Follow-up sleep study: RDI much improved

Feb. 19th, 2012 at 12:51 PM

I finally did a follow-up sleep study from my 2009 maxillo-mandibular advancement surgery for sleep apnea. Here's my 2008 blog post about my last sleep study. Subjectively, I've been saying that the surgery brought my sleep from a 3.5/10 average to a 5.5. The results seem to fit that pretty well.

RDI: 11 -> 10.6 -> 5.3 (all hypnopneas, no apneas).
Min O2 sat: 89% -> 92% -> 91% (avg might be higher, though - it's now about 96%).
Snoring: Yes -> ?? -> No

Sleep architecture is worse, though:

REM: 15% -> 10%
Stage 3/4: 9.5% -> 0.2% (though it varies a lot night-to-night, and my Zeo says I get stage 3 & 4 sleep)

They said hypnopneas were associated w/ mouth breathing, and that I might benefit from "tongue reeducation".

Comments

( 9 comments — Leave a comment )

whipartist wrote:

Feb. 20th, 2012 09:38 am (UTC)

On the first scan I saw "tongue reduction". That was sort of a disturbing mental image.

I'm glad things are improved for you.

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patrissimo wrote:

Feb. 20th, 2012 09:38 pm (UTC)

I'm not sure "reeducation" is less creepy :)

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zuleikhajami wrote:

Feb. 20th, 2012 09:53 pm (UTC)

It sounds dirty.

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nasu_dengaku wrote:

Feb. 21st, 2012 07:59 am (UTC)

More daily exercise -> more REM, at least in my experience.

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Marie Gan wrote:

Feb. 22nd, 2012 02:25 am (UTC)

mma surgery

you don't know me but I've been following your mma blog. I commented on it once. I had a similar problem as you - i.e. low rdi but debilitating symptons. My body habitus is also similar, young, thin with a receding jaw. I also had mma surgery performed by Dr. Li on 1/10 (out of pocket, too) with only a 1/3 improvement symptomically and no improvement in my post surgery rdi. I went back on cpap, bipap and auto bipap with little success. Dr. Li was kind enough to refer me to an ENT at UCLA who performed a permanent tracheostomy on me. It's a small opening in the throat that is plugged during the daytime and opened at night. It's fairly easy to live with (although unsightly but I was very desperate) and it has finally eliminated the apnea. Just a suggestion in case you get desperate.

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patrissimo wrote:

Feb. 26th, 2012 08:14 pm (UTC)

Re: mma surgery

Wow. Sorry the MMA didn't work for you. Glad that the tracheostomy did. I don't think I'm that desperate yet, but good to have a backup option.

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