So I wanted to get some people's opinions on my situation..here it is....

They say I have sleep apnea lol I refuse to believe it. It's very minor is is caused by my weight. I have just recently developed it and even the pulmonologist said loose the weight and it will go away.

So I absolutely hate things on my face and WILL NOT use the cpap machine no matter what anyone says I will not use it. Plus I am just embarassed and will not let ANYONE see me with that horrid thing on. I got it through UPS the other day and it's still in its box, I have already addressed it to go back to where it came from. I intend to ship it back on the day of my surgery.

The only reason I got it in the first place is because my doctor requires you to use it for 3 weeks prior to surgery. I intend to keep it a seret that I am not using it.

So I guess my questions is.....did anyone else not use their machine prior to surgery or have a similar situation? I'd like comments to on what you think! Thanks!

I had no idea that I had sleep apnea until the doctor set me up for a sleep study as part of the pre operation work up. Although I have been putting on weight and was often tired, there were plenty of reason for it. My PCP always asks me how I'm sleeping and , to my knowledge, I was sleeping fine. although I didn't have as much energy I figured I was a) getting old, :crying: getting fat c) overworking. I too was surprised to find out that I had mild to moderate sleep apnea. I was given a machine and after 2 months, I don't know if I will EVER part with it. I feel unbelieveably better. I am energized, more active, and i'm dreaming for the first time in a long time. I was told to bring my CPAP to the hospital for the operation in no uncertain terms. I was told that if I did not have it with me, I would not have surgery that day and in fact, would be referred to another practise. I had no idea why they were so adamant. When I saw the sleep dr. I asked. He calmly explained to me that sleep apnea patients tend to crash more often than patients without sleep apnea. I asked what that meant and he , again calmly, explained that that meant stopped breathing. BTW, my pressure is set at 16 which is apparently fairly high. I do have a small mouth although there are plenty who would disagree with that and that is part of the problem.

Hey there, I've had my CPAP for 5 years (I got it when I was age 22).

Yes, it can be socially 'embarrassing' in the dating world, but it's definitely worth it. I had just started dating my boyfriend and didn't use it on the nights we stayed over together. This went on for about a month and I finally told him, and boy did he REAM me. He told me he had noticed I had some odd sleeping patterns, and some nights he would lay awake making sure I was okay. He made me feel completely at ease and was even upset that I didn't tell him I had sleep apnea.

Don't let your pride get the best of you on this one, I think it's imperative that you follow the doctors orders for all of your pre and post op steps. They wouldn't of had you take a sleep study and get you a CPAP if they didn't think it was necessary and it could help.

Good luck :crying:

Hey yall =)

I must have made my original post sound like I was hiding the fact that I was not using it from my doctors. However, that is far from the truth I flat out told him I was not going to use it. He said "of course you know I have to recommend that you do" and I told him I understood that. I told him I just wanted to go through the motions to be able to get the surgery.

You have to understand that I was COMPLETELY shocked by this diagnosis, I have no symptoms of Apnea, I just had to have the sleep study as part of the process my hospital requires. Also, my refuses to use the cpap is not out of defiance, it's the fact that I loose my mind when something comes in contact with me face. I was doing construction last summer and had to wear one of those white masks, within one minute my throat closed and I couldn't breathe I became nauses and had to take it off. I can't even sleep with the blankets near my face. All the time I'm in the car and if it even starts to get a tiny bit warm I start freaking out because I can't breathe and have to roll all the windows down lol. I know it sounds dramatic but that is exactly how it happens to me.

The night of the sleep study with the cpap I cried, literally balled myself to sleep and I had about 3 major anxiety attacks in the middle of the night ripping the thing off of my and throwing it across the room gasping for air. haha I really made that nurse work that night haha.

I can get over the embarasment of the mask.....but I don't know about the other part. I'm frazzled. :crying:

Hey there, I've had my CPAP for 5 years (I got it when I was age 22).

Yes, it can be socially 'embarrassing' in the dating world, but it's definitely worth it. I had just started dating my boyfriend and didn't use it on the nights we stayed over together. This went on for about a month and I finally told him, and boy did he REAM me. He told me he had noticed I had some odd sleeping patterns, and some nights he would lay awake making sure I was okay. He made me feel completely at ease and was even upset that I didn't tell him I had sleep apnea.

Don't let your pride get the best of you on this one, I think it's imperative that you follow the doctors orders for all of your pre and post op steps. They wouldn't of had you take a sleep study and get you a CPAP if they didn't think it was necessary and it could help.

Good luck :crying:

Hi There ! Thanks so much for sharing that! I am actually married..... and the thing is, is that I sleep on my side which the doctor said when I did that int he study I had no problems. The issue was with all those wires during the study I could not sleep on my side so I spent the night on my back (super uncomfty) but at home I sleep on my side. I might be able to suck up the pride part and just use it till my surgery but in all honesty I feel great all the time and still wouldnt use it after.

