Posted by Captin Cannuck on February 12, 2009 at 17:53:53:In Reply to: Re: Having Septoplasty.... posted by silvergirl on February 12, 2009 at 13:51:02:
You called me an oldtimer. That is funny. I never thought about it, but I have been surfing this site for several years now.
What keeps me here is a desire to educate people who are going into OSA surgery without adequate knowledge. It is a long story, but, basically what happened to me was that I was a perfectly normal 34 year old guy, and one day I answered an ad on the intenet. It advertised for an LAUP operation. The ad said that it was the "newest thing" etc., and could eliminate my social snoring condition. At the time I did not have OSA and used to sleep well. Of course, I snored loudly, like many men do. I had some extra money, and I kind of thought that it would be something like laser eye surgery. I trusted that the doctor was board certified, etc... I got the operaton. Right after I got the operation, I got a job teaching English in Tokyo Japan.
About eight months after having a laser assisted UPPP operation, I woke up gasping for air. I didn't know what was wrong. It was the stranges thing, an involuntary gasp. I went through all kinds of tests to determine what the problem was. I found out that the laser had damaged the inside of my throat. It had done a lot of damage. I began treatment, and I also began researching about LAUP, UPPP. I joined this site. After researching the issue, I came to the realization that I wasn't the only one who ened up worse off after surgery to the inner airway. The more I read, the more I discovered that it was a general problem. I mean to say that almost everybody who had that surgery either ended up no better off, or else even worse off. Some people ended up much worse off. If you look on the blogs, you will see what I mean. I read books like "The Promise of Sleep", I talked to ENT surgeons, many of whom told me candidly that the operation had poor outcomes. I learned that many of the studies on UPPP had a "design flaw" in them. In other words, they were not truthful.
I also began searching the internet, talking to patient online etc. I found out that in Europe, Canada and Japan, doctors had largely moved away from UPPP operations. Of course, they would do them in rare cases where people had been carefully screened, for example a non-obese person who had an unusually large uvula, etc. But they would not consider doing that operation routinely, as a so-called "Phase One". They had moved away because of the poor results. Those doctors worked in countries with socialized medicine and doctor shortages. They didn't need patients. They had long waiting lists. Thus, they didn't have any incentive to give an operation unless there was a good reason. They would be getting paid anyway. O/R time is expensive. Doctors rent the O/R to do surgeries. I believe that lots of surgeons need people on the table, and they know how to do a UPPP operation. They are aware and troubled that the results of that operation are poor, but they do not have any type of alternative, since they lack the training to do MMA surgery. Only a board certified OMF surgeon can do an MMA. MMAs really work, but your run-of-the-mill ENT surgeon can't do them.
After living through this experience, I have come to feel it is my duty to educate people, and tell them the truth so that they can make an informed decision about surgery if that is what they want to do. My attitude is that if people know the risks and procede, then I am fine with it; however, if they are under the illusion that they are getting minor surgery, that UPPP is a wonder surgery etc., then it bothers me.
My MMA was done in Canada by a surgeon in Halifax Nova Scotia. He is to my knowledge the greatest authority in Canada on MMA surgery for sleep apnea. He is the Chair of OMF surgery at Dalhousie University. I am satisfied with the work that he did. I think he is a great surgeon.
- Re: Having Septoplasty.... silvergirl 05:58 2/17/09 (2)
- Re: Having Septoplasty.... Captin Cannuck 17:39 2/17/09 (1)
- Re: Having Septoplasty.... silvergirl 07:05 2/18/09 (0)