RE: Eustaschian tube surgery for ear drainage
Sleeprider,
Thank you so much for the input. I did not get your response in time to ask my ENT about Inspire when I saw him today, but I will go by his office tomorrow and get a message to him to get his opinion of Inspire. I also think I will ask about an auto-PAP. Now I have a CPAP which is always blowing whether I need it or not at any given moment.
BTW, my ENT says he would totally trust the ear surgeon to be giving me the right advice and treatment. My ENT was not the doctor who referred me to the surgeon, but felt that this surgeon is the best ear specialist there is. That Dr is who my ENT refers patients. And, I am in luck - he is within a 3 hour drive.
RE: Eustaschian tube surgery for ear drainage
Sam, Inspire is a brand new therapy that provides an alternative to CPAP. One of the main causes of sleep apnea is that the tongue and throat muscles relax too much during sleep, often blocking breathing and waking patients up. ... The FDA approved the new Inspire technology from Minneapolis-based Inspire Medical Systems for patients with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. It is becoming available across the country now. Search for InspireSleep.
An Auto CPAP is a good idea, and I would suggest the Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset, because it uses an exhale pressure relief that might relieve your situation. I understand you have a great ear specialist, but you will be signing up for a lifetime of repeated surgery to replace the tubes, and the side-effects of this surgery are not well documented. I think you owe it to yourself to use that surgical option as a last resort, AFTER you have investigated less invasive and less permanent options. Inspire could work for you, as could a more modern CPAP or bilevel. Your M-Series machine is nearly 10 years old now, and should be replaced under insurance if you are not a candidate for the Inspire implant.
RE: Eustaschian tube surgery for ear drainage
I know the 'life time of repeated surgeries to replace the ear tubes.' I have had tubs in both ears for maybe twenty years now, and yep, my ears spit them out, even the "permanent" U-tubes, so I have had them replaced multiple times. I did read online about Inspire and am pretty interested in it. I have both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea where my brain forgets to tell me to breathe. Anyhow, tomorrow I will be contacting my ENT and have him check Inspire for me. I will even ask him to research Inspire to see if it can be coupled with an APAP if needed.
I think I will be calling a Dr who "Inspires" and find out about cost, effectiveness for ear drainage problems, and - Does Medicare cover it? I searched online and there is a Doctor here in Missouri who is Inspire qualified.
I am becoming progressive more as time goes by. I have no functional hearing in one ear and am losing hearing in the other ear. The ear surgeon felt like having the eustachian tubes closed would extend the time by years until I go completely deaf in my "good" ear - which, with any background noise, can only be brought up to 57% hearing with really good hearing aids.
I so hate the thought of going deaf and the doctor felt like I have to HAVE the CPAP but would be completely deaf within a year or so unless I have something done soon.
You give me a bit of hope with your suggestion to look into Inspire !
RE: Eustaschian tube surgery for ear drainage
(01-08-2018, 08:01 PM)Sam Wallis Wrote: I know the 'life time of repeated surgeries to replace the ear tubes.' I have had tubs in both ears for maybe twenty years now, and yep, my ears spit them out, even the "permanent" U-tubes, so I have had them replaced multiple times. I did read online about Inspire and am pretty interested in it. I have both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea where my brain forgets to tell me to breathe. Anyhow, tomorrow I will be contacting my ENT and have him check Inspire for me. I will even ask him to research Inspire to see if it can be coupled with an APAP if needed.
I think I will be calling a Dr who "Inspires" and find out about cost, effectiveness for ear drainage problems, and - Does Medicare cover it? I searched online and there is a Doctor here in Missouri who is Inspire qualified.
I am becoming progressive more as time goes by. I have no functional hearing in one ear and am losing hearing in the other ear. The ear surgeon felt like having the eustachian tubes closed would extend the time by years until I go completely deaf in my "good" ear - which, with any background noise, can only be brought up to 57% hearing with really good hearing aids.
I so hate the thought of going deaf and the doctor felt like I have to HAVE the CPAP but would be completely deaf within a year or so unless I have something done soon.
You give me a bit of hope with your suggestion to look into Inspire !
