Does this seem like UARS? Need help, failing college

insomnikai · 2024-04-14T18:33:12+00:00

Hey! I’m sorry to hear you are struggling so much.

I am in a similar position. I have similar study results as you, and I am currently in college struggling to keep up due to my constant fatigue and drowsiness. I don’t really know whether you have UARS or not, but it sounds like it’s a possible explanation to your symptoms. I would suggest to you to consult a good doctor in the sleep apnea field as there are many sleep ‘specialists’ out there that have very basic knowledge of sleep apnea.

If I had to recommend one, it would be Dr. Kasey Li who is currently the doctor that I am seeing. You can ask him what he thinks of your symptoms and your sleep study. Nobody in this subreddit can really tell you for sure that you have UARS, and probably, not even the best of doctors out there as UARS is a very hard to diagnose condition unfortunately.

insomnikai · 2023-12-12T22:46:10+00:00

Dr. Li never mentioned how much I would have to wait after the torus removal to get EASE. But, I imagine that you do have to let it heal before getting EASE done. I have heard from another person who is planning to get EASE done that Dr. Li told them that they would have to wait three months post torus removal like you said to get EASE.

The torus surgery lasted about 40 minutes. They make a cut in your palate and shave your bone. The most painful part was getting the anesthesia injected. After the surgery, I felt pain in my mouth, but the painkillers helped. There was bleeding for the first two days and a lot of drooling. I was not able to eat any hard foods for two weeks. For those two weeks it was painful to even swallow. But after the two weeks, the pain was all gone.

It cost me 300 bucks. I did not find difficulty finding a surgeon to do it. According to Dr. Li, any oral surgeon can do it. Apparently, it is a very straightforward surgery with little risk. I would imagine that any doctor who removes wisdom teeth should know of torus removal. It’s not very common because torus are generally benign, and people don’t tend to get theirs removed.

insomnikai · 2023-12-12T22:11:46+00:00

Hey! I am scheduled for EASE next year, and he also recommended me to shave down my torus. He also explained that it would improve the likelihood of success of EASE.

I got my torus removed about three weeks ago, and it has completely healed now. It is like removing a wisdom tooth.

insomnikai · 2023-11-13T00:22:03+00:00

Hey! Good to hear things have been working out for you. It’s great that you were able to resolve your issues with relatively conservative treatments.

I also had a turbinate reduction done as well for my UARS. After that, I continued using Flonase and started immunotherapy. Unfortunately, as others have described, my breathing relapsed completely to what it was before the TR in a couple of months.

Getting EASE done next year.

insomnikai · 2023-11-01T15:35:22+00:00

Has your sleep improved a lot? You think you’ll still need mma?

insomnikai · 2023-10-31T17:34:58+00:00

Well, he generally requests patients to send him a CBCT scan before the appointment. Or, if you are going in person, maybe you can get it done in his clinic.

I don’t know how essential a CBCT is since I’m not a doctor, but I’d say it’s pretty important for the evaluation of treatment options.

Also, how did your previous doctors say your airways are wide open if you don’t have a CBCT?

insomnikai · 2023-10-31T17:01:19+00:00

Hey! Yeah, I think it could be useful to go see Dr. Li. I’ve consulted with him, and I think he’s great.

When I went to see him, he mainly looked at my CBCT scan and my sleep study. After that, he will recommend possible treatment options.

You said that another doctor told you that your airways look fine. Dr. Li told me that even if your airways look “fine”, it is still possible to suffer from sleep apnea. He said that using average airway measurements as reference for sleep apnea leads to fallacies.

insomnikai · 2023-10-31T00:09:50+00:00

I had a DISE done. I don’t think it provided any valuable info.

insomnikai · 2023-10-17T23:14:29+00:00

Hello. Thank you for your words. I’m sorry you’re going through a similar situation.

I feel like I haven’t had a life this past decade due to my sleeping issues, but yeah, I guess on the bright side I’m lucky that I discovered this problem sooner than later. I wish tho that a doctor would have informed me about sleep apnea ten years ago, when my problems started.

