Hi Rick,

I'm a GP located in Bedford, Nova Scotia. I have a patient who is hesitant to try some of the surgical options available to him for his sleep apnea. How can I alleviate some of his stress about the potential for pain management during the procedure?

There is a lot of information on surgical treatment of snoring based on past techniques which have caused a lot of discomfort. New techniques and equipment is now available which greatly reduces any pain. My goal is to design a stepwise and individualized treatment plan for each person, including both surgical and non-surgical options. This website will provide valuable information patients can use and I am happy to see them in consultation to design a treatment plan for them.

I recently had a Coblation procedure applied to my Uvula and throat. The procedure itself may be awkward and a little intimidating for some, so your advice will depend on your subjective assessment of your patient's disposition. Those that fidget in the dentist's chair for example, I suggest would not be good candidates.

Beyond the procedure I found the pain was amply managed with appropriate pain killers and would describe the pain as similar to a mild/medium throat infection, no more. Although I didn't, I felt I could have stopped the pain medication after 2 days. There was a burning tissue odour that also remained for around 2 days. In my case I found a discomfort (as opposed to pain) that fades in a week to ten days, as you might imagine it feels a little different when you swallow at first.

Obviously I am one case and therefore only able to provide qualitative information from a patient perspective, everyone's experience will be relevant to their personality, pain threshold, clinical condition and desired outcomes etc., etc.

Results so far (one month on) - I sleep much better and my snoring has been greatly reduced (according to my wife) :).

In lay terms would I recommend it to a friend? Absolutely.

Supply the patient with a source for eliciting comments from people who have already had the procedure, such as the forum section of http://www.sleepnet.com/. I searched for "surgery" "pain" and came back with a lot of responses (all here: http://bit.ly/aoQWU9).
Tom