IF at all possible by all means get a 2nd independent opinion about the procedure the ENT surgeon wants to do for you. It may be harmless but until someone else tells you that, you don't know for sure. When it comes to my ears I am super, super leary about anyone doing anything to them. I am deaf in one ear and almost 60% lost in the remaining ear. I fight like heck to preserve the hearing I do have. I lost my hearing at a young age of 18 yrs old and I'm now 72. Please take care of yourself and make well informed decisions. You only have 2 ears, treasure them.
RE: Eustaschian tube surgery for ear drainage
Sleeprider -
The doctor says Inspire is contraindicated in my case. If you have inspire you are prohibited from getting MRI's and I have a nickle size tumor on the surface of my brain that they monitor with an MRI every 6 months to a year, and the dr feels that the MRI is very necessary. The tumor is benign, thank goodness, and has not caused me any problems so far, but they feell that they must keep a watch on it. They also want to be able to monitor the condition of my left mastoid with the MRI's and keep watch on a tiny tumor in that ear.
Thanks for your tip on Inspire, and it sounds like a winner for the ones who need it and can use it.
RE: Eustaschian tube surgery for ear drainage
That's why the doctors are in charge. I was not aware of your MRI monitoring, or of the restriction related to MRI for Inspire. Thanks for checking.
03-29-2018, 08:01 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-29-2018, 08:03 PM by Sam Wallis.
Edit Reason: spelling error
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RE: Eustaschian tube surgery for ear drainage
Sleeprider,
Remember me? You helped answer questions I had about ear surgery for drainage. Anyhow, didn't qualify for Inspire that you had me look into. I did get a new Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset that you recommended. Took them a couple of months to get the insurance all ironed out, but I picked it up today. I am anxious to use it. Now for the ear draining, I had the surgery on Feb 8th, and guess what, the ear is still draining. Grrrr. The surgeons PA tells me that it should not be draining and set me up an appointment to see the surgeon again to see if he has any recommendations. The PA thinks the problem may be a chronic condition in the mastoid that may require more surgery. Hope not.
I do appreciate your assistance, and am glad you steered me to the Airsense 10 Autoset.
Sam
RE: Eustaschian tube surgery for ear drainage
Great to hear from you again Sam! I learned a lot from this thread about things I know too little about. The fact Inspire precludes future CAT scans and other complications are noteworthy for anyone considering it. Sorry to hear the ear drainage continues to be a problem. You got the best machine, and hopefully will get good results and more comfort.
Keep in touch and post some data when you get going.
RE: Eustaschian tube surgery for ear drainage
first I assume that you don't have issues with your ear tubes clogging. If you do then closing the eustachian tubes would be very problematic. Do you have conventional tubes or" T" tubes? "T" tubes do not clog but require surgical removal and patching if they have to be removed which can result in scarring on the ear drum.
Do you home issues with tinnitus? That may play another factor in the decision.
RE: Eustaschian tube surgery for ear drainage
(03-30-2018, 11:38 AM)DoubtFire61 Wrote: first I assume that you don't have issues with your ear tubes clogging. If you do then closing the eustachian tubes would be very problematic. Do you have conventional tubes or" T" tubes? "T" tubes do not clog but require surgical removal and patching if they have to be removed which can result in scarring on the ear drum.
Do you home issues with tinnitus? That may play another factor in the decision.
I did have a regular T tube in the ear before surgery. The surgeon replaced it with a larger permanent tube. My regular ENT Nurse Practitioner had never before seen one like my new tube. She did tell me a regular tube is about the size of a pencil lead whereas the new tube is more akin to the size of a pencil so I don't think that booger is going to be able to clog.
I used to have tinnitus and but my hearing got so bad in that ear that I could no longer hear the tinnitus, and darn, I do miss it. I love to go camping and my tinnitus was a nice camping kind of sound that lulled me to sleep at night. It was like some cricket chirps, some peeper frog songs with a few distant cicadas humming away in the background. Sometimes there was a nice soft, gentle "plinky" kind of a sound like soft rain on a tin roof. Yep, I miss my tinnitus.
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