Ok, so my surgeon is sending me for a sleep apnea evaluation tomorrow. His assistant said this is standard practice on all pre-op lap band patients. Does anyone know why?

Thanks.

Hi Susan,

For the preliminary sleep apnea evaluation, you fill out a questionnaire that asks if you smoke, if you snore, size of neck in inches, whether or not you fall asleep during the day, whether or not you are tired all the time, etc. These answers are added up to determine if a sleep study is needed.

During a sleep study you go to a hospital or sleep center and they attach electrodes and watch you sleep for a night. People who have sleep apnea have periods of time (>20 seconds per episode) where they stop breathing. Often, this "jerks" the body into consciousness and results in what is called a poor sleep-wake pattern. Because sleep apnea people never get a "solid" few hours of sleep, they are frequently tired.

During the period of apnea, oxygen saturation levels fall (they measure this by slipping a little sleeve over one finger. The treatment is a C-PAP mask which stands for continuous positive airway pressure. At bedtime, A mask is placed over the nose, mouth or both and the tubing is connected to a machine. A positive flow of air or air and oxygen is delivered to keep the airway open and oxygen saturation levels normal resulting is a good night's rest with no apnea.

Is that too technical? I am an RN and sometimes go overboard. LOL. It's a routine part of a pulmonary consult and MD's use a positive sleep apnea evaluation as a co-morbidity for insurance purposes. Any good anesthesiologist will insist on an evalution for WLS.

Thank you so much for the reply. It very clearly explained what they are doing. I appreciate it.

HERE'S the REAL dope on a sleep study...

--yeah, you probably will fall asleep, and

--no, that stuff will NEVER come out of your hair

Hey! I've done a couple and they are irritating, but so are my upstairs neighbors. Can't do much about either one!

There are some pulmonolgists who will insist that you have a pulmonologist involved--and that you wear a CPAP or Bi-PAP machine to cut down on the number of times you stop breathing--while you are in the hospital, until all the sedatives are out of your system.

BTW, I was absolutely sure that I DID NOT have sleep apnea. The highest setting on the machine I ended up with was 20...I needed a setting of 18...so I had pretty severe sleep apnea. So much for knowing your body!

Sue

I didn't know much about sleep apnea, and I never would have thought I had sleeping problems, but it seems like I might with all the symptoms I have heard about. My doctor didn't order a test, but the dietitian suggested I get one. I'm nervous though because I'm self pay and it seems like that kind of test could be expensive!

Most insurance companies will cover a sleep study and the machine. If you have to pay for it yourself it is a bit pricey, but not nearly as much as the lap-band surgery. I wish I could remember how much it cost for you, but there are different ones, there is one that they do in your home that is much cheaper. I would suggest researching different testing places.

Well, I live in Portugal so I'm sure the pricing is different. I think I'm ok for now, if after I lose weight with the band I'm still having trouble sleeping then maybe I'll look into it, but I didn't start having these problems until recently, and I think its probably more due to stress, or job related then any thing else. Thanks for the input though!

I had an abnormal EKG months before my surgery and so my cardiologist checked me out :kiss2: Nah, not like that, but he said my heart is strong and healthy and asked (because I'm obese) if I snore and am tired the next day. I said yes to both questions. So he sent me for a sleep study. Concurently with this stuff, I was getting approved by my insurance for lap-band and so my surgeon said to for sure do the sleep study, plus I feel so much better with the CPAP. Lots better! One day my Bobbie Beans, our youngest pug, came running down the hall with my mask and hose :uwelcome: so I had to have it replaced. The one night I went w/o it I could totally tell a difference!

I had to go and sleep there twice. They did let me take Ambien. It was quite relaxing actually, I didnt want to go home in the morning!

Kelli

Kat,

Since you are self-pay don't worry too much about it. On average, even a 40 pound weight loss cures sleep apnea in 90% of cases (or so I have read) since the apnea is generally a result of having extra weight and tissue obstructing your air flow. Long term, OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) puts a strain on your heart, but is just generally a nuisance for both you and your sleeping partner.

I have the diagnosis, but HATED the mask. Glad the ins. covered it. I was collecting comorbidities for ins. but ended up self-pay. If you aren't needing to build a case for insurance, skip it. Why buy a mask and machine you'll probably only use for a year...max.