Sleep Apnea Question

kyethra · February 2, 2007

:help: I know that we are supposed to know via sleep study if we have sleep apnea before surgery. I even know why-- because the anesthiologist needs to know and stuff in order to keep us breathing and all that.

What I'm conflicted on is what sleep study the surgeon goes by? Is it the most recent one? Does the sleep study have a set of criteria?

I ask because I have had three sleep studies since the beginning of September 2006 (I have a variety of sleep issues including narcolepsy). And the results about apnea are conflicted. According to the first study, yes. According to the most recent study, last month, no. The middle study wasn't a good study since I didn't go into REM sleep. Personally, based on my experiences with CPAP and so forth, my husband and I now suspect I don't have apnea. But I'm asleep!

So what study? What verdict? Should I ask my surgeon's office? When should I do that? (I'm scheduled for march).

marjon9 · February 2, 2007

It seems to me that the best answer is to discuss this with your surgeon, just like you did here. It sounds like it will all work out since you've done all the studies. I think the best bet is just to pass along all the facts to the surgeon.

kima · February 2, 2007

I had a really informative sleep study- any questions I asked were answered, and then some. A real chatty Kathy... he was propabably just lonely because everyone goes to sleep on him. Anyway- he told me that more than 50% of the people he sees have some form of apnea, and very few knew that they did. Apparantly there is a "universal standard" for what is aceptable and my surgeon subscribes to that- i think it is 5 or less episodes per hour for adults, and none for children.

I would speak with your surgeon's office and find out the results as he/she interprets them. Better to know than to keep wondering. If you do have

apnea, they put you on a cpap machine after surgery so that you do not have any episode after the surgery when you're recovering. The muscles are so relaxed because of the anesthesia that this could be critical.

He also said that as patients lose weight, and come back for a reval, many no longer have apnea.

Comandeer your process, by asking questions and moving the process along. Delays tend to get magnified.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

Kim

222/217/215/125

pre-op/surg/4 days out(today)/goal