Possible sleep apnea?

[katiemcfaddenVSG 0]

Hi everyone! For the past month an a half I have been waking up with headaches every morning and feeling sleepy during the day. I was going to email my dr about this but wanted to get some feedback from people that suffer these same symptoms and have been diagnosed with sleep apnea. Would it prevent me from getting the surgery? Thanks!

[Margie122 845]

If anything it might be a comorbidity and it could help you get surgery.

[onmywaytobeingfound 163]

I've read that a lot of bariatric pal users, including myself, had to do a sleep study as part of your pre-op stuff. Agree with @@Margie122 . The more comorbidities the better, in a way :-(

[cornhusker 115]

Those were the exact symptoms I had prior to getting a sleep Study and being diagnosed with OSA. I also, had kind of a fog sometimes. Used my CPAP faithfully for 10 years. Got another sleep study a couple months post op after my sleeve and was fortunate to no longer have sleep apnea. But, the diagnosis did not prevent me from getting approved. And, the weight loss alleviated it. Good luck to you.

[alwaysvegas 702]

sleep apnea will actually help you getting approved with insurance. sleep apnea is a potentially life-threatening comorbidity and is exacerbated by obesity. I had sleep apnea going into surgery, so no worries.

Good luck!

[Hoven 33]

Agree with the others. sleep Apnea won't prevent you from the surgery. And from what I hear, weight loss may make it go a way. I sure hope so. I've been using a cpap for 4 weeks and am having trouble adjusting to it. I have surgery on April 15, so I'm waiting til then to talk to someone about a different mask size or help with adjusting to it. Thankfully, while its best to get as much sleep wearing that you can, the minimum in my case is 4 hours. The most I've slept is 5.5 hours.

[katiemcfaddenVSG 0]

Thank you so much for your replies!! I have orientation on the 21st and whenever I get my surgeon appt I'm going to bring it up to him or her. I will keep you all posted!! Thanks again!

[RealRocknRollaVSG 13]

It's good if you get diagnosed now, and I agree with the others that it will help with insurance approving you.

My surgeon requested that I show 2 straight weeks compliance on my machine before surgery (which they'll verify via data on the SD card).

To be honest, I was pretty pissed at first, as the machine costs soooo much, and was an unplanned expense that bit into my surgery budget. I'm a week in and I'm still not used to this thing attached to my face all night, but I don't wake up with headaches anymore which is great.

If you end up with a machine, I hope it helps with your headaches too, and that your OSA improves as time goes by post-op.

Edited April 13, 2015 by RealRocknRollaVSG

[mclorrie 219]

Agree with the others. sleep Apnea won't prevent you from the surgery. And from what I hear, weight loss may make it go a way. I sure hope so. I've been using a cpap for 4 weeks and am having trouble adjusting to it. I have surgery on April 15, so I'm waiting til then to talk to someone about a different mask size or help with adjusting to it. Thankfully, while its best to get as much sleep wearing that you can, the minimum in my case is 4 hours. The most I've slept is 5.5 hours.

@@Hoven - I have the same problem!! I had the nose mask to begin with, and felt claustrophobic when I wore it, so I switched to the nasal pillow. It's less evasive on my face, & I'm tolerating it a little better. I'm averaging about 5 - 6 hours of sleep a night. If you're not using a nasal pillow, you might give it a try!

Edited April 13, 2015 by mclorrie

[Hoven 33]

@@mclorrie, when I had the sleep test, they tried the pillow on me. But I was slightly congested so they switched to the mask. I guess from the test results they recommend the full mask. I also recently was diagnosed with a deviated septum so that interferes with my nasal breathing. I'm determined to make this work. And hope that the weight loss will result in being taken off of it. Keeping my fingers crossed. I have surgery on April 15th so I'm almost there.

[mclorrie 219]

@@Hoven

I feel for you! I had deviated septum several years ago, and had numerous sinus infections because of it. I had surgery to correct it, and now I rarely have any problems. I couldn't breathe out of the left side of my nose, so I know exactly what you're going through! Good luck with your surgery! I'm hoping my WLS will help me to ditch my bipap soon!! Take care!!

[Hoven 33]

@@mclorrie, I plan to have it fixed later on too. I can't breath out of my left either, and it drives me nuts.

[ShellMilliner 233]

I finally went for a sleep study about a year ago because I was always tired, I never felt rested no matter how much sleep I got. My sleep study determined I had severe apnea. I would stop breathing on average 81 times/hour. This is a severe strain on the heart.

I had my DS on April 1st and will need to possibly go back for another fitting or possibly an overnight. As uou lose weight you don't require as much pressure from the cpap. I have lost over 30 lbs already so I will need an adjustment.

Please do not put off a sleep study if you suspect apnea it really is a very dangerous affliction.