Hey yall =)

Also, my refuses to use the cpap is not out of defiance, it's the fact that I loose my mind when something comes in contact with me face. I was doing construction last summer and had to wear one of those white masks, within one minute my throat closed and I couldn't breathe I became nauses and had to take it off. I

I can get over the embarasment of the mask.....but I don't know about the other part. I'm frazzled. :crying:

I really hate to tell you this but you have a problem then. Because post op (in recovery) the odds are high you will be awake but have an oxygen mask on, and will really REALLY need to keep it on to help keep your oxygen sats up and clear your lungs of the anesthetic. You'd better talk to your surgeon about this before it happens and you have a bad incident in recovery. I don't know if they can keep you tranquilized or what; you may need some therapy before you can proceed. I don't mean to belittle you at all either; I am scared of spiders and wouldn't want one crawling on me for any reason, but fortunately tolerating spiders wasn't a condition of this surgery. Wearing a mask may be. Talk to your doc.

Well im not going to preach to you, i was diagnosed with Sleep apnea alittle over 2 years ago, and this was after about a year if getting more and more tired, no matter how much i slept. So after 2 years on the CPAP, i feel better than ever, and as much as i hate wearing the mask at night to sleep, its worth it because i feel so much better. I say you give it a shot for the 3 weeks, and see if you notice a differance, if you dont then dont continue to use it, but id atleast give it a chance.

HI Breane, I had a sleep study as part of the preop and was told I had mild sleep apnea. Then I went for another sleep study to be fitted for CPAP and lasted about 5 seconds with the mask before I started to feel panicky. I am claustrophobic. Then they tried another mask and I lasted about 10 minutes. It was pure hell. The sleep study was terminated. The pulmonologist then would not give me clearance for the surgery until I got the mouth plate which would have taken a long time to do, followed by another sleep study. I spoke to my Internal Medicine MD and to another pulmonologist who said insisting that I use CPAP was premature and that I should be re-evaluated after weight loss for the sleep apnea. So I saw another pulmonologist for a consult and I was cleared for surgery. I did have the pulmonologist see me in the hospital and I was fine. I used the incentive spirometer and my oxygen levels were fine. I didn't really have any symptoms of sleep apnea, yes I do take naps on the weekends and sometimes feel drowsy after lunch, but hey, I am a single mom to a 5 year old, working full time with a house and 2 dogs and come from a long family line of nappers. Some of the questions they ask to assess for sleep apnea leave no room for lifestyle issues.

So that is my sleep apnea/CPAP story. I am seeing the pulmonologist again in May for a follow up. Good Luck, I hope you are able to work things out.

Mary

well i took it out of the box haha i still dont know if i will use it but thats better then where i was haha

Plain, Where I agree with your statement about the shape and dimensions of one's upper airway, I don't think your assumptions about the prognosis for patients with apneas necessarily follows. There is evidence that significant and sustained weight loss results in the complete resolution of apneas in approximately 80% of the patients tested, when the patients achieved and maintained a healthy BMI. Even with the super-morbidly obese (SMO), as defined medically, a significant reduction in RDI, somewhere near 60% fewer disturbances has been documented. Furthermore, in the SMO, a 55% improvement in blood oxygen saturation was shown, though few of the patients in that range were able to stop the CPAP treatment altogether. I don't have the articles accessible at this moment, but if I get a chance I will come back and add the references so you can take a look. If you're like me, you probably love studying about your subject.

Harold, Uvuloplasty alone does not provide resolution of apnea/hypopnea for a significant number of patients. However, it can provide some relief from snoring. Most apnea patients suffer from airway restriction further down the throat than the uvulectomy is able to correct. I am glad your surgery worked for you, and I wish it were indicated for me, as well.

In reading the responses to these posts, I am somewhat concerned about some of the folks who responded. I mean this in the most sensitive way, but... I would think that going through this much work, it would follow that folks would want to be healthy. Why go through all of the trouble for a band if being healthy isn't the end result? I don't get that...For me, this is what it's all about. When I step on a scale, see the number that qualifies me as morbidly obese, I can't avoid the realization that being so puts me at risk for disease. That's what morbid means. I don't see why it has been so hard for me to come to grips with the fact that I might not actually be at risk, but, in fact, be sick already.

Don't get me wrong, I hate my CPAP. Hate it, but I hate being dead even more.

