exhausted, in pain after trach surgery

[ill13632]

Dear Doctor,
thanks very much for your help!!!!
I had trach surgery and am in pain, bleeding and exhausted, light-headed after the surgery.  I'm a large person and and I was given a shiley 6 which is too small and percocet.  is that normal to be so tired?
I hope that it cures my severe and crippling sleep apnea but I still don't feel refreshed and have memory problems, problems learning new words

I also read that trach improves blood gas exchange and reduces breathing effort and I can't exhale for more than a second because of my asthma (I hit a wall of resistance)

[David Tinkelman, M.D.]

Yours is a complicated respiratory problem with elements of asthma and (?obstructive?) sleep apnea (OSA) .  Your description of the sleep apnea as “severe and crippling” along with memory and cognitive function problems suggests that the treatment of the OSA is not optimum and, in any event, the placement of a tracheostomy would not suffice as the sole treatment for OSA.  

There is truth to your understanding that a tracheostomy may improve blood gas exchange and reduce the work of breathing but your inability to “exhale for more than a second” could be a combination of asthma and a less than optimum sized tracheostomy.

That you remain “so tired” suggests that your current treatment may be sub-optimum.  A respiratory illness as complex as yours would ordinarily best be managed by a lung specialist (pulmonologist) with a special interest and expertise in the diagnosis and management of sleep disorders, but also knowledgeable about the management of asthma.

You should discuss this with your current doctors as your current situation is worrisome.

Good luck

[ill13632]

yes I have OSA and CSA and PLMD and cpap doesn't work for me, my nose starts to buzz/hurt on cpap because of deviated septum.  this disease has destroyed my whole body and life and career.  I started getting diabetes, brain damage, couldn't learn well, exhaustion
thanks!

[ill13632]

I can't believe this terrible surgeon trached me on a 6, I should be on at least a size 10 trach.
I think I was dizzy because of asthma, and the shiley 6??  I read on mayoclinic that trach recovery should be only 3 days not 1 month

[ill13632]

I started taking 40mg of prednisone at the ER and felt less dizzy, my potassium was 15 really high....I can't figure it out was it the small shiley 6 or potassium?  

even without the trach I can't exhale when I breathe regularly, but everyone said that was ok but it really bothers me, why don't the inhalers or nebulizers fix that?  it was after I took 6 weeks of azithromycin