Operations and Sleep Apnea?

[ShelaghDB]

Hubby just diagnosed with sleep apnea although the doctor said it was so mild he wasn't sure if he needed a mask or not.
Feels that a weight loss program will help him and will cure whatever sleep apnea he has.

But he gave him a machine, S 9 Escape ( of course, no auto set) and I think his pressure is set to 8?

Tonight will be the first night he will use his machine, with his nose mask.

However, 2 days from now, he's going in for a Hernia operation. This will be his second in the same spot ( chest) as he was lifting heavier things too soon and it went again.
This time they are knocking him out and going in through the side.

Anyhow yesterday we went for the Pre Op visit and he was to mention every medical problem so he wrote down Sleep Apnea and suddenly there was all this flurry and they had to call down another doctor.
They were worried he might not wake up from the operation?

Thats what he thought he heard them say. Anyhow, someone else came down, they talked about it a bit and told him to bring his machine with him.

I am almost sorry he mentioned Sleep Apnea as he hasn't even started the machine yet but is it really necessary to take in his machine, etc?
He will since they told him he must but is this not a bit over the top?

Could this prevent him from waking up?

[zonk]

Anyhow yesterday we went for the Pre Op visit and he was to mention every medical problem so he wrote down Sleep Apnea and suddenly there was all this flurry and they had to call down another doctor.
They were worried he might not wake up from the operation?

Your hubby did the right thing, when I had surgery last year, told every doctor and nurse about OSA, the anaesthetist doctor is most important during the surgery and recovery after surgery

As for the S9 Escape, some people can argue until the cows come home but in my book its useless machine, useless as the doctor who prescribe it
[not only its not an auto set, does not tell you or the good doctor any information how the treatment is working or whether AHI within the accepted normal range while being treated and how does it compare to the diagnoses data]

[Tez62]

The problem isn't as much waking up during surgery, it's the stopping breathing during surgery and as Zonk said during recovery.
It is just an increase risk on their behalf and your husbands.
A couple of years ago I had my gallbladder taken out, I was in the pre op area and the anaesthetist looked at my charts saw I had SA, and said you can't have the op in this hosptial, you need to be in a hospital where they they cater for SA patients. He called the surgeon in and was going to cancel the surgery, I said I'm ready and just go ahead and do it. They were very relucdant to go ahead with it. In the end it turned out OK, but I'm glad everyone knew I had SA.

[ShelaghDB]

As for the S9 Escape, some people can argue until the cows come home but in my book its useless machine, useless as the doctor who prescribe it
[not only its not an auto set, does not tell you or the good doctor any information how the treatment is working or whether AHI within the accepted normal range while being treated and how does it compare to the diagnoses data]

I might suggest that its not really a good idea for everyone to keep mentioning how much they hate the S9 Escape machine. I don't have this machine because i asked for it but because it was forced upon me and i have no way of getting the S9 Autoset for 5 years, or whatever it is before insurance will ask me to do studies again and give me a machine, at which time, live and learn, I will interview doctors BEFOREHAND to see who will be willing to give me the Autoset but in the meantime, it really doesn't help one to hear in almost every thread posted that the machine is a piece of crap ;-)

Just a suggestion for the next person that wishes to say its a piece of crap once again in another thread of mine ;-)


Thanks for the info about sleep apnea and operations.
I see now he did the right thing by mentioning it, even if he's never yet used the machine.....but he will take it in for his surgery.

[me50]

ShelaghDB

If you had problems with your machine and treatment, maybe b/c of the high pressure or other reasons, then you might qualify for an autoset that has EPR capabilities. I don't know if that works in Ontario. I started out on the Elite and still had a lot of issues. Went to S9 auto set and still had trouble. Now I am on VPAP auto. Since these machines are so expensive, I told the doc to give me the auto set b/c now the insurance rents it for 13 months rather than pay for it like they did with my Elite and I can't afford to keep starting over if the VPAP set pressure didn't help.

We did an experiment where after I was on the VPAP auto for a month, I went to straight VPAP for a week and then back to VPAP auto for a week and the RT is looking at the reports that I gave him for each day of that 2 week period. I do better with the VPAP auto because I am not at a set pressure all night. YMMV

[zonk]

I wish your hubby the very best for a speedy recovery

[PaulaO2]

The anesthesia relaxes the body which will relax his throat muscles. Anesthesia can also act as a breathing suppressant. Add the two together and caution is a good thing to have. The anesthesiologist will need to keep an extra eye on his O2 numbers as well as his throat if they do not intubate. If they don't intubate, then they may hook his machine up to him during the surgery, just for that extra help.

He will definitely need it in the recovery room. With his airway being kept open, they will know that any low O2 readings are not sleep apnea related.

I think it is a good thing that the staff acted appropriately to the mentioning of sleep apnea. That means they know what it is and how to work with it! Congrats on that!

As for the S9 Escape. The machine itself works well. It blows air just like the Elite. The problem is you have no idea if the treatment is working. And that is fine. Many, many people are okay with not knowing. I don't think anyone is slighting you or your husband for having one. It's just most of us wish those brick machines did not exist. We compare these non-data capable machine to a diabetic taking insulin without ever testing their blood glucose levels. Just injecting the same amount, day after day, based solely on one test at his/her doctor's office. The bottle keeps track of how much they use and is checked for "compliance" and as long as they use the correct amount by a certain time, their insurance will keep paying for it. But they nor their doctor have a clue if the insulin is doing them any good other than how they feel.

So I apologize on behalf of all of us if you feel as if we are turning our noses up at you. We were not. We were turning our fists toward your idiot doctor.

[retired_guy]

Guess I'm glad I had my aneurism surgery before I knew I had sleep apnea....... At least, I think I'm glad.

[eviltim]

I'm surprised they reacted like that. I had jaw surgery and there wasn't any concern when I told them I have OSA. It's something they need to know because OSA patients are a little more susceptible to repiratory failure.

[mjbearit]

IMHO they were right to be concerned and I would be concerned if they were not! I have been out a few times since being DX with OSA. Everytime, I have been hooked up to a PAP in the operating suite. I would much rather have brought my own machine so that I got what I needed, but they don't allow that in a sterile surgical suite at my HMO. Because of this they really screwed up my ear with the extreme pressure they used. However, I am still breathing so it's all good! As was said already being under anesthesia is like sleeping in that your airway relaxes so just like in sleep you can quit breathing. That makes them a bit skittish. Doctors don't like it when you quit breathing when they are operating on you! I am glad your hubby got to bring his machine though! Excellent! Don't worry about it, he just has an (at least) somewhat competent surgeon!
Mike