My Life and Sleep Apnea

The main cause of sleep apnea is the blockage of the airway in the back of the throat. This causes you to stop breathing and sounds the alarm for your brain to wake you up. The solution to sleep apnea would seem to be rather simple just keep the airway open in the back of the throat but there are others factors involved besides loose tissue or an enlarged tongue. Many times the problems of sleep apnea involve the breathing that you do or don’t do through you nose. The procedure Septoplasty can help open up the airway in your nose. Why do I have problems breathing through my nose ? The bone and cartilage that separates your nasal cavity into two nostrils is called the nasal septum. It is not unusual that the nasal septum is a little crooked. A deviated septum can be caused by an injury or heredity. This condition can be a real problem when it has an effect on your breathing through the nose. Many folks have a deviated septum and unless it is severe it isn’t a real problem. H...

On Friday I had an appointment to see a new doctor about my sleep apnea. I felt pretty good about going because he was in the same group as the doctor who treats my meniere’s disease. So I knew where to go and it was a comfortable setting. Anyway the visit didn’t take long at all, as I expected. I brought with me my sleep study from last year. I don’t think that it helped much since I had only slept for about an hour or so. The new doctor didn’t waste anytime and began by looking into my mouth. He saw how big my tongue was. He also remarked that since my head and face were so big that combined with my enlarged tongue made me a candidate for surgery. He then described the surgery and it didn’t sound very good. There would be an incision under my chin and somehow my tongue would be pulled forward. After the tongue was pulled forward 3 little screws (they would have to be little, I presume!) would be inserted under my chin holding everything together. To top that off I would have the...