sleep endiscope

[jasonuk75]

hi everyone got question,

recently been diognosed with OSA, 2 weeks after being diognosed ENT consultant done a sleep endiscope on me, had to go into theartre be put to sleep, before sedated he put camera tube down my nose to look around throat ect, had me to pretend snore, then put me to sleep and put camera down nose again, and compared both results as way of seeing wot happens when im asleep, question is, is this test standard do most people who snore and have OSA have it or did i have it cos i have AHI of 130 per hour, its was scary had a full team in theartre cos of OSA at least 14 people were in there drs nurses ect

Jason

[ElleCee]

Re- Sleep endiscope

Hi Jason,
My first post on here as only diagnosed 2 days ago and joined the forum today.

I can't believe they did that to you! There is no way I would have let them do it to me.
Were they proper sleep apnoea doctors?
I cant believe how easy it was for me compared to your experience.

My story is...
I was taken into hospital last week with a chest infection and bad asthma and set up with IV antibiotics, steriods and nebuliser.etc etc
One of the doctors noticed I was snored when I fell asleep. He mentioned OSA and asked a colleague to come and see me. That night they did an oxygen sats test using a watch like affair with the finger cover. Next day they took the results and it showed that I stopped breathing 42 times an hour!
They brought in a cpap machine the next day and showed me how to use it and I used it when I went to bed. Again wearing the oxygen saturation gizmo. They compared the 2 readings and my breathing stopped only 8 times an hour and that was after just one night. My heart rate went way down. They then brought in a machine for me to keep with a full face mask.
I was discharged home last night after 8 days in hospital for the infection.
I used my machine for the first time last night.
I woke once with awful indigestion (so I thought) got up and had some wheatabix to try and settle it. Came online and looked it up and found it was caused by cpap machine. Went back to bed and ditched all the pillows and laid flat. Much better! Now I need to sort out the nasal congestion and I will be happy.
I would be nice to know how you are getting on now.

Kind regards
Lorraine

[jasonuk75]

hi lorraine
ty for ur post
luckily ENT consultant done the sleep endiscopy with a full team in theartre incase of any events ect, it all went ok this ent consultant is the one who broke it to me i av OSA, i;m seeing him in march for results of scope, i had to finger probe oximeter at home that how i was doignosed had to wait 9 weeks for CPAPgrrrrrrrrrr anyway doing ok with cpap, feeling tired in days sleep tech has suggested i go to bed earlier and not sleep through day then i hopefull will sleep better at night, i;m using full face mask too gotten use to it now after a week
soo how ru doing sorry to hear about ur hopitsl addmision but positives came out of it at least, treatment for ashma. infection and finding out u had OSA, im now learning untreated OSA is not good! for us, would be great to hear how ur cpap therapy is going, how ashma, infection now??
jason

[ElleCee]

Hi,
This morning I thought I was doing really well with my asthma and felt better after a goods night sleep.
I had to see GP today but doing any activity makes my breathing worse so by time I got to GP I was in a right state, she wanted to send me back to hospital. I declined her offer! She has given me a perscription for a nasal spray should I need it but I will try not to use it unless I have to.
I have had awful pains in tummy, due, I guess, to the air I have swallowed in the night. Tonight I will definitely sleep flat.
Since August (when I gave up smoking) I have had dreadful breathing problems. Makes me wonder if I should start smoking again. (I wont though).
Did your CPAP make you feel better straight away? My physiologist said it would. This morning it did but this afternoon it has been so hard to stay awake.
Does anyone else have any advice to make this whole process easier?
Any tips or hints?
Regards
Lorraine

[James @ Intus]

Interesting story Jason, not very commonly heard here.

Whether it's "normal" or not, depends on your OSA "route" so to speak. If you enter the conveyor belt at the ENT's office, a sleep nasendocopy isn't all that rare. But most people don't start their journey with an ENT but with thhe lung function department of which some have a dedicated sleep department. They diagnose through sleep recorders like finger pulse oximetry sleep studies.

