British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association

Hi
I have just stumbled across this forum and would love to tell people my story.
I am female, 42yrs old and I have snored from childhood.
As a child I had my adenoids removed and when I was 22yrs old I had a tonsillectomy
I am a medium-slim build
My snoring has gradually got worse to the point where my husband has taken to sleeping in the spare room every so often.
I often wake up in the morning with a sore throat and despite 6-8hrs sleep most nights I still feel and look very tired in a morning.
I decided that enough was enough and I made an appointment to see my GP who thought it was quite amusing and she decided to refer me to the ENT specialist at the hospital.
After a couple of months I received my appointment and he instantly offered me the option to have a uvulopalatopharyngoplasty(UVPP).
I was listed for this and after approx 7 months wait I have now been in and had the surgery.
The operation was performed last Friday 10th March 2006 so I am now 5 days post op.
The procedure is of course a very painful procedure of which I was forewarned and they told me to expect the pain to peak between 3-5 days. The 3rd and 4th day have definitely been the worst so far. Fingers crossed the worst is over
I have had all of my uvula removed my soft palate trimmed and the lateral sides of my throat trimmed and I have dissolvable sutures in situ.
My throat is red raw at the moment and there is a lot of yellow slough evident.
The snoring?...Well at the moment my husband says it is no better in fact he says it sounds worse!!
I know that I am still snoring because I have on occasion woke myself up with a few grunts and my throat is extremely dry and sore in the middle of the night.
I am still taking regular painkillers and I would expect to be taking these for at least another week.
I will try to update this story as often as I can to let people know how successful the surgery has been. If anybody would like to pm me pls feel free to do so and I will try to answer asap

Hope this will be beneficial to anybody considering this type of surgery

Di

Hi again

7 Days post op

The first morning that I woke up not needing pain killers straight away.
My husband informed me that I am still snoring but it is definitely not as loud.
My throat is still looking very yellow and is still quite sore.

8 days post op

Not feeling 100% today not so sure why, feeling a little bit drained and throat feels very sore again. Had a slight bleed just before I went to bed which stopped after about 3-4 mins.

9 Days post op

I woke up early with an awful taste in my mouth.
My throat was bleeding again. The bleeding was quite heavy which was quite frightening so I rang the hospital and spoke to the staff on the ward who advised me to get in straight away.
My husband drove me to the nearest A & E Dept who transferred me via ambulance to the hospital where I had had my surgery
After two attempts at cauterisation they managed to stem the bleeding.
I was kept NBM for the rest of the day in case I bled again in which case they said they would have to take me back to theatre.
I was on IV fluids and started on IV antibiotics.
I was kept in overnight and as there was no futher bleeding I was discharged home the following day.
They have said the bleeding was caused by the infection and i am now on a course of antibiotics.
The pain is definitely easing and I would say that I am only requiring painkillers 2-3 times a day instead of 4.

BTW I am still snoring... "little snores" my husbands describes them as

Hi Diddly,

I am really interested to hear about your experiences as my specialist has suggested I have this op together with a septoplasty.

From what you have said it seems like you have to suffer an incredible amount of pain. Forgive me if I am being a bit dense, but I am not sure if you are saying that it has done you any good. From what I am reading it would appear that as yet you have not seen any improvement. Am I right in this?

I know it is still early days yet, so I would be interested to know how you are getting on in a few weeks time, although I would quite understand if you did not want to update people.

Hi Tony

Thanks for taking the time to read my story.
To be honest at the moment I am feeling pretty low as so far the surgery does not seem to have cured the snoring problem.
The pain which initially was quite bad has definitely eased and I am taking painkillers probably twice a day now.
I am on a course of antibiotics and my throat is still inflammed and swollen.
The sutures haven't quite dissolved yet and they are really bugging me at the moment as it feels like I have constantly got somthing in the back of my throat.
My story must seem pretty off putting but you never know this time next week I might be feeling much better and more positive about the whole experience.
I will do my utmost to keep this updated

Diddly

Hi Diddly,

It was good (sic) to read your story and it definitely shows how useful this forum is.

I am sorry you are feeling a bit down at the moment but hopefully things will get better soon.

