Hello Guest, Welcome to Apnea Board !
As a guest, you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use.
To post a message, you must create a free account using a valid email address.

or Create an Account


New Posts   Today's Posts

Sleep Apnea Surgery?
#1
Sleep Apnea Surgery?
Hello!

This is my first time on this board. My father has sleep apnea. His first language is Punjabi, and he is not well-versed with using computers, let alone an online discussion board. I am here to learn more so I can help him.

Question - does the sleep apnea surgery help? Is it effective? Is it worth pursuing and learning more about?

Please advise. Thank you

Andee Kumar
Post Reply Post Reply
#2
RE: Sleep Apnea Surgery?
I had 'modified UPPP', I was able to use much lower pressures on my cpap after doing it.

There are other types of surgeries that are offered to sleep apnea patients. Turbinate reduction, correcting deviated septum, suspending hyoid bone and also implants like the Inspire2 that work for soft tissues and the tongue.
Post Reply Post Reply
#3
RE: Sleep Apnea Surgery?
Surgical procedures vary and can be very painful through the recovery period and surgery can have a number of common complications. The efficacy of surgery in resolving sleep apnea is poor, and most surgery patients must continue to use CPAP.

In general, the first attempt at resolving sleep disordered breathing should be with CPAP. It appears your father is using a Resmed Airsense 10 however we do not know the model. On the front-right of the machine is the model, CPAP, Elite or Autoset. Please let us know what you are using. If pressure is 5.0, that is very low pressure and may not be effective in resolving obstructive apnea. What can you tell us about your father's CPAP experience, and why are you inquiring about surgery?
Sleeprider
Apnea Board Moderator
www.ApneaBoard.com

____________________________________________
Download OSCAR Software
Soft Cervical Collar
Optimizing Therapy
Organize your OSCAR Charts
Attaching Files
Mask Primer
How To Deal With Equipment Supplier


INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
Post Reply Post Reply
#4
RE: Sleep Apnea Surgery?
AirSense 10 Autoset. If 5.0 is too low, what pressure do you recommend? My father has been using the machine for about 2 months now. We are very new to the process. He did not get a proper fitting nor visit a pulmonologist. He was diagnosed at the beginning of COVID which has made professional visits a bit tricky. I am learning treatment by watching Youtube videos and reading/inquiring on this forum.

I ask about surgery because I would be willing to pay for the best procedure if it meant he would be able to sleep without the machine.

Thoughts?

Thank you for reaching out and providing insight (:
Post Reply Post Reply
#5
RE: Sleep Apnea Surgery?
Welcome to Apnea Board. I'm in agreement with what's been said. Unfortunate, but surgeries typically are not successful enough to eliminate a CPAP machine. If at all possible, are you able to get the free OSCAR program and install it onto your PC? We can help a lot better at making the therapy work better and much more comfortably with the info OSCAR will give us.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
Post Reply Post Reply
#6
RE: Sleep Apnea Surgery?
I think we need to know a lot more before we can be second-guessing what may be a valid requirement for surgical correction.  I won't argue that surgery is often indicated, or that it has even a 50/50 chance of being successful in any one case.  But, if all that's wrong is a seriously deviated septum........................................................................................................  can that not be corrected relatively easily, if leaving a lot of discomfort for about two or three weeks?

I would like to agree with everything suggested about surgery's efficacy remediating obstructive apnea, but I don't know enough about the patient, so I'm going to encourage our asker to share more definitive information if he/she is willing and has consent to do so.

About the pressures: the lowest two discrete settings on most machines should only be available for pressure relief....comfort on exhalation.  For most wearers, a low initial setting of 6 is almost always greatly appreciated and less stressful, especially for novices struggling to come to terms with their diagnosis and their new treatment.  So, to our OP, please do heed the advice to consider raising his pressures somewhat, and we need some data about how he responds....do his nightly AHI indices reflect successful treatment with a reported AHI under 5?
Post Reply Post Reply
#7
RE: Sleep Apnea Surgery?
Andee , your father is using a really amazing machine. The Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset is the auto CPAP we recommend above all others. It is capable of auto-pressure changes and can even provide bilevel pressure providing separate inhale and exhale pressures. To know what your father needs, we need data. There is a SD card slot behind the door in the left side of the machine. Please check if there is a card there and if so, download the free OSCAR software at the link at the top of this forum and provide us with some data. The tutorial for organizing charts and attaching images are links in my signature. With this information, we can ensure he is getting the therapy he needs at the most comfortable settings possible.

