UARS - ENT Recommended Septoplasty/Turbinate Reduction....experience?

[LB1982]

Hi LB1982.

Welcome to the Apnea Board. I too had these surgeries. I had immediate relief when the nasal splints were removed 6 days after my surgery. It still took about 3 months to see the full benefit of the surgery. The problem is that there is no guarantee that you will get more stage 3 sleep. An AHI under 5 does not mean that some form of apnea is not interfering with your sleep. I would give the nasal surgery a try. I would then get another sleep study to see if your sleep quality has improved. I would also want to know that the Sleep Doc is going to look at O2 saturation levels throughout the night. I would also want to know if you are having episodes of periodic breathing and/or significant episodes of shorter than 10 second episodes of hypopnea like breathing. You are at the beginning of figuring out what is interfering with your sleep quality. Keep us posted.

Rich

someone had asked what my AHI is in a prior post:

In 2007 5.3 AHI
2011 3.6 AHI

The reason I stated I have a low AHI was to indicate I believe despite a low AHI, the extremely poor sleep architecture is a sign of just how bad my sleep is.

My 2011 study revealed:

Stage 1 5%
Stage 2 72%
Stage 3 0%
REM 22%
AHI 3.6 (all occurring during REM sleep, with more apneas occurring while I was on my back)

Lowest oxygen saturation was 88%
Mean oxygen saturation was 94%

No mention of hypo apneas on this sleep study, good point!

I will probably give the surgery a shot. Over the weekend I will sit down and look at whether it makes more sense from a financial aspect to do it towards the end of this year, or the beginning of next year.

I really appreciate all the advice I've received here.

[richb]

As Sleeprider pointed out, you have more bridges to cross in the future. To me it looks like your Dr is mostly looking at the insurance aspect of your problem. Get the surgery and then start working on issues that remain when you are fully healed. That probably means another PSG if your symptoms persist.

Rich

[Ihaveapnea]

My AHI is low enough that I actually do not use a CPAP (I did for years but it wasn't making a huge difference) Recently saw an ENT because my last sleep study revealed that my stage 3 sleep is completely absent.

ENT found partial blockage on the left nostril and almost complete obstruction on the right. She's reccomending septoplasty and turbinate reduction.

She said she can pretty much guarantee that my headaches will get better, but couldn't make any guarantees about sleep quality. That part really sucks.

Am I just doomed to not get stage 3 (restorative) sleep ever? Have you guys done this surgery? I'd like to hear some experiences.

Hi, did you have the procedure done? I'm about to have it in a couple weeks. Did it improve your total sleep time or quality?

[kwhenrykerr]

I have had the surgery and wish I had done it sooner.

[vader06]

I had a Balloon Sinusplasty done over two weeks ago and there was a bit of pain but well worth it. I can actually breathe! It is wonderful.