While your story was a bit off-putting at least it will equip me with a first hand view of what the operation and its aftermath entails, and will ensure that I can go into this with my eyes open (no pun intended)!

So thanks again for posting and bst of luck for the future.

Thanks for telling your story Diddly,

My reading of the research literature tells me that operations, although rather an extreme solution, usually do help. Snoring is due to floppiness of the tissue in the back of the throat, so the operation takes some tissue away, and also produces some scar tissue in the throat which is firmer than what was there before.

It's to be expected that the snoring won't be affected at first, as you get a fair bit of puffiness of the throat tissues from the operation itself. After around four to six weeks, this should be healed up. I'd be very interested to hear how you are finding it then.


Best Wishes

Frank

Hi Frank and Tony

Well I'm sorry to report that things haven't got better and I am now nearly nine weeks post op.
My snoring has definitely continued and I am also suffering quite badly from a constant mucus build up and a persistent cough.
Ihave an appointment to go back and see the consultant on the 18th of this month so I will try to feedback the outcome as soon as possible.
I have to say that at them moment I am definitely regretting having had the surgery performed

Di

Di,

Sorry to hear that you are feeling down at the moment. When I had my septoplasty I spoke to the consultant about this and told him what I had read and heard.

I have to say that luckily he agreed that as it was not a clinical necessity, that we would forget about going down this particular avenue. Given what you have experienced I think I have had a very lucky escape.

Hopefully, you will get some good news from the consultant tomorrow. Fingers crossed all goes well.

Tony

Hi.

I was folowing your story with interest but the last post was March this year I think. Can you please update me as to the outcome of your surgery. I noticed you replying to somebody about a product recently and saying you had gone straight for surgery. Is this indicating that you are happy with the outcome now.

Regards
Dave

The Tonsils are given by God to protect your body from absorbing too many poisonous meats like Beef and Chicken and other food stuffs.

What you need is Vitamins and Minerals and a good healthy diet.

Good to see a do-gooder infiltrating a self-help website to spout vegetarian and christian beliefs. I take it Nose is not a snorer otherwise they wouldn't be so flippant about what to most of us is a total handicap. Go away Nose and if you must force your views on other people may I suggest Speakers Corner.
One thing I have learned from this forum is that most people have individual causes of snoring and more individual solutions. i.e. what might work for one person will not necessarily work for others.
But this forum is important for each and every one of us so that we can realise that we are not alone and can console one another and offer words of advice.
So the last thing we need is someone telling us its all down to diet and God.
Get real!!!!! I snored when I was thin and I still snore now I've put on weight.
I had my tonsils removed at the age of 6 and definitely did not snore from that age. So either back up your comments with SCIENTIFIC data or go bother another forum.
God(no pun intended) you make me angry.

Dave

I know this is a couple of months old, but I also had my Uvula removed. I opted for laser treatment as it actually vapourises it instead of having it cut out.

I was off work for two weeks in utter pain. I couldn't eat and even found drinking difficult.

This was about 2 years ago. And has it worked? Has it my arse!

I have a friend who had this done a couple of years ago too and it hasn't helped him. In fact I've NEVER read about this being a successful cure to snoring.

Just a word to the wise I guess.

Hi, I have been reading all the posts with interest. I am a 50 year old female who has tried everything to stop my snoring. I was diagnosed with sleep apnoea on a holiday with 2 ITU nurses. I had the studies when I got back and started with a mouth guard. This was rubbish and ended up all over the bedroom during the course of the night. I then had CPAP for 12 months and endured going to work with the mask shape still etched into my face every morning. In desperation I had UVPP. I work in a hospital and had to have counselling to prepare me for the post op pain. I lived on Voltarol and heavy painkillers for 3 weeks post op. All a waste of time. I still snore really badly. I am desperate to find a solution before my poor husband divorces me as he only gets about 5 hours sleep a night. I am now going to try these mouth strap things that keep your mouth closed as I seem to be a mouth breather. Wish me luck.

Miight I suggest that you consider going back on CPAP because the problem does not seem to have gone away with surgery. You can get chin straps to wear with your CPAP so that you can be sure that your mouth won't fall open during sleep.

Please keep us updated with what you decide to do: your story is valuable and we have much to learn from each other's experiences. ATB x