Hi all,

I am new to this forum. I am a 19 year old female. 5"4' and 215 lbs.

As a child, I snored very loudly and it was thought to be caused by my large tonsils. I eventually outgrew the snoring and didn't really have any more tonsil related problems until recently.

A few months ago, I began treatment for TMJ problems and my dentist/specialist seems to think I may have sleep apnea as well as a cyst in my sinuses and other sinus problems.

She referred me for a home sleep study, but I have not gone yet as I am not sure it will be a valid test as I believe they measure your exhalation output through a cannula in your nose and my nose is chronically congested so I don't breathe through my nose. I would rather see a ENT and get my sinus problems under control before I go for the sleep study.

When I brought this up to my dentist, she said that an ENT might not take me seriously if I go I'm there wanting a tonsillectomy for potential sleep apnea if I don't even know for sure that I have sleep apnea.

I really feel that getting my tonsils and adenoids removed would be very beneficial for me because the size if my tonsils also make it difficult for me to swallow, but I am also concerned that the ENT will refuse to do the surgery and just blame my weight for the cause of my sleep apnea or just try and set me up with a CPAP machine or whatever.

I don't want to spend the rest of my life sleeping hooked up to a machine. Another reason I don't want to go for the sleep study is because I am embarrassed about the idea of having sleep apnea. Most people automatically associate sleep apnea with obesity and I don't want my friends to think differently of me because it it.

Please help me. I really just want my tonsils removed and I am terrified the ENT will say no! My appointment with the ENT is in October.

Sleeping Beauty,

I myself do have sleep apnea. For the longest I was sleeping with a machine, but at this time I am not. The reason I stopped I had lost a great deal of weight. But since I have gain a little back the snoring is returning.

Main reason to have a sleep study is to see your breathing as sleeping. There are times that you could not even breath. So they will see how your breathing is going. I have been through 2 of them, they are not as bad as you think.

There some people who can even begin to breath during a snoring times, so during a testing you will find out if that is the possibility when asleep.

So sorry if I have not help you out. Let me know and I will do my best to explain more.

Darlene

Hi Sleeping Beauty,

I'm not clear on your reason for wanting the tonsilectomy. There are many possible reasons for obstructive apnea (if you have it and not central apnea, and/or if you have apnea at all), so I would not necessarily associate your tonsils -- or snoring -- with apnea.

I would just go ahead and have the sleep study done, and explain your breathing situation to the clinic that does the testing. Trust me, you're not the only person who's chronically congested. They can make any necessary accommodations/adjustments. If they don't find out what they need to from that, they may want an inpatient polysomnogram. Neither one is anything to fear or be apprehensive about. Once they know for sure if you even have apnea -- and the reason -- will be the time to discuss treatment options.

Doc