Question:
Postpone surgery due to severe apnea?
I was recently approved for surgery. I've been working on having surgery (duodenal switch) since November 99. I have completed most of my preop requirements, testing, clearances, etc. I was aiming for a 3/20/00 surgery date. Unfortunately, my sleep study has shown severe sleep apnea. My pulmonologist says I'll have to postpone surgery; my surgeon absolutely will not operate until apnea is treated. I'm being referred to a sleep specialist for further treatment. Can anyone tell me what to expect next? Any chance I can be ready for surgery in a month? How does treating apnea make it safer for me to have surgery? Thanks. Vikki Clark — Vikki C. (posted on February 18, 2000)
February 18, 2000
Vickie, I had the same problem as you! However, I was put on a cpap machine
and my surgeon told me I needed to be on it 3 weeks before surgery. If
that is your surgeon's protocol too, you can get it done before the 20th
without any trouble! Good Luck!
— M B.
February 18, 2000
If you have already had the sleep study test then next thing is be
fitted for the C-Pap head gear and have the machine regulated and
calibrated to your Doctors RX.. Then probably do a repeat sleep study
wearing the C-Pap to make sure it alleviated your apnea symptoms.
You will need to take the C-Pap Machine with you to the hospital at
time of surgery..
— Victoria B.
February 19, 2000
Hi Vikki,
I too have sleep apnea. I stopped breathing 113 times in 123 minutes and
some of the incidents were for longer than 1 minute at a time! Do not
worry. You will probably be given a CPAP (Continous Positive Air Pressure)
machine. the sound a lot worse than they are. They are small enough to
sit on a noght stand and make very litlle "white" noise. It is a
pump that forces you to breath thru your nose. You wear a nasal mask
which looks like an oxygen mask but only covers your nose. Make sure you
get a Humidifier too. That is a small plastic container that you put
distilled water in and then the air your breathe is forced over the water
and you do not get nose bleeds or horrible dry nose and mouth from the
air.The mask is held in place by a headgear that looks like a swim cap or a
set of straps. and it is comfortable to sleep in. the mask has a long
enough connecting tube that the air goes thru so that you can turn over at
night with no problems. If you have a mate that you sleep with they will
thank the sleep gods for the new silent nights rest! LOL That is what my
husband said any way. By treating the apnea you will make sure your brain
is getting the right amount of oxygen and your lungs will be working more
effeciently.
It will make you feel like a new person the first night you get a full
nights sleep. No morning headache, and you actually feel like you got some
rest.I have had mine for 4 years now and I "Never Leave Home Without
It"!That is if I am going to be gone at bedtime.
Good luck.
Cheri
— Cheri H.
February 19, 2000
Vikki -
You did not mention shich style of apnea you have - obstructive,
neurological, or a
combination of the 2. My response reflects my experiences with obstructive
apnea.
I have Obstructive Sleep Apnea - at a pressure of 19 when I had the
surgery. I have had
my CPAP now for 9 years and can't live without it. I guess that most
people
would say that this is a severe case of apnea. Please have your sleep
study
done, consult with your surgeon (or choice of surgron if you decide to
change)
and follow his advice. Before I got my machine, I could not sleep. During
the
testing stage, the sleep study center found out that I had stopped
breathing
over 250 times in 6 hours, and that over 30 of them were over 2 minutes
each!
(and they only count beathing stoppages if they last over 30 seconds!) I
slept on
a waterbed and would have to remake the bed each morning because I would
tear it
to pieces even with fitted sheets on them. The first night I got my
machine,
I went to bed. My boyfriend came in about 3 hours later to check up on me,
and I had not moved my position at all. He thought I was dead! He shook me,
I
startled and nearly made him jump out of his skin. We both laugh aobut it,
but it was so scary - his being used to me tearing up the bed within an
hour
of going to sleep, and here, 3 hours later I had not even moved.
While I now do toss and turn occassionaly, It is more from dreamin - which
I
did not do before.
A co worker of mine was diagnosed with sleep apnea, got the machine, but
could not handle it mentally. He has a very great fear of enclosed spaces.
His doctor and insurance then opted for a surgical solution. He had it,
but
still has apnaptic episodes.
Good luck to you in your decision. It is worth it IMHO.
— Jerry K.
February 20, 2000
Get your cpap machine and use a few weeks to rejuvenate for the surgery.
You won't believe how much better you will feel. After you lose wieght
your apnea might go away. Mine did just losing 25 lbs.( off my breasts)
— [Anonymous]
February 22, 2000
Sleep apnea is a very common co-morbidity of obesity. There
are mainly two treatments. One is a CPAP machine which is a
machine that gives you the oxygen that you are being deprived of
while sleeping. The other is surgery. The CPAP is not going
to make the sleep apnea go away. My surgeon was aware that
I had it at the time of surgery. I made sure that the
anesthesiologist new so that he could take any precautions
he felt were necessary. WLS surgery was the best treatment
I could have chosen and my sleep apnea was pretty well gone
at about three months post-op. Maybe you should check with
a different surgeon or at least question his reasoning for
wanting you to have treatment prior to surgery.
— dboat
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