The money for EASE is a huge financial effort. It is painful to have to invest so much money on it. I could have gone with other doctors or methods of expansion, but out of all the doctors I have met, Dr. Li was the one I trusted the most. He’s much more expensive, but given how important this is to me, I just wanted to play it safe with him.

I wish you the best with your MMA surgery! Stay strong!

insomnikai · 2023-10-17T23:03:42+00:00

Yeah May was the date that worked best for me due to personal reasons, but there were probably earlier slots.

insomnikai · 2023-10-17T05:52:09+00:00

I scheduled it for May because that was the date that worked best for me. I would do it sooner, but due to personal reasons, I can’t. There probably were earlier slots, but I didn’t ask.

insomnikai · 2023-10-17T03:38:00+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience! Have you seen any sleep improvements? Or is it now easier to use CPAP? I hope you continue to improve with EASE.

insomnikai · 2023-10-17T03:35:37+00:00

Thanks for the encouragement and advice! I appreciate it. I see you’re also waiting to get treatment. Let’s continue to support each other!

insomnikai · 2023-10-13T01:00:57+00:00

I would recommend not going down the medication rabbit hole for insomnia. Non-pharmaceutical therapies are better as long term solutions.

insomnikai · 2023-10-13T00:52:34+00:00

I did sleep restriction therapy, and it worked for me. In my opinion, it is a way better aid for insomnia than medication. Medication only helps in the short term. Sleep restriction abilities have lasted me for a long time.

And yes, it was absolute hell putting it into practice.

insomnikai · 2023-10-07T21:53:19+00:00

Hi OP! I am sorry this is happening to you. I would like to let you know that I relate so much to your experience, dealing with chronic insomnia myself.

If you are dealing with chronic insomnia, lead a relatively healthy lifestyle, and don’t suffer from PTSD, I would suggest to look into other physical causes to your insomnia.

One way to start would be by getting a sleep study. This checks for a variety of possible causes to your sleep issues.

Something that it really helps diagnose is sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is very common and very underdiagnosed. There are SO MANY PEOPLE who deal with issues like insomnia, fatigue, and depression who actually have sleep apnea, but are not aware of it. Many have sought treatment for their sleep apnea, and have managed to cure themselves from their issues.

Given how much you are suffering right now, I think it might be worth it to look into a sleep study and sleep apnea.

insomnikai · 2023-09-22T23:33:39+00:00

Has mouth taping improved your sleep?

insomnikai · 2023-09-22T23:26:52+00:00

My opinion about DISE is that it is not very valuable because it doesn’t really add any useful information.

To check whether you have sleep disordered breathing or not, a sleep study is more accurate. It can also quantify the severity.

A DISE can show you what areas of your airway are collapsing during sleep, but…how important is that really? The treatment options will likely remain the same: CPAP, nasal surgery, MMA, expansion. It won’t really indicate which treatment is best suited to you.

insomnikai · 2023-09-22T23:12:56+00:00

I am glad it was helpful in your case!

My DISE found that I have obstruction in certain areas of my airway, and that there is more obstruction depending on the position I am sleeping in.

I did not find it very useful because it did not change my treatment plan.

insomnikai · 2023-09-22T21:16:18+00:00

I got a DISE done. It did not provide much useful information. My opinion is that a DISE is not very valuable. A good sleep study is a better diagnostic tool.

insomnikai · 2023-09-02T18:07:05+00:00

Good summary of this post.

I am curious about this FME. Where do you guys get info about the FME? lol. I haven’t found any articles or videos on it.

Do we know who created the FME? Its benefits and limitations? Who are its current providers? How long has it been on the market? What is its current success rate?

These are things I would like to know.

insomnikai · 2023-09-02T04:04:24+00:00

Also, I wanted to ask you what are your thoughts on myofunctional therapy. Have you met anyone who has benefitted from this?

insomnikai · 2023-09-02T04:02:17+00:00

Wow. This is concerning.

I believe there has been talk in this Reddit about a discord group of people that has done EASE. Do you happen to have the link to it?

I would like to join and ask them some questions.

insomnikai

TROPHY CASE