Question:
Since I had surgery 3 weeks ago, I have experienced symptoms of sleep
apnea and severe snoring that keeps me from sleeping. In 48+ years, I
have never snored, snorted, or gasped in my sleep. Now I am
experiencing an "all-of-a-sudden" onset of sleep disorders. I have
visited four doctors and it appears that none of them have their act
together. Here are their comments (in a nutshell, not verbatum):
Ear, nose, and throat specialist:
We probably need to do some laser surgery to remove part of your soft
tissue. You still have your tonsils, they should also be removed. Of
course, it usually takes several surgeries to correct this problem...
Answer:
The first thing you will need to do is have a sleep study conducted by a
certified sleep lab. That is only way to determine if in fact you do have
a sleep disorder. The study is $1500-$2000 so I hope you have insurance.
I'm not aware of any medical literature linking sleep disorders with
surgical complications, nor have I seen that mentioned in this group
before.
To me it does seem possible that if you had a small sleep disorder, being
under the anesthesia _might_ worsen it.
You didn't mention the procedure, that might give some insight into what
happened.
Go get the sleep study and let us know how it turns out.
Query: how did you come to be so familiar with sleep apnea following
surgery? Had you heard of it before?
I can empathize with your situation. Regarding physicians and sleep
disorders, you will be unable to get substantive information from
internists, most ENTs, or surgeons. Furthermore, you will likewise be
unable to get completely objective information from the anesthesiologist
who administered your anesthesia.
Don't feel too dismayed, because, in fact, your frustration can be found
across the country as patients attempt to have their symptoms of sleep
disorders addressed.
You might consider a "second opinion" from an impartial anesthesiologist.
Aside from the anesthesia/sleep apnea connection, you should probably
not speak to any other physicians other than sleep specialists, or those
referred by sleep specialists.
Since I personally feel that one particular surgery in 1993 aggravated my
sleep apnea, you and I make two people with similar experiences; if we
could locate more with the same complaints, then we could at least
provide this information to those sleep physicians of high national
profile.
I am living in Europe and I had similar case for snoring:
in 89 I had septum surgery, slowly but surely it deviated again
in 90 I slept on my stomach, but I am snoring even on my stomach
in 91 I had some soft tissue burnt in my nose, still snoring
in 94 I had uvula removed by surgery (and a sleep study with no OSA
detected), 3 months later snoring again, and after feeling tired
in 96 I saw the surgeon again who told me that the result of the surgery
was good and nothing could be improved (my wife noticed some impressive
apnea in my sleep). As I insisted he sent me anywhere to throw me,
that's to say the american hospital in Paris, specialized for american,
rich arabs, VIP, and rich hypochondriac french people. I had 3 sleep
studies in 6 months they finally found (or decided to find) something :
a medium sleep apnea (40 per hour). I have been using a CPAP for the
beginning of the year : something hapenned for 3 days at the very
beginning (short night with good shape and mood) and then nothing, no
benefit, so I can't seriously link the short improvment to the use of
the CPAP. And now, they are going to advise me maxilar surgery (a hammer
to kill a bee)
The conclusion is : depending on the kind of physician and the year you
are consulting, you will have very different but allways very sure
advices. The problem of snoring, like any problem related to vibrations
and fluid mechanical (the engineers can appreciate that) is complex and
not simple so that physicians should be very pragmatic (heuristic) and
not determinist. There is a lot of way to induce snoring (I consulted on
the Web published article : hormons, position of your bed (elavation of
the head or the foot of your bed), air, circulatory problems, allergies,
genetic factors, weight, ............. It would be shorter to indicate
what has no influence on snoring. BUT, physicians are clever they only
need long time to understand.... I am sure they will find something, but
our children and not us will benefit of that at no risk, today,
physicians are still seeking and they have an answer for 25% to 40% of
the cases.
