Posted by NoDozer on September 10, 2008 at 12:53:03:Hello!
Well, I have had a mildly bumpy ride, but maybe not that unusual compared to others. I am almost 3 months out from my June 16th MMA and things have improved, but I still have some issues. Right now I am still having some sleep issues, but I am not certain if they are apnea related or if I am having withdrawal symptoms from being on temazapam (a benzoprine) for about 8 months. I looked up some of the side effects from long term use and the symptoms fit either the medication or sleep apnea. Basically what is happening is I am having sleep starts or maybe some periodic limb movement. That's not an official diagnosis, but I did videotape myself sleeping one night to see what what happening. I only had one rousing that might have looked like apnea, but it was a stretch to make that fit. I seemed to breath just fine on my back or side though I do still snore a little. So, that prompted me to look at other possibilities and that's when I found that long term use of benzoprines can give you some very nasty withdrawal symptoms. I was never really advised about the possible side effects by the original pulmonologist, but the surgeon at Mayo Clinic told me not to stop use abruptly. Well, that's exactly what I did (or tried to do). He didn't realize that I was taking the drug every night up to my surgery or he would have caught that earlier.
The biggest problem I was having was that I would wake up with a jump or jerk and I was afraid that it was apnea, which would be a little depressing after having this major surgery and seeing such dramatic results via the x-ray. So, right now, I am taking the drugs again and sleep is a little better, but I still have the daytime problems that this drug can cause. I have an appointment to see the sleep doc at Mayo to figure out a new course of action to get me off the meds. I won't be having a sleep study for another 3 months, so I can only guess as to my sleep disturbances at this point. The most important thing for me right now is that I'm not on CPAP. I took the machine back and I don't ever want to see it again. If I still have some apnea, I still have the option of the GA or maybe some radio frequency ablation or tongue base reduction. The "episodes" I am having don't have quite the same intensity that my pre surgery apneas had, but I can't rule out the possibilty at this point. My wife hasn't heard me stop breathing at all and I was sleeping very soundly on my back with normal breathing. I could see and hear that on the video I took, so that is a very good sign. I am trying to stay positive about the cause of my sleep issues being something other than apnea and most of the evidence does seem to point away from OSA, but until I have a "professional" sleep study done again, I won't know for sure.
I am getting a lot of feeling back and the surgeon expects me to get near 100% back over time. The funny break I had on my right side is healing perfecty, so I am having a great physical recovery and don't have any unacceptable side effects from the surgery. It's harder for me to swallow some things now, but I'm getting used to that pretty quickly. I am able to eat almost anything I want at this point if I can fit it into my mouth. I still can't open wide enough for a big hamburger, but I can chew some pretty tough foods already. I'll be more detailed in my blog when I get that updated, but I am happy with where I'm at right now. I just want to get to that next step and get some better sleep.
- Re: 3 month (almost) update sturmer 13:30 9/10/08 (2)
- Re: 3 month (almost) update westernjoe 14:51 9/10/08 (1)
- Re: 3 month (almost) update NoDozer 15:35 9/10/08 (0)