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Re: UPPP (surgery) for sleep apnes

Posted by Robert Lange on May 16, 1998 at 07:11:16:

In Reply to: UPPP (surgery) for sleep apnes posted by Kathy Lorentz on May 12, 1998 at 05:18:28:

When I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea I did alot of research and got very mixed reactions. Almost everything from online was negative, low success rates, very painful, etc. However, everyone I talked to who had the surgery reported great success.

Given that I didn't have any choice (CPAP failure and 78 episodes/hour) I opted to go ahead with the surgery. My insurance company (Aetna) covered the entire treatment without any problem.

My surgery was on April 13th and the family isn't used the silence at night. I had the whole works, tonsils, adenoids, Uvula & soft palette as well as fixing a deviated septum.

I would say that the experience was more 'uncomfortable' than 'painful'. The mouth is sore, swalling is quite difficult for the first week, and after that you basically have to re-learn how to swallow so food doesn't go up your nasel passage. Pronunciation of some sounds is a little adjustment as well, but people claimed that they didn't notice anything.
My biggest problem at this point is that I'm not used to getting to the dream stage and my dreams are waking me up at night, which is really annoying. But when I'm asleep, its a great sleep.

From my experience I would say it definately is worthwhile. I think it depends on what is causing your apnea. If it is the toungue pushed back by your jaw, I don't think the UPPP will help, but if its the tissues I mentioned above, the success rate by a good surgeon (mine has been doing this for 15 years), is probably pretty good based on the face-to-face discussions I have had with people who have had the surgery.

Good luck.

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