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Permalink Reply by sleepycarol on March 12, 2010 at 10:40am

My septum was really deviated. Had been since I was very young apparently. I thought everyone could only breathe through the right side of their nose. Never ever occured to me that it wasn't normal. I was having daily migraines and my primary care doctor sent me to neurologist and an ENT. ENT was suppose to do allergy testing (which they did) and he wanted a CT scan of my sinuses and nose.

I used Missouri University Hospital and Clinics and was fortunate that I had the Chief of Staff as my primary doctor. I was told he would be doing the surgery and not the interns/students. I was to be at the hospital early and surgery was slated for 8:00 a.m. or so. Only trouble was that there was a major accident and he ended up working it. He still did my surgery but it was late afternoon, when it took place. My surgery ended up being longer and more intense than he had anticipated. I, also, have a tendancy to bleed excessively. They had been warned, but I don't think they took the warning seriously enough. They attributed the stay to the blood loss. Although I didn''t need blood transfusions, it left me very weak.

I do know if I could turn back the clock and had to make the choice again -- I would NOT have it done. It was just really bad experience. My nose was packed with guaze and bandaging for a week or ten days. For weeks afterwards, I had scabs from the healing process that would loosen and make their way down and choke me. I am unsure what role the surgery would have played into the sleep apnea -- I do know it made my migraines worse as my allergies got worse after the surgery.

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Permalink Reply by Mary Z on April 4, 2010 at 4:46pm

I just found out I had a deviated septum from an MRI of the brain. I don't know how bad it is, but I have figured out that I'm probably not breathing as well through my nose as I could. I had terrible sinus problems and killer headaches as a child, but luckily outgrew the sinus issue for the most part.
Maybe I'll visit the ENT this summer for a OSA evaluation and have him see just how deviated my septum is.

Mary Z.

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Permalink Reply by Jo E on April 7, 2010 at 12:02am

My husband helped diagnose my OSA. He told me how my snoring had gotten so much worse after my PCP put me on Soma so I could go to sleep at night (pain from a childhood injury to my back). He didn't know what to call it, but I did. As a child my mother would nag me about how obstinate I was that I didn't just hop out of bed in the a.m. As an adult, every dr that I complained to about how I was tired all of the time would order a thyroid test (negative, of course). Then I gave my dr the diagnosis and had to force her to give me a referral to get sleep test. The sleep test forced her to give me a referral to an ENT. About 2 yrs before, she had refused to give me a referral to an ENT. "If I gave you a referral then I might not have one to give to someone who really needs a referral." I had only been experiencing chronic sinus infections for about 15 years when she refused to give me the referral. The ENT said that no amount of antibiotics and no number of thyroid tests would cure me of anything. I used a CPAP for about a year until I could have surgery. (I had more pressing issues - verifying that I didn't have breast cancer; verifying that I didn't have ovarian cancer; discovering that the neurologist my doctor sent me to couldn't help me since my mysterious falls weren't neurological - I needed a total hip replacement.) It took 7 surgeries to correct all of my congenital defects so that I could sleep without my CPAP.

Drs need to be educated that: 1) Thyroid is only ONE and ONLY ONE possible cause of chronic sleepiness; OSA can not be ruled out unless a sleep test is performed; thyroid problems and OSA aren't necessarily mutually exclusive medical issues. 2) You don't have to be over 50 to have OSA since it can be an congenital condition. If you have a congenital cause for OSA you won't recognize that you have symptoms since you will think it is "normal" to feel the way you do. 3) You don't have to be overweight to have OSA; skinny people can have it too. 4) More males may be diagnosed with OSA, but it is not a sex-related condition; in fact, it may be underdiagnosed in females since too many people think that if more males are diagnosed with it, that actually more males have it. More males are DXed with ADHD as children than females (approx 5 times as many?), but as adults, males and females are treated for ADHD or ADD about equally. (Females are severely underdiagnosed as children since popular belief is that since more males are DXed as children that more males have it.) As soon as someone says that one sex is DXed than the other, many people use bad logic and assume that someone isn't likely to have it because of their sex. I was female, was 5' 7 1/2" tall and weighed 103 pounds at age 18. My husband DXed me with OSA when I was 54. I had to fight with my PCP to get a sleep study. It turned out that I had multiple causes of OSA. Most of the causes were congenital. The severely deviated septum was hereditary but not congenital. I struggled with OSA for 54 years and had to fight to get the test! An ENT could have diagnosed my OSA, but my PCP wouldn't send me to one even after I had suffered chronic sinus infections for 15 years since none of the PCPs I had during that time thought I needed to see an ENT. See both and ENT and a sleep specialist. Hopefully, your PCP won't be as stubborn as mine was. (I also had to fight to get an X-ray of my hip which proved that I had very severe degenerative arthritis and should have had a total hip replacement years before I had the X-ray. PCPs can be very stubborn!)