Hi, Everyone has such good points on sleep apnea. I was dx about 8 years ago with mild sleep apnea. I used a mouth brace for about a year with no noticeable improvement. That brace was torture!! I then opted for surgery - tonsillectomy, throat reconstruction, and deviated septum repair. I still had mild sleep apnea. I did not want to use CPAP but I still had to. Have been using it for 5 years. I just had my 5th sleep study and I can now lower my pressure from 9 to 7. ( That is a low setting.) My pulmonologist thinks I may be able to discontinue its use as more weight comes off. Yeah!

I always feel better when I use it but I still have other sleep issues (insomnia) but that is another post.

I did not want to use the machine either but I did it and I honestly feel better when I do. It may save your life.

Hi, Everyone has such good points on sleep apnea. I was dx about 8 years ago with mild sleep apnea. I used a mouth brace for about a year with no noticeable improvement. That brace was torture!! I then opted for surgery - tonsillectomy, throat reconstruction, and deviated septum repair. I still had mild sleep apnea. I did not want to use CPAP but I still had to. Have been using it for 5 years. I just had my 5th sleep study and I can now lower my pressure from 9 to 7. ( That is a low setting.) My pulmonologist thinks I may be able to discontinue its use as more weight comes off. Yeah!

I always feel better when I use it but I still have other sleep issues (insomnia) but that is another post.

I did not want to use the machine either but I did it and I honestly feel better when I do. It may save your life.

Your story and mine are exactly the same. However they told me when I got my sleep study that the apnea is worse on my back. I'm also a side-sleeper so I'm going to just deal with it. The lady at the clinic said that losing weight would help. Oh really!? Who would have guessed that right? My husband has the cpap and loves it. It's just not for me.

I've used my Bipap machine and mask since March, 2004. Mine's a bipap because I have to bleed 3 liters of oxygen all night into my hose/mask. I had undiagnosed sleep apnea which led to secondary pulmonary hypertension of the lungs, enlarged right side heart and congestive heart failure. If you do not lose the weight and you refuse to use a machine, you have a bleak outlook ahead. Sleep apnea will getcha when you're not looking! Once you conquer the mask and learn to use it, it's almost difficult to sleep without it. I guess my question for you is...why have surgery, there's bound to be things about it once it's done that you don't wish to 'do'. If you really desire a change in your life, start working with the doctor now. Remember also, future meds have to be dissolved in water or come in liquid forms and they TASTE NASTY! But, I take the required stuff daily to avoid any problems down the road. Take it out of the box and try it...it's life changing and it will aide your efforts in weight loss. Good luck!

Remember also, future meds have to be dissolved in Water or come in liquid forms and they TASTE NASTY!

Respectfully not true for everyone. I have yet to dissolve a single pill and I have pretty good restriction (in fact going for a slight unfill next thurs). I take HUGE pills just fine. But some do need to dissolve them, not sure why....guess it's a difference in personalities, swallow strength, docs, and esophageal force and structure.

My hubby had the surgery a few years ago. He went into it knowing that there was a 50/50 chance of it helping his sleep apnea, unfortunately he was on the wrong 50%. He still snores horribly just different sounds. He has a CPAP and wears the full face mask.

I had my sleep study in Dec 2007 because I complained of restless legs and my pcm ordered it. I had no daytime sleepiness or other signs of apnea but came away from that experience being told I don't have restless legs (just because I didn't have an episode that night) and that I had to use a cpap. The sleep study was never explained to me. I also have to have supplemental oxygen with it because my oxygen level dips too low when I fall asleep.

I tried to wear it and had built up to keeping it on a few hours a night then quit using it. I had gotten a copy of my sleep study when putting together my packet for the insurance approval. There was a note from the dr that reviewed it and from what I can figure out is that I have a very mild case and mostly need the oxygen, he wrote a note that if CPAP wasn't tolerated that I just need the oxygen and then what pissed me off was that he wrote there was no evidence of restless legs but that I could still need treatment for daytime RLS. My PCM told me none of this. I went into denial about the CPAP and didn't wear it for months.

I got really sick with my asthma in Feb. My oxygen level was so low. My allergist really read me the riot act for not using the cpap w/oxygen. I got a nasal canula from the med. supply company and tried to use the cpap again but was having trouble tolerating it. I was able to sleep with the canula and get the oxygen I need. I am using an autopap right now for 2 weeks to see what levels I need so they can adjust my cpap, I think maybe it's too strong and that's why i can't wear it. I've been doing pretty good with the autopap. I hate to admit it but I can tell a difference when I sleep with the oxygen. It does take some getting used to and I made little fleece covers for the straps that go across my checks. I would still like to have my sleep study explained but I don't think my PCM has a clue. My allergist said that I should do another sleep study after I lose more weight to see if I still need the cpap or just the oxygen. They seem to think that our altitude here complicates things as well. Hopefully when I move back to TX in a couple of years it won't be such an issue.