sleep apnea prior to surgery

Anyone diagnised with mild to moderate sleep apnea 3 weeks before surgery? I had my cpap sleep study on last Friday and my PAT's this Friday - my surgery date is 6/8. All I was told after the first part of the sleep study was that my o2 level was 88% and that I needed a cpap study. Has anyone had this too and do they put you on a machine this close to surgery?

Hi Debby, I have severe sleep apnea. The CPAP study will be a test while you are using the machine to check what your levels are with the aid of the machine and to help set up the settings on a machine (pressure, etc.) that you would use at home and take to the hospital with you if they think you need to be on a CPAP machine. They will also know to either put you on a machine when you are coming out of the anesthetic or put you in ICU. I was awakened 2 hours into my sleep study because my O2 level got so low. The technician was alarmed! So they put me on a machine and I did the CPAP study as I slept the rest of the night. I was able to go back to sleep, learned how to breathe with the machine and woke up without my usual headache. We even discovered, while using the machine, that I have to have the air warmed and humidified. My machine was ordered and I will get it within a week and they will come out to the house to set it up, show me how to use and care for it and fit me with a mask. If your O2 levels are really low, they will want you to be on a machine as soon as possible. I am not as close to having surgery as you are, but I need to be on a machine as soon as possible for my general health. They didn't tell me this, but the feeling I got from the alarmed technician was that they were afraid I might not wake up some time. After you have lost weight, you can be re-evaluated to see if you still need to use the machine. Hope this helps. Alice

Once I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, my surgeon required me to be on the c-pap for 6 weeks prior to my surgery. You probably should check with surgeon and see what his requirements are. I know it's a pain, but it's for your own good. People die from sleep apnea.