Posted by Whitty on April 28, 2008 at 18:42:55:In Reply to: To UPPP or not to UPPP... posted by shogun on April 28, 2008 at 16:34:22:
I registered here just to respond to your post.
We have strangely similar cases, my friend, except for the fact that I'm nine years older than you. But the mono, the weirdly large tonsils, the very well-trained ENT...even our height and weight -- a lot of similarities.
Except for one thing: I had the UPPP, along with nasal coblation, about five weeks ago. And I'd do it all over again in a second.
I had been using CPAP for about a year, and happily so. If your primary complaint was only OSA, I would say you would be crazy to consider UPPP as a first option. However, I continued to get tonsillitis -- usually viral, so no fever, but still painful, about once a month. As well, my indoor allergies complicated my use of the CPAP. Dust allergies made it difficult to use without Afrin -- which I have been scolded I should never use again (I guess that's another subject). But my big problem was that if my congestion became so bad that I couldn't use my CPAP, when I removed the mask, my own snoring would wake me up! So I just couldn't sleep.
My goals for the UPPP were as follows:
1. stop the dang recurring tonsillitis;
2. if I still need to use CPAP, then at least allow me to sleep with less snoring when my congestion gets in its way;
3. HOPEFULLY stop the OSA.Now, it's way too soon to say if I was successful on Goal 3. But I'll tell you what: about eight days after the surgery, I stopped using my CPAP, and I've been sleeping without snoring for the last three weeks or so. I also obviously have not had tonsillitis!
Still: get ready for pain. Worse than you've ever had (I've had shoulder surgery and back spasms after a car accident, so I know a bit about pain), persists for several days. I even coughed and split a stitch -- bled like crazy. My wife rushed me to the ER, I was admitted to the hospital for three days, they cauterized the wounds TWICE (horrible, horrible pain) and kept me on IV. As well, the stitches are still driving me crazy, the tongue and throat are still a little swollen and stiff, and I'm phlegmy still. But even with all this pain and extra complication, I'd still do it again. I'm getting better every day, I've been back at work -- productively -- for the last 2 weeks, I'm not snoring, and I'll never get tonsillitis again. The acute pain passes in less than a week; heck, before I had to get cauterized, it was already starting to wane after three days. Not much price to pay if it means fewer sore throats, less snoring, and the possibility for no/less severe OSA for the rest of my life. That's like 40 years of benefit for two weeks of a pretty crappy experience. Seems like a small price to pay to me...
If you agree that you should have the tonsillectomy, then I'd give some serious thought to your ENT's recommendation to just have the UPPP. It may not resolve the OSA, but at least you'll have tried (and besides, CPAP is not so bad). You'll be in terrible pain no matter which surgery you'll have (in fact, my stitch that burst was on a tonsil, not the uvula). I checked with my internist, a second ENT, and even my neurologist (my sleep disorders do not end with OSA), and they all agreed: I needed to have the tonsils out, and there was no real reason to keep the uvula. It's only been about 34 days, and I think they were right.
- Re: To UPPP or not to UPPP... shogun 07:20 4/29/08 (2)
- Re: To UPPP or not to UPPP... Whitty 18:30 5/06/08 (1)
- Re: To UPPP or not to UPPP... shogun 12:21 5/09/08 (0)
- Re: To UPPP or not to UPPP... Captin Cannuck 04:55 4/29/08 (0)