great results with UPPP
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great results with UPPP

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Posted by Whitty on November 24, 2008 at 09:53:12:

I know that this forum tends to have a lot of members who are hesitant about UPPP. However, I would like to give a follow up to my UPPP with some very meaningful outcomes.

First, let me say that if you have been recently diagnosed and you haven’t given CPAP or BiPAP a serious try – as in, a few months, a few different masks – then you must. I actually didn’t mind my PAP machine nearly as much as I thought I would, and certainly slept MUCH better with it than I had before. My big problem came toward the fall, when my allergies got worse. Then my congestion got so bad that the only way to use the CPAP was to use Afrin…and apparently that’s very bad for your nose. But when I tried to sleep without the CPAP, I couldn’t – I had grown so used to the CPAP that my own snoring would wake me up. So I was in a bind.

Secondly, I still had my tonsils; they were gigantic (most doctors told me they were the largest they’d ever seen) and often infected (at least once a year). Very often, I had wished I had had them taken out when I was a child, when I had my adenoids out. So in many ways, in considering the UPPP, I really didn’t have surgery or no surgery as options. My options were tonsillectomy or UPPP, and I just thought: well, will I miss my uvula that much? I had heard that there was some chance that it might affect the way I talk, but I was willing to try it. My uvula was very long and very fibrous, it seemed, so it made sense to me that it might be contributing to blockages in my throat while I slept.

So I had the UPPP, along with a nasal widening procedure called SMR of the inferior turbinates, and going back to my point that you should never choose UPPP as your first treatment, let me tell you: it was painful. I lost twelve pounds from not being able to eat (sadly, I’ve gained most of it back). I even had to return to the hospital for four days because of bleeding; I cleared my throat and apparently popped some stitches at the tonsil site. They had to cauterize me twice – and that’s a terrible, terrible experience. But even with all the pain and bleeding, I would absolutely have made the same decision.

Here’s why: my apnea-hypopnea index went from 37 to 9! Within ten days of the surgery, I was already sleeping (still in a recliner, where I slept for three weeks after the surgery – oh, and if you have it, be sure to have a good humidifier) without CPAP and without snoring, so I thought that was a good sign. But I waited six months for the follow up sleep study (during which time I had already gained back the weight, so the results could not be due to weight loss). I was nervous, because I know that UPPP is not guaranteed to make a difference. But with me, it worked fantastically – taking me from severe to mild at most. I’ve agreed to my doctor’s request to lose about 15 pounds, and we think that should take care of the rest. As for side effects, it took only a few days for me to be able to talk again reasonably well, but it did take a couple of months before I could talk like I had before, without slurring a few words. Other than that…I’m fine. In fact, I’ve had some positive side effects. For example, I’ve had a couple of colds since the surgery (my 4-month old doesn’t cover his mouth when he coughs!), and I have nowhere near the severity of throat pain I used to have. Also, it’s easier to cough up phlegm. Never thought I’d list that as a benefit, but it is…

I’m not saying everyone will have the same outcome. However, these patient message boards can seem so opposed to surgery that it might make you nervous if your doctor has recommended UPPP. If your doctor has recommended UPPP, you might want to get a second opinion (both my internist and my neurologist agreed with the ENT on mine). You should also use your own best judgment – it IS your body, after all. Do you have large tonsils and uvula? When you snore, does your “snort” sound seem higher in the throat rather than lower (as mine did)? Have you really given CPAP a try and failed at it? All my answers were yes, and I had a great outcome with UPPP. If you decide to have the UPPP, have hope – it could work just as well for you.

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