As operations and lasering around seems to be more exciting for ENTs, we often ehar people are put through those horrors before ending up on CPAP after all. If your ENT put you on CPAP right away, consider yourself lucky!

[jasonuk75]

hi lorraine,
sorry ur ashma is playing up hope u can get it under some sort of control soon, glad u went to gp though, i get tummy pains on waking up, but they go soon after waking
cpap treatment helped me after first time i used it, first week was great was not tired, but was still getting use to mask, week 2 and 3 not so great, not on auto machene anymore, auto was on loan to monitor me, now have fixed pressure machene, not sleeping so well as was so tired during day, but it is getting better, av had cold since before i started cpap treatment it doesent wanna go!!
jason

[jasonuk75]

hi JAMES
gp reffered me to ENT after i scored 21 as in max score on epsworth sleep sheet and bad snoring,, ent done camera down nose and said i had phisical features of typical osa patient as in inlarged tonsels, left sinus narrowed, large, neck, overweight that addded to epsworth sleep questioare
he reffered me to sleep apenea unit at same hospital, picked up oximeter from there wore it at home, seen consultant 10 weeks later!!! he told me i had servere OSA 130ahi a hour on average, i was already on waiting list for cpap by then, 2 weeks later ent consultant had me in to do sleep endiscope in thearte, get restults in march, then got CPAP 2 and a half weeks ago, sleep tech told me 130ahi a hour is highest hes seen , would u agree??
Jason

[James @ Intus]

Yeah, you may well claim the crown with 130 AHI, it's worrisome! I've seen a few in that region, can't remember exact numbers. Very few, if any, higher than that. Scary, to stop breathing more than twice a minute. That leaves very little time for sleep in between!

I do wonder about the extra ENT trip, it's not common to also go to the ENT after a diagnosis was pretty much made already. Perhaps because it was so high, they wanted to have a good look, for interest more than anything else. I guess they can learn a lot from extreme cases like you.

At 130 AHI, you must have been feeling absolutely terrible.

[jasonuk75]

hi James ty for ur reply
when sleep tech told me i had 130 ahi a hour dident register a lot, till he said im sure that is higest i;ve seen know now 30 or higher is servere osa bout 30 anyway if im right, ent dr said he wanted to do endiscope to see about snoring!! had feeling i was a gunia pig!!yep before cpap i felt asolutely terrible, ive snored bad for years but only in last 8 months EDS had taken over
on times i wanted to die, go to bed and not wake up i;m not even deppressed but my body was warning me it couldent cope anymore now i know why i even considered getting one of thoose mobility scooters cos dident have energy to get out and about i;m only 34!!!!, before cpap when id sleep say in day id be so tired id wake up not knowing where i was and all confused one day i woke up 4pm after nap, went to put my coat on my partner asked why u got ur coat on, i said i havent, dident know where i was or where i was going, all through sleep depravation, sleep tech told me 130ahi is like me being poked contantly all night and getting no sleep, id agree

Jason

[James @ Intus]

It sure messes with your mind. Scary stuff! Glad to hear you're doing better already. I bet the ENT will suggest a few funky ops to 'get further improvements'. Best consider those carefully!

[jasonuk75]

Hi James,
YEP have seen a improvment since using cpap, ent consultant wants me to loose weight, up till now hes put focus on me as in weight, i am a bit overweight!!! 5 "7 and 15 stone, know some drs can be a bit like this, course losing weight wont do any harm. but before cpap how the heck could i exercise was feeling deadfull!! will be intresting to see wot ent dr says when i see him in march! also should he suggest any opserations yep will def consider them very very carefull, so dont go far away James lol just kidding

Jason

[James @ Intus]

Yes, you're right, it's far easier to start a weight management programme after starting CPAP. You'll simply need the extra energy to get going. Extremely few people manage to beat OSA with non-operative weightloss alone. It's simply too tough initially.

By the way, I'm not saying all ENTs are laser-cut'n-burn-happy, there are of course very considerate and professional ones too! We just hear a lot of very scary stories. No swallowing water for weeks, no talking for days, excruciating pain etc. Anyway, I won't scare you too much It makes CPAP look comfy!