ma not need it, however, it is the airway at the back of the throat we are talking about closing.
I would do what Paula02 says, use it and every week reduce the low pressure.
Your machine also stores data, so if you use Sleepyhead you will know how you are getting on.
Post your data and let the guys here see how you are doing.
I am NOT a doctor. I try to help, but do not take what I say as medical advice.
Every journey, however large or small starts with the first step.
RE: Apnea cure?
Thanks for the help. I will try your suggestion once my surgeon says it is OK to start using the machine again.