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Permalink Reply by Mike on April 8, 2010 at 9:19am

very interesting story, Jo. I don't understand why your PCP thought that if she referred YOU to an ENT she would be unable to refer someone else. Anyone know what that's all about?

Jo E said:

My husband helped diagnose my OSA. He told me how my snoring had gotten so much worse after my PCP put me on Soma so I could go to sleep at night (pain from a childhood injury to my back). He didn't know what to call it, but I did. As a child my mother would nag me about how obstinate I was that I didn't just hop out of bed in the a.m. As an adult, every dr that I complained to about how I was tired all of the time would order a thyroid test (negative, of course). Then I gave my dr the diagnosis and had to force her to give me a referral to get sleep test. The sleep test forced her to give me a referral to an ENT. About 2 yrs before, she had refused to give me a referral to an ENT. "If I gave you a referral then I might not have one to give to someone who really needs a referral." I had only been experiencing chronic sinus infections for about 15 years when she refused to give me the referral. The ENT said that no amount of antibiotics and no number of thyroid tests would cure me of anything. I used a CPAP for about a year until I could have surgery. (I had more pressing issues - verifying that I didn't have breast cancer; verifying that I didn't have ovarian cancer; discovering that the neurologist my doctor sent me to couldn't help me since my mysterious falls weren't neurological - I needed a total hip replacement.) It took 7 surgeries to correct all of my congenital defects so that I could sleep without my CPAP.

Drs need to be educated that: 1) Thyroid is only ONE and ONLY ONE possible cause of chronic sleepiness; OSA can not be ruled out unless a sleep test is performed; thyroid problems and OSA aren't necessarily mutually exclusive medical issues. 2) You don't have to be over 50 to have OSA since it can be an congenital condition. If you have a congenital cause for OSA you won't recognize that you have symptoms since you will think it is "normal" to feel the way you do. 3) You don't have to be overweight to have OSA; skinny people can have it too. 4) More males may be diagnosed with OSA, but it is not a sex-related condition; in fact, it may be underdiagnosed in females since too many people think that if more males are diagnosed with it, that actually more males have it. More males are DXed with ADHD as children than females (approx 5 times as many?), but as adults, males and females are treated for ADHD or ADD about equally. (Females are severely underdiagnosed as children since popular belief is that since more males are DXed as children that more males have it.) As soon as someone says that one sex is DXed than the other, many people use bad logic and assume that someone isn't likely to have it because of their sex. I was female, was 5' 7 1/2" tall and weighed 103 pounds at age 18. My husband DXed me with OSA when I was 54. I had to fight with my PCP to get a sleep study. It turned out that I had multiple causes of OSA. Most of the causes were congenital. The severely deviated septum was hereditary but not congenital. I struggled with OSA for 54 years and had to fight to get the test! An ENT could have diagnosed my OSA, but my PCP wouldn't send me to one even after I had suffered chronic sinus infections for 15 years since none of the PCPs I had during that time thought I needed to see an ENT. See both and ENT and a sleep specialist. Hopefully, your PCP won't be as stubborn as mine was. (I also had to fight to get an X-ray of my hip which proved that I had very severe degenerative arthritis and should have had a total hip replacement years before I had the X-ray. PCPs can be very stubborn!)

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