Time to throw my hat in the ring

After reading other folks apnea blogs, I decided that I needed to throw my hat into the ring. If my words help someone else as much as the other blogs that I have read have helped me, then this will be a worthwhile effort. Well, here goes…

I don't think that I have had a good night's sleep in eleven years. This coincides with starting my family so I just always assumed that this is how tired moms are supposed to be. It wasn't until 8 or 9 years later when my blood pressure started inching up along with my weight that I had to consider that this wasn't just normal "mommy fatigue". Of course the first thing you are supposed to do for low energy is exercise and lose weight. Unfortunately, exercise just wiped me out and ruined me for the rest of the day. I didn't get that "energy boost" that I had heard about from my friends that regularly exercise. My doctor decided to send me to the sleep lab after I complained of excessive daytime sleepiness and hypertension not easily treated with medication and cardiac arrhythmias. During my appointment with the sleep disorder specialist I expressed my desire to avoid the CPAP if possible. If I had a problem that was surgically correctable, I preferred to fix the problem than sleeping with a CPAP for the rest of my life.

What an experience the night in the sleep lab was. After changing into my jammies, my lab technician took me into the set-up room and transformed me into Swamp Thing with all of the wires and electrodes glued to my face and scalp. Back to the room for the chest bands and body electrodes. Nasal and oral breath sensors were attached. When all of the wires were attached to the monitor I was told to relax and go to sleep. Yea, right. But eventually I did fall alseep and thought that I had gotten a reasonable night's sleep. I was suprised to learn that I had awakened 27 times an hour during the night. The sleep disorder doctor referred me to an ENT to discuss surgery.

The ENT that I met with said that I had a badly deviated septum (which I knew about) and an enlarged soft palate. He told me that this would most likely cure my snoring but he didn't think it would completely fix my apnea, if at all. A few weeks later I had a uvulopalatophryngoplasty and nasal septoplasty. What a treat that was! I had never experienced anything so painful in my life. It was a full week of excruciating pain, with the worst pain starting on the third day! I never noticed any discomfort from the nasal septoplasty because my soft palate was so incredibly sore that it hurt to breathe! Ouch! Unfortunately, two weeks postop as I was beginning to feel human again I slipped and badly fractured my elbow! Talk about a pity party! I was still sore from the surgery and then I wind up in a heap in the garage with my elbow messed up badly! Tough time.

Three months later I was finally ready to have a repeat sleep study. I didn't feel any more rested but my husband told me that I no longer snored. I was hopeful that my numbers were going to be better. Unfortunately my new numbers were worse! I woke up 46 times an hour during my second sleep test. I was expecting the "the UPPP can only help so much, you have to lose 50 pounds and your sleep apnea will be under control" lecture. Instead I got the "you have an anatomical problem that needs to be fixed - get thee to an oral surgeon" talk.

Soooo, next came the appointment with the oral surgeon. He was impressed with my xrays and facial anatomy. I was expecting to talk about having a jaw advancement. The doctor showed me my xrays and pointed out the small airway that is the origin of my sleep apnea problem. He says that in order to advance my mandible far enough forward to open my airway, he will also have to advance my maxilla. We aren’t talking just a little bit of movement either – the plan is to move my maxilla out about 7 mm and my mandible out 15 mm! Wow!

If this surgery was done today none of my teeth would touch. So I will be wearing braces for at least a year to move my teeth out of their current alignment so that when my maxilla and mandible are moved forward they will be aligned. Fun huh? The insurance won’t be paying for the braces either – they are considered cosmetic. Ain’t that a joke! I am a 42 year old woman with hypertension and cardiac arrhythmias trying to fix the sleep apnea that is causing my troubles and they are considering that my braces are so I will look pretty! Needless to say I will be fighting this insurance denial. It may not work but I won’t go out without a fight.

I think that this first entry brings us up to date so far. I will be adding entries as I have new stuff to say.