Hi,

Today, I had my first interview with an endocrinologist that specializes in obesity, diabetes, and lipid disorders.

As I suspected, he wants to start me on a diet and exercise program, and doesn't want to refer my to a bariatric surgeon.

His reason " You have sleep apnea, they can't put you to sleep for the surgery"

Is this true?

Thanks

Tyler

Run, run, run far and fast from this doc!!!

Fear not, of course they can put you to sleep. Many many of us have sleep apnea. If you use a CPAP, they'll usually ask you to bring it with you to the hospital or surgical center. The anesthesiologist will likely take a little extra caution with you with known sleep apnea, but I'm pretty sure they would assume most of us bariatric patients have it, diagnosed or not.

I have sleep apnea and have had 4 surgeries with no respiratory complications. The anesthesiology department is trained to handle sleep apnea patients. Is it possible your physician has other concerns about your health and ability to be a good candidate for surgery? Whatever the case, it can not hurt to seek a second opinion. Good Luck

wow, thanks for the prompt response.

I should add that I have a respirator disturbance index of 120. My CPAP pressure is 13-15 cm of Water.

And, recently I had a hernia repaired where the doctors used local anestetic instead of putting me to sleep ( on a side note: I think they made a mistake because I was able to watch a poorly placed TV monitor for the whole operation - yuck!)

Anyay, my next question would be: Have you heard of any extenuating circumstances where a Lap band surgeon would refuse to operate on someone with sleep apnea?

As I suspected, he wants to start me on a diet and exercise program, and doesn't want to refer my to a bariatric surgeon.

His reason " You have sleep apnea, they can't put you to sleep for the surgery"

Many people with Sleep Apnea have been banded. In fact, sleep apnea is one of the main co-morbidities that insurance companies use in the decision to approve your surgery.

Your doctor sounds like he's either lying to you, or just has zero understanding of surgery, assuming of course that there aren't more complications in your medical history than you've mentioned here.

If sleep apnea is really his only concern, you may want to find someone else who knows what they're talking about.

Update - oops, I see you already replied. I don't know anything more about sleep apnea than the co-morbidity thing I posted here, so I'll just back my hiney right out of this conversation... lol

Edited May 7, 200818 yr by SeattleSweetie

I will definitely follow up with my respiratory doctor to see if there are other complications, but I would guess that I was being fed a line for todays doctor.

In Calgary, healthcare paid bariatric surgery is funded for 25 surgeries per year, and there are about 800 people in line for it. Today's doctor may be trying to steer me in a different direction. However, I was only hoping to get the workshop seminars in Calgary, then I'm prepared to become a paying customer in another city.

Hi,

Today, I had my first interview with an endocrinologist that specializes in obesity, diabetes, and lipid disorders.

As I suspected, he wants to start me on a diet and exercise program, and doesn't want to refer my to a bariatric surgeon.

His reason " You have sleep apnea, they can't put you to sleep for the surgery"

Is this true?

Thanks

Tyler

This may seem harsh, but if you truly want my opinion? Dump this doctor IMMEDIATELY! He couldn't be more uninformed if he was from Mars!

One of the PRIMARY comorbidities that allows insurance companies to approve the lapband procedure is sleep apnea! I had VERY severe sleep apnea. My sleep study found that I was waking up 57-59 times per hour! I was prescribed a CPAP and went through three months of trying to adjust to it without success until I was changed to an autoset machine that automatically adjusted the air pressure to the resistance required. In fact, I was told by my lapband surgeon to bring my own machine to the hospital with me on the day of surgery so that I would have the correct machine. Because of the degree of my sleep apnea the anethesiologist had to insert the breathing tube while I was awake... but it was a small price to pay and I came through the surgery without a hitch.

Do yourself a huge favor and change to a primary care physician who will refer you (him or herself) to a bariatric surgeon OR will send you to an endocrinologist who knows what he or she is talking about and will make the referral.

Remember the old adage... "What do you call the medical student who places last in his class?" ... Answer? Doctor. You call him Doctor.

All my best to you in your Quest to get to the other side of lapband land. It's not perfect over here.... but it sure is a beautiful place to be!

I have moderate sleep apnea with a 9 setting and had my surgery done on 2/28 and my husband has severe sleep apnea. I'm not sure what his setting is, I just remember he was so bad when he was tested 7 years ago that they cut his session short because he scared them and they asked if he would be okay to drive home. He had his surgery for the lap band 3/6. They just made us stay overnight for observation and we had to bring our machines. I had to get tested and have sleep apnea to get the surgery done because I had no other comorbidities and had not been fat enough for long enough for my insurance company. I would get a second opinion from an actual bariatric surgeon, bring your history from you sleep apnea/respiratory doctors with you. Good luck.

Sorry about repeating in my post what several have said before me. For some reason, when I pulled up your original post there were no replies. Must have been a glitch.

I just wanted to let you know that I was prescribed a cpap pressure of 14... so it's definitely in line with your severity of sleep apnea.