I want you to change his pressure settings from the fixed pressure at 5.0, to the auto CPAP mode at a wider range. The Autoset is very good at preventing sleep apnea in Autoset mode. Here is a tutorial on how to make setting changes. https://www.apneaboard.com/resmed-airsen...setup-info You should make the following setting changes:
Mode: Autoset
Minimum Pressure: 6.0
Maximum Pressure: 10.0
EPR: On full time
EPR settings: 1

This will make his starting inhale pressure only 6.0 inhale and 5.0 exhale (6.0/5.0) and will allow pressure to rise to 10.0/9.0 if needed. Once we see data, we will refine these pressures. A fixed pressure of 5.0 is unusually low, and not typical for obstructive sleep apnea. I really want to help, but we need to see what is going on to do more than guess.
Sleeprider
Apnea Board Moderator
www.ApneaBoard.com

____________________________________________
Download OSCAR Software
Soft Cervical Collar
Optimizing Therapy
Organize your OSCAR Charts
Attaching Files
Mask Primer
How To Deal With Equipment Supplier


INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
Post Reply Post Reply
#8
RE: Sleep Apnea Surgery?
Sleep apnea surgery is a mixed bag - sleep apnea is known to be quite stubborn. Theres a lot of mistrust in the sleep apnea community in general about surgery as a lot of past surgeries like UPPP would sometimes leave patients in a worse place than they started. I recently received a relatively new procedure developed at Stanford that helped me a lot called EASE that widens the nasal cavity and its really made my nasal breathing a lot easier. Its no cure, but it can reduce AHI by almost 60% in severe patients and isn't painful. Traditionally people get things like turbinate reductions, septoplasties (those these are known to be not so helpful), adenoidectomies, tonsillectomies, etc. The best surgery for sleep apnea is maxillomandibular advancement, and it has something like a 90% cure rate. It is however very invasive and has a long recovery period.
Post Reply Post Reply
#9
RE: Sleep Apnea Surgery?
Sleeping with the machine is really not bad. After a while it becomes a habit, like brushing your teeth or taking a shower. One stops thinking about it and just puts the mask on each night.

If you can, help your father to accept the machine, it is currently considered the gold standard of treatment for sleep apnea. Once he gets his treatment tuned by the forum members here he may not want surgery and the problems associated with it.

IIRC not all causes of sleep apnea can be corrected by surgery and those that can be corrected are not guaranteed to last very long or to make things worse. No need to rush into surgery.
Sleep-well
Post Reply Post Reply
#10
RE: Sleep Apnea Surgery?
I downloaded OSCAR and inputed data using an SD card. How do I share the data on this board? Is there a "Save as PDF" option? Please advise. Thank you so much for all your help Smile
Post Reply Post Reply


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Apnea has gotten worse recently, I have no sleep study, can I just buy a cpcp? replayablecontent 12 216 Yesterday, 12:38 PM
Last Post: replayablecontent
  Collars for positional sleep apnea Jimasripper 17 347 03-25-2024, 10:05 PM
Last Post: Deborah K.
  Invisalign to help sleep apnea and dental extractions as a cause of sleep apnea SingleH 10 608 03-24-2024, 07:00 PM
Last Post: stevew168
  Sleep Apnea or Something Else? RoughriderTR 6 286 03-23-2024, 04:43 PM
Last Post: ButtonNoseBarbie
  Obstructive Sleep Apnea After Stroke Help MB123 1 74 03-23-2024, 01:08 PM
Last Post: Dormeo
  Dental appliance for sleep apnea???? mrpat 4 123 03-23-2024, 08:54 AM
Last Post: mrpat
  [Treatment] Johnny O's ResMed AirCurve 10 VAuto for severe sleep apnea (61 AHI) and OSA, CSA JohnnyO 23 549 03-21-2024, 05:02 PM
Last Post: JohnnyO


New Posts   Today's Posts


About Apnea Board

Apnea Board is an educational web site designed to empower Sleep Apnea patients.