The tonsils stay...for now.

[mapsedge]

Humana declined to cover the surgery until all reasonable, non-surgical options are exhausted. That means learning to live with SPID¹ and a CPAP² machine. I'm willing to try; I wasn't happy about going under the knife. I did that several times when I was 20, but then I had to: it was that or lose my left arm. I can live with large tonsils if there are other answers.

I'm going to go see a pulmunologist who specializes in sleep disorders and see what he has to say. The appointment is already made.

¹ Sensory Processing and Integration Disorder, on which I'm a frequent flier.

² Constant Positive Air Pressure. The user wears a mask through which gently pressurized air is blown to keep the structures at the back of the throat open to relieve sleep apnea. The sensation is unpleasantly akin to drowning, at least for me.

Comments

[starwyse.livejournal.com]

Personally, I feel much better about this. However, I hate that you feel like you are drowning on the CPAP

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

Here's a weird thought, Bill... but then, it's from me. Do you like honey? Do you like Cinnamon? Rumor has it from an old, old source that a 1/4 teaspoon of Cinnamon, mixed with a teaspoon of Honey, taken daily for an unspecified amount of time, will fix you right up. And, it's okay to mix with tea or cocoa or coffee, if you can stand honey in your coffee.

[jehosefatz.livejournal.com]

If you're going to have to do it anyway, you might check on a BiPAP - there are 2 pressures, one for inhale, one for exhale. It feels more natural and the pressure tends to be a little less.

I moved to one after my most recent sleep study (a couple years ago) indicated central sleep apnea (the brain "forgets" to send a breath signal) on top of the obstructive apnea. The inhale pressure is a gentle nudge/reminder to breath along with the air column and it doesn't feel like you're fighting against the pressure to breath out.

May or may not be appropriate, but something to talk about with your pulmonologist.

- Jeho