Hi everyone,

I was curious if anyone else has experienced sleep apnea. My ENT was concerned about the narrowness of my throat since surgery so he sent me for a sleep test. Apparently I've developed mild sleep apnea. I know it is very possible that the surgery has nothing to do with it and its because of my size but he didn't seem concerned prior to the surgery.

Peace,
Fr. Mike

Hi Fr. Mike,

My husband and kids "encouraged" me to talk to my family doctor about surgery for snoring. My insurance required a sleep study prior to considering surgery, and surprise! I had sleep apnea. I was mortified when the study indicated I would sleep better with a CPAP, but now I love it. I am much more rested, and when I travel it is easier to fall asleep with it. I am conditioned, start it up and I'm asleep within minutes.

Sincerely,
Darth Vader in Ks (It is fun to talk with it on... Luke... I am your father...)

Another thread about sleep apnea can be found in another section of the discussion forum. There one conjecture seems to be that a jugular vein absence is somehow causative of the apnea. That other thread is in a section related to ongoing treatment and certainly one possible cause of the apnea could be a blocked airway from a tumor. I am 4-months post-treatment and while my throat remains swollen, I was feeling that the primary cause of my sleeping difficulties (waking after every 2 hours) was the dryness. I wake with my tongue plastered to the roof of my mouth (the radiation destroyed my salivary glands). However, in my case a confounding factor seems to be frequency of urination at night. This night urinary frequency is new to me and seemingly unrelated to the neck cancer. One approach I am now taking is to stop eating or drinking after lunch

go to http://www.indegene.com/Ent/Jour/indJour_LARY_Sum_01-11-2001_1.asp

for some very helpful data. The abstract from Medline (which is public and free):


The Occurrence of Sleep-Disordered Breathing Among Patients With Head and Neck Cancer

Michael Friedman, MD; Roee Landsberg, MD; Shepherd Pryor, BS; Zubair Syed, DO; Hani Ibrahim, MD; David D. Caldarelli, MD
From the Department of Otolaryngology and Bronchoesophagology, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke