My Life and Sleep Apnea

I have dealt with sleep apnea for the past 10 years. If you have read my blog (and I hope that you have) you will know that I have been to several doctors and I have tried both the cpap and the bipap without much luck. This past year has been rough for me because I am still trying to get my meniere’s disease under control. I have had some success; this year has been a lot better than last year. So that’s good. But in the back of my mind I always think of how much sleep apnea has held me back. But this feeling isn’t anything new. I knew that I had a problem with my sleeping because my wife had mentioned how strange my snoring was and I also was extremely tired each morning. In 1999, I started on my quest to finding the solution to my sleep apnea problems and that first attempt was definitely a failure. The cpap experience was bad. Looking back I probably could have tried harder but that mask just wasn’t going to work. I then ignored the problem as best I could for another 2 years til...

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...

Transpalatal advancement pharyngoplasty (TAP) is the latest type of surgery that may be beneficial to sleep apnea patients. Although CPAP is the still the most widely used and most successful type of treatment for sleep apnea, it doesn’t help everyone. Like myself, there are many people who can’t stand the way the mask feels on their face or the constant noise coming from the machine. This procedure is considered an alternative to UPPP . TAP basically opens up the space at the back of the roof of the mouth increasing the airway. (This doesn’t sound like an easy procedure and I bet that the recovery time is long). Here is a detailed description of the procedure. A study was done at the St. Johns Hospital , 60 patients were tested and the success rate was 63 per cent. I know that it is over 50 per cent but that still doesn’t sound like good odds to me. I would probably be in the remaining 37 per cent. I can imagine that this surgery would take a long time. It sounds similar to...

My father had sleep apnea. Of course at that time no one ever spoke about it. It wasn't till years later that I heard what that strange snoring that came from my father. It certainly had an impact on my family. My mother had to try to sleep each night listening to that droning and it wasn't like my sister and I couldn't hear it. We lived in a small house and our bedrooms were next to each other's. But probably the greatest impact was on my father's health. He had his first heart attack at the age of 48. His doctor wrote it off as the combination of hereditary and a bad diet. Never was it mentioned that he was damaging his heart by his disruptive sleeping. It wasn't till years after he died and I started to have problems did I realize that sleep apnea played a big part in him having heart problems. I am in my fifties now and I have tried all kinds of masks and none of them have worked. I've been to many doctors ( ENTs ) and they have all made suggestion...