Should All Pre-Oppers Get A Sleep Study Done?

[made4more 3]

? title pretty much says it all. I read an article tonight about post op deaths being somehow related to sleep apnea and not using a cpap. Id ont know if i have SA but I have suspected it before. should I get a sleep study done, and get a cpap (whatever that is) and take it w/ me for surgery?

what all do I need to know about sleep studies, and cpaps for post op? (and during op?)

[Cherrybomb 54]

My surgeon had five questions to answer to determine if you needed a sleep study. Even though I am a life long insomniac and take Ambien every night, I didn't fit the criteria for sleep apnea so didn't have the study done.

If you already suspect that you have it, you should definitely have the sleep study. All patients who have SA were required by my surgeon to bring their cpap to the hospital with them or no surgery so it must be a serious issue.

[made4more 3]

wow! I'm going to google those 5 questions!

well i didn't find the 5 questions but i can answer yest o almost every questing on the page i did find.. eep! I better get one!

[tjmom 200]

I have sleep apnea and have used a cpap for about 7 years....

My doctor does the sleeve as an out patient procedure (surgery in morning & go home that evening) BUT because i use a cpap i had to spend the night.

My surgery was 7:30 am on May 2...I brought my cpap and they monitored my oxygen levels all night.... If levels were not normal, would have had to spend another night... Mine were ok so was discharged at 7 am on May 3...

sleep apnea is nothing to ignore....if you think you night have it, get tested....

[ChristineS NY 44]

One of my pre op appointments were to see a pulmonologist. I took a breathing test in the office which came back fine and he ordered a sleep study test to be on the safe side. He asked me if I snored and I told him only when I'm exhausted and even then it's not full out fog horn snores. It has to do with how your body reacts to being under during surgery.

[MinaT 669]

There is also a central sleep apnea which has nothing to do with your weight, but is when you repeatedly stop breathing during sleepbecause the brain temporarily stops sending signals to the muscles that control breathing.

Overweight people are more likely to have sleep apnea because of the weight on their chest and neck. Sleep apnea is when the back of the throat closes for a second and you don't breath. People who snore are more likely to have sleep apnea, than people that don't snore, but not all people that snore have sleep apnea. People who sleep on their back and are heavy are more likely to have sleep apnea.

Some of the signs are waking up because you heard yourself snoring, being told you snore, going to bed and thinking you haven't slept all night, and the feeling like you were conscience all night long. Going to bed and waking up with a very dry throat, or a sore throat often is a sign, as is waking up to the restroom several times a night. Basically when you have an episode you may wake yourself up. Some people can have 400-1000 episodes a night, so that's 400 - 1000 times a night you quit breathing.

I believe there is a real issue with Sleep Apnea, but then again, sometimes I think it's a way to sell the machine. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia are linked to Sleep Apnea also.

One of the co-morbidities for bariatric surgery is sleep apnea and it's one of the things that can most often be cured by surgery

It doesn't hurt to have the study but make sure it's a reputable place, there are some Pulmo's that are in cahoots to up machine sales.

[made4more 3]

hm.. how do I know if it's reputable? it's just here in my small town..

[MinaT 669]

Is your surgeon suggesting you have a sleep study done? If so, does the hospital do it? Do you have a surgery date yet?

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a few years ago. What I was told is that there is no increased risk DURING surgery, it is the first 24 hours after because the after effect of the anethesia suppresses your breathing. This has really become a big deal since so many surgeries are outpatient now (I am talking all surgeries, not specific to sleeve). Anyway, I took so long to decide to get the sleeve, that the rules changed while I was in the process. I too had to stay the night and the main reason was to monitor my oxygen level. In my case, it never went below like 96 even though i did doze off a few times without my CPAP.

Some people have a really bad attitude toward being treated for their sleep apnea. I was reading local death statistics. I was amazed at how many people that are not exactly elderly (40s-60s) die of "natural causes." I think that means drop dead due to no obvious illness - and I often wonder how much of that is rooted in sleep apnea? That condition increases your odds of so many issues (stroke, obesity etc). Anyway, it made me take it seriously.

[mizzliz83 13]

I had the same concern.

[mizzliz83 13]

Honestly at first I was going to ignore the sleep apnea suspicion I had since I'm a self pay and it wasn't urged by the Dr doing my surgery, after talking to my bestie who had the bypass a year ago about people having deaths after surgery because this illness wasn't addressed. Take every precaution with your life. I have a study scheduled next Wednesday.

