I suspect myself for having OSA. I have deviated nasal septum and have snoring issues as long as I can remember. I decided for surgery 2 years ago, but it wasn’t fully successful, septum is still deviated. Symptoms never go away entirely, there are just less severe.
I’m planning to do home sleep test to fully evaluate if I really need to worry about sleep apnea. In the mean time I talk to otolaryngologist to asses some treatment for deviated septum because half of my nose is partially obstructed. He suggested septum surgery and UPPP. When I ask him about CPAP he replied that “machine wouldn’t force airflow through nose if there is a severe obstruction”.
Is it really a thing? Is CPAP don’t recommended in treating deviated septum in some situations?
Height: 182 cm.
Weight: 90 kg.
Neck circumference: 41 cm.
Waist circumference: 96 cm.
BMI: 27.
Hey there. Not an uncommon thing to run into, sorry you’re still having symptoms. One thing you didn’t mention is whether you feel tired or fatigued. Snoring is a good sign that you might have sleep apnea, and while nasal obstruction could contribute, it’s not usually the first or most common cause of airway obstruction.
Is your surgeon right that a surgery could fix the nasal obstruction and reduce your sleep apnea (if you have it). Yes. We recommend surgery if nasal obstruction is clearly present and is a suspected cause of CPAP nonadherence or if minimal OSA is identified on sleep study.
Could your surgeon be biased into thinking they can fix this with surgery? Sure. Am I biased as a sleep physician that CPAP might work without surgery? For sure.
My advice: get a form of a sleep study especially if you’re tired during the day or having other daytime symptoms of OSA. If the home test is negative seek an in lab study. If you’re positive try CPAP first before surgery. If it helps, stop there. We have seen lots of folks who do not drastically improve after sinus surgery (as you have already demonstrated) and UPPP. Also the morbidity associated with UPPP surgery seems much higher than that of nightly CPAP use. I say seems because I’m no surgeon or anesthesiologist, but certainly I would go the lesser invasive route as many still require CPAP years after UPPP.
Thank you Nate for reply!
Yeah, I forget to mention something about tiredness. Well, it’s hard too say, because in working days in night I sleep 5,5h and do another 1h nap afternoon. 2-3 times a week I fall asleep during reading (in home) so it’s hard to assess if it’s a cause of OSA or not enough sleep.
I’ll go with sleep study and see what will happen. Cheers!