[nitelightboy]

Just so you know, the laser assisted uvulaplasty hurts like a mutha fucka!!! Also, if you still have your tonsils, they WILL have to be removed, otherwise the surgery was a complete waste. I can't begin to describe how painful the whole thing is, but rest assured it's wicked bad.

I'm still waiting to see if the surgery was really worth it. Right now, my throat is still so swollen that I'm still snoring and the pain is waking me right up every time. Hopefully once all is healed up, it'll significantly reduce my snoring and decrease the number of times I stop breathing during the night.

There are other options to explore if you're not one for pain. 3 or 4 that I can think of off the top of my head, but of course, they just treat the symptoms and not the problem.

So there's my rant.

[metallatem]

Hey man, I had surgery for sleep apnea 3 months ago. I had my nasal septum straightened, my tonsils removed and a uvulaplasty. Hurt like absolute hell. It took a good 6-8 weeks to recover. They want to wait another month or two to do a follow up sleep study to check my improvement, but I can already tell that I'm doing a lot better. My snoring has decreased significantly and I feel more rested. They said they wanted me to go back on the CPAP I was using at an adjusted pressure but so far I haven't because I hate that thing. After the sleep study we'll know for sure how much improvement there was.

[nitelightboy]

I absolutely refused the CPAP and the oral appliance. I hate things that only treat symptoms and not the problem, so I just told my dr. to shove it and give me the surgery

That's awsome to hear. I'm gald my septum was fine. I can't imagine having even more work done. It took almost a week, but I'm finally able to talk at a level where I can work again, which I never thought I'd be happy about, but damn it's nice to be out of the house.

Let me know how much better your sleep study turns out!!

[nitelightboy]

How long did it take for all of that yellow crap to get out of your throat? I can't tell if it's mucous, dead flesh, etc....but it's icky looking

[Rick]

Welcome back, dude. Hope you get to feeling better soon!

[Leon]

my dad has sleep apnea, mostly caused by being overweight. he used a CPAP machine for a good while, and still does every now and then. he knows about the surgery, but seems to be ok with the machine.

I rather take a machine then spitting mucous, dead flesh, etc for 6-8 weeks

[metallatem]

Yeah, that stuff was pretty bad for a few weeks, but it went away. The only side effect I still have is that if I try to drink too fast I gag on it a little. I think this is because my throat opening is a lot bigger now.

[nitelightboy]

Originally Posted by metallatem

Yeah, that stuff was pretty bad for a few weeks, but it went away. The only side effect I still have is that if I try to drink too fast I gag on it a little. I think this is because my throat opening is a lot bigger now.

I think this deserves a

[nitelightboy]

Well it's been just about a month now.....

And I'm sleeping much better at night and feeling great when I wake up. I've also noticed alot less "attitude" when dealing with people. I don't feel like I'm falling asleep while I'm watching tv or driving and I'm more motivated to do things after work, like clean the house.

There was one pretty nasty scare, about 10 days after the surgery. I experienced "sluffing". Basically, that's when the tissue is coming off the back of your throat and damages the scabs. I woke up feeling like there was mucous in my throat and went to go hack it up. Next thing I know, there's blood everywhere and it just keeps on coming. I rushed over to the E.R. and after about 45 minutes of heavy bleeding, it was all over and the Dr. told me not to worry anymore.

Aside from that, I'd say that the surgery was a success and that I'm quite glad I had it done. Now all I need is a hot young girly in my bed to let me know if I'm still snoring loud