Help Re: Sleep Apnea BEFORE surgery...CPAP?

Hmm...this is a delimma. First of all try NOT to hang on to that surgery date as the "end all..be all"..SAFETY is #1. And the surgeon/hospital does NOT want to be responsible if you die. (or in this case..your friend).

I was not told to make sure I use mine before surgery..perhaps that assumed that I was. I was trying it but not every day.

I got mine from the VNA ..Visiting Nurses Assoc..maybe she can call your supplier and see if you could rent one. I would not have her worry about the 2 months as she just got diagnosed..correct?

Good luck~ Jan

 Hello,

I used to work in a sleep center.  The cpap is prescribed due to your diagnosis of sleep apnea, and by definitiion this means you are having episodes of apnea and not breathing.  Obviously I have no idea how severe your case is, so I am going to generalize.  When I monitored patients with apnea and not using the cpap machine a pattern was repeated all night.  The patient falls asleep, the patient stops breathing (for heavier folks usually due to obstruction), the heart rate increases due to the strain, the oxygyn level plummets, the body twitches/patient experiences a type of gagging sensation, you wake up if only for a few seconds, begin breathing, oxygyn rate increases, heart rate falls back to normal, you fall asleep, you repeat the process.  Now the severity really varies by patient.  With some patients oxygyn may only drop a few percent, but with others a normal oxygyn saturation in the upper 90's plummets to the 40's- huge strain on the heart and body.  

I am guessing your surgeon is stipulating 2 months to ensure that you have had time to adjust to the cpap.  They will not likely want to complete a surgery without the cpap as they know ahead of time that you will stop breathing and they do not want you to perish during the surgery.  

It is true that with weight loss it is likely the prescription pressure level of your cpap could change or perhaps eliminate the need entirely.  But until that time, you need the cpap.  Be honest with your surgeon, he or she is simply looking out for you!

I am NOT saying this is the way to go, but I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I went to an ear nose and throat doctor and he couldn't even believe that the insurance company approved for me to get a C-PAP machine, because he said I had a mild case.

I got my machine 4 DAYS before surgery. I used it those 4 days, and never used it again. It was considered denying use "against medical advice" but, the insurance company took the machine back- used. ( Of course not the masks and tubing!)
But I basically got the machine, just so they wouldn't say I couldn't have surgery because of having sleep apnea. I even took the machine with me into surgery, but they never put it one me!
As I said...I had a mild case, so I wasn't too worried about my health by not using it. I knew that with some weight loss, it would go away.

Just my experience....!

Sheri

I'm a registered sleep tech, and to be blunt, your friend could very well die if she has surgery and is not using CPAP.  With apnea, your body has to wake itself up to start breathing again.  When you're sedated, that's not possible.  If she's not willing to treat a life-threatening condition like sleep apnea prior to her surgery, she shouldn't be getting the surgery, period.  It is NEVER a good idea to lie to your doctor.  Most home medical equipment providers will let you rent a machine, and she will get use out of it -- you have to lose a significant amount of weight to eliminate apnea, which takes time, and even then, it's not a sure thing (I've seen really bad apnea before in 110-pound 16-year-olds).  Sorry if this seems overly blunt, but your friend needs to know that if she lies to her surgeon and refuses to treat this disease, she's seriously risking her own life.

Wow Everyone! Thank you SOOO much for all of this GREAT advice. I will definitely pass it on to her and ask her (again) to call the surgeon! I am not sure how mild or bad her specific case is, but I really appreciate all of your information!

hey! my insurance wont cover my surgery, so i didnt have to do many hurdles before surgery. i found out less than 2 months ago i was gonna have surgery. so i had my first sleep study 3 weeks ago and they just gave me a CPAP machine last week. my surgery is on Monday.  my surgeon said nothing about needing to be on it any certain amount of time. they just said to bring my machine to the hospital cuz id need it right after surgery. i sleep so much better with the machine.

Wow, what a dilemma!  It's a very hard choice to decide between following the instructions of the sleep MD (that your surgeon requested to consult on the case) in order to be healthier and feel better, or not bothering at all because you have preconceived notions about not wanting to wear a CPAP. 

It's also a tough choice between doing what the hell you want and deceiving your surgeon, or having an intelligent discussion with the person you're entrusting your health and body to and asking to make you healthier by operating on you.  (You, being your friend -- I get that it's not really YOU, but I couldn't be as snarky if I didn't write it that way.)

It's not a difficult decision, but your friend wants to take the easy way out instead of doing the right thing. 

Sleep apnea, like diabetes, is a serious disease, and not treating it for even a day has adverse effects on your body.  Sleep apnea will not go away the second you wake up from surgery.  It will take months of weight loss, and your friend could still have sleep apnea -- it's not exclusive to obese people.  Skinny people have sleep apnea, too.

Lack of sleep/sleep apnea actually contributes to obesity.  I could not get my fat ass off the couch to exercise until I got a CPAP machine, and now you could not pay me to sleep a night without it.  I exercise on a regular basis, and don't drowse off on my way to work, potentially killing innocent people on the freeway.  It works out for everyone!

Tell her to get the CPAP.  It's not that hard.