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sandman
  • 66, Male
  • San Francisco, CA
  • United States
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sandman's Discussions

swallowing air even at a low air pressure.
1 Reply

Started this discussion. Last reply by Mike Jul 27, 2009.

When do I consider jaw surgery to address my obstructive sleep apnea?
17 Replies

Started this discussion. Last reply by sha Oct 29, 2010.

 

sandman's Page

Profile Information

My Interest in Sleep Apnea
I have Sleep Apnea
Treatment Being Used, if any
Surgery

Comment Wall (2 comments)

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At 6:40pm on May 16, 2009, sha said…
Hey sandman!

Yes, the surgery has helped. Not cured or completely fixed, mind you, but I no longer have to sleep with a CPAP. Still don't sleep great, but I can at least get through the day without having to take a 3 hour nap. For that alone it was worth it. I'd say on a scale of 1-10 (1 being almost no lseep, 10 being like the dead) I went from a 2-3 up to a 7-7.5, with an occasional 8ish in there as well. Your mileage may vary.

I don't know what your medical history is or what is causing the apnea, but I'll give you a brief background on what was causing mine. I've a;ways had a short lower jaw, but never looked it because of a fairly prominent chin. I have large tonsils and fairly narrow passageways. But where the real problem came in was a brain tumor I had that caudsed my body to produce too much growth hormone. This in turn caused my tongue to grow (litearlly too big for my mouth now,) and the tissue in my throat to grow, causing the passageway to shrink. Laying down = throat closing and tongue falling back and closing things off even more; obstructive apnea.

I tried CPAP for a year and it was a nightmare. Now I couldn't sleep because of a leaking mask, or a hose around my neck or the fact that I had to *tape my mouth shut* every night to keep it from dropping open and letting all the air out. It was hell.

I actually approached the doctors about performing the surgery, which they had mentioned to me earlier. Enough was enough. The doctors I went to usually do surgery in two separate steps: first tonsils and palette, and then the MMA/jaw thing. But in my case they went straight for the jaw, due to the overgrown tissue in my throat. You can see the difference in the xray photos I've posted.

I will probably need to get the tonsils and palette done later this year; kind of fine tuning the major surgery of last fall. I'm 6 months out of the hospital, and am mostly healed, I'll say (knock wood.) some lingering issues with some TMJ, my bit ebeing slightly off, and some numbness left in my chin and lower lip - all of which I hope will shake themselves out over the next 6 months - but no deal breakers. I'm not really happy with the way I look post surgery, to put it mildly, but I've seen post op photos of others who look perfectly fine. It kind of depends on what you looked like before hand.

That's the quick and dirty version. I can recommend a doctor/surgeon if you need one; I have nothing butthe most ablsolute praise for my surgeon and his right hand man here in Cali. Feel free to ask more questiosn (as long as you don't mind the occasional wait.)

Good luck with whatever you decide! Not sleeping is the WORST!!!!
At 7:34pm on May 15, 2009, sleepycarol said…
Welcome to the forum!!

We are glad you joined. You will find informative information about sleep apnea, treatment options, and other information to help enhance your sleep.

If you are fairly new to the world of sleep apnea, please check out the new users group and the collective wisdom section. In those groups you will find informative discussions that maybe of interest to you.

If you have been around the world of sleep apnea for a while, we hope you still find the site informative and of interest.

Please feel free to share your thoughs, ideas, comments, questions, etc.

Again, Welcome to the forum!!
 
 
 

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