[made4more 3]

yes, I'm so doing this.

no date yet, and i haven't even talked to my surgeon. it's still up in the air afa where i'm going, as i'm waiting to hear back from a family member as to wehter or not she can fund a mx surgery, vs waiting 6 months and jumping through stupid hoops. (also my bmi is 40 and ic annot lose weight or I dont qualify for surgery. sigh)

yes, the hospital does the sleep study here in town. noone has suggested I do it, but I just see a lot of members doing it and I know it's a requirement of some insurances (or i believe it is, anyway) so I was curious. also- after reading in the paper about a woman in my state dieing in her home after surgery, I'm thinking she died in her selep, so I researched. Looks like it was most likely related to undiagnosed sleep apnea. that's scary!

I'll set up a date tuesday.

[MinaT 669]

My cousin was about my age and she died died in her sleep, due to sleep apnea. She was looking into wls and couldn't commit and then decided to have her hip fixed instead. She should have had the wls surgery. I took my diagnosis of sleep apnea seriously, I had an one episode of central sleep apnea, but 400 episodes of obstructive in 4 hours.

I have a brain tumor and it's located on my trigeminal nerve root entry, the pain caused by the trigeminal neuralgia makes it that I cannot tolerate the c-pap machine at all. The medication they use to treat the condition for trigeminal neuralgia causes memory loss and issues and actually can help contribute to the sleep apnea, so I am on oxygen at night when I sleep. I had to quit the Trileptal because it was causing me issues. he first doctor to recommend wls was the pulmonologist who did the sleep study. The second was the neurologist. Trigeminal neuralgia is a very painful condition where all the nerves in the face misfire and cause sharp, sometimes stabbing, sometimes lightening, sometimes severe pain. I tried for 6 months sleeping with the cpap and could not comply. Not because I didn't want to, it caused me pain and I couldn't sleep. Because of the neuralgia, and degenerative disk disease and disk issues throat surgery wasn't an option, so I sleep with oxygen. I am a stomach sleeper so needless to say I fuss and fight with cords all night and I wake up and I look like the joker with deep imprinted lines in my face every day and some days the imprints can last up to 9 hours on my face. This alone is a reason for me to lose weight. I really truly truly hate the cpap and I hate the oxygen.

My husband said I haven't snored in quite a while, so I am assuming the weight loss is the reason. Hopefully some day I can get off the oxygen. Will have a sleep study probably in September or October.

Good luck to you, and hopefully cpap will be an option for a short while.

[Cherrybomb 54]

wow! I'm going to google those 5 questions!

well i didn't find the 5 questions but i can answer yest o almost every questing on the page i did find.. eep! I better get one!

I copied/pasted the questions from their form here for you. I guess it was more than five.

Do you Snore?

Have you been told that you hold your breath or stop

breathing during sleep?

Do you wake up Gasping for Breath?

Do you awaken with headaches?

Do you fall asleep frequently while reading?

Have you fallen asleep while driving or stopped at a

light?

Do you have jerking movements while sleeping?

Do you still feel exhausted after 8 hours of sleep?

If you answered YES to more than four of the above questions, you may have sleep

apnea and you should talk to your doctor about a sleep study.

[Butterflylegacy 64]

My surgeon (Dr. David Kim) requires a sleep study for all of his patients, regardless of if you show symptoms of sleep apnea. I am not certain he requires this for self-pay patients, but I know he requires it for insurance pay patients. I was so happy he required it of me! Not only did I find out that I DO have sleep apnea (stopped breathing 148x during my study!), but the cost of doing the sleep study helped to reduce my deductible and out of pocket max, creating a situation where having my surgery essentially is costing me little to no money.

I do have to bring my cpap with me to the hospital when I have my surgery. I also have to spend the night, but I don't think it has anything to do with my apnea, as it is a requirement to have an Upper GI the following day to check for leaks.

If you are using insurance to go through this process, I would suggest asking your surgeon for a sleep study referral. If you are diagnosed with Sleep Apnea, it may be just the push your insurance needs to qualify you for the surgery under medical neccesity. I know I felt a lot more confident that I would be approved once I was diagnosed, and hopefully you will be as well!

Good luck, and let us know what you decide to do!