Jaw Surgery - Sleep Apnea Symptoms

Fabio

Yes, this picture actually does have something to do with my surgery. Just keep reading. 

*I am having a bit of difficulty trying to figure out how much to share. I might be erring more on the side of under sharing. If you have any questions I am happy to answer. *

So, as I mentioned in my first post about my jaw surgery Dr. T wants me to get a sleep study done to see if I have obstructive sleep apnea. I had never even heard of sleep apnea until a few days prior to meeting Dr. T. I looked it up and ready a bit about it thinking perhaps I had it. Then after Dr. T brought it up I researched a little more and I'm almost positive this is explains my tiredness and a lot of other stuff too!

First, if you don't know, sleep apnea basically means you stop or have pauses in your breathing while you are sleeping and therefore don't get enough oxygen.

Here I was going to list the symptoms, but decided against it. If you really wanna know you can look it up. If you feel you are more tired in the day than you should be, look it up! and go talk to your doctor! Sleep apnea can be extremely detrimental to you health (like heart failure). I wish I would have known years ago, but I am really glad I know now and am working on getting it resolved.

Lets just say I am pretty much a picture perfect patient. Not fun. But I am so excited to maybe finally (after 7 years) have an answer to a lot of my health issues!!! Also, if this is the answer, it means my health issues are actually more serious than I thought, really have been beyond my control, and I can stop feeling guilty for not being able to function like a normal person. 

Anyway, I need to have a sleep study done to officially diagnose sleep apnea. 

I scheduled my sleep study today. The technician watching me sleep for a Saturday night next May... his name is Fabio. No joke. 

If it is confirmed I have sleep apnea than I will for sure need double jaw surgery. This will not only align my bite properly, but also open up my airway (hopefully) enabling me to breath at night.

People with smaller jaws, like me, are in the group of those more likely to have sleep apnea. Another cause of sleep apnea is swollen lymphoid tissue due to the Epstein-Barr virus. The swelling usually goes down after mono, but occasionally does not. Since I really haven't been well since I had mono, I also want to talk to my doctor about the possibility of removing my tonsils and/or adenoids.

I wanna BREATH! I wanna SLEEP! I wanna LIVE!