Sleep apnea patient with full anesthesia during surgeries?

Answer

It's very important to discuss with your anesthesiologist that you have sleep apnea, and how do you treat it before the surgery.

Patients who come for sleep apnea surgeries often have medical problems related to obesity: hypertension, diabetes, gastroesophageal reflux, difficult airway, and restrictive pattern of pulmonary function.

Other patients with sleep apnea are treated with drugs that have implications for anesthetic management: antidepressants, drugs for weight reduction, and antihypertensives.

A history of therapy with drugs for weight reduction has special implications. For example, fenfluramine, desfenfluramine, and phentermine were popular weight-reduction drugs in the early 1990s. However, they caused dysrhythmias,
pulmonary hypertension, and valvular lesions, some of which were irreversible.

More recently, concern has focused on herbal medications. St. John’s wort and ephedrine are common herbal medications that have caused concern about cardiovascular effects during anesthesia.

Although there have been no scientific tests on anesthesia in patients with sleep apnea, the doctor's experience confirms that anesthesia can be a problem in these patients.

General anesthesia can suppress the upper airway activity, and the airway can close during the surgery, affecting the breathing.

Bottom line... Anesthesia can increase the duration and the number of apnea events and can also decrease the oxygen levels from your blood.

Discuss with your anesthesiologist and surgeon about your sleep apnea, and give them as much details as you can.

You can have an alteration of sleep architecture and frequently sleep deprivation prior to and after surgery, including sleep deprivation due to anxiety about surgery. Because of these, you may be predisposed to more severe sleep apnea.

Therefore, it would seem beneficial to improve sleep quality as much as possible before and after surgery - the CPAP can help you do that for several weeks prior to and after surgery. Bring also the CPAP machine into the hospital for perioperative use.

Even moderate use of CPAP may be beneficial, so you should try it.
I hope it helps. Don't be afraid to comment back.

Remy Thierry
Founder of Sleep Apnea Guide

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