Obstructive Sleep Apnea and many years of SCUBA diving

[Ricky B]

Have you thought about surgery to remove the excess soft tissues at the back of your throat/mouth area? I did and that ended having to use a CPAP. Also, no more snoring either. B.

Surgery should probably be a last resort in my non-expert opinion. The surgery might cure snoring, but it's not intended to and often doesn't.

If the CPAP machine works, no need for surgery (and not possible to snore when using a correctly fitted mask). Sometimes surgery makes the sleep apnea worse, according to Dr. Guilleminault at Stanford. My RDI went up after surgery.

For a number of people, the phase 1 sleep surgery (UPPP) is a very painful recovery. Luckily for me, I was an outlier, and I had some discomfort. After a few days, I asked to go off the acetaminophen, since taking the medication was more bothersome than the discomfort, but the surgeon wanted me to stay on it to help reduce swelling.

Other people, however, can be on their back for 10 days on narcotics. There is no way to predict how the recovery will go, or at least that is what my surgeon (who has done a ton of these surgeries) told me.