OSA independent of tongue position

Hello, Does anyone else have OSA/snoring without involvement of the tongue? Typically, the tongue falls back into the soft pallet causing the airway collapse. However, my soft pallet falls back even if the the tongue is held forward. Here are the lengthy details for those that might care:

Background Age 31 at onset around year 2000 (currently 46yo). 180 lbs (at onset), 5’7”, 17” neck (currently 210lbs). OSA is due to soft pallet collapse independent of tongue/jaw position. Confirmed with nasal endoscopy. Dental: Jaw and pallet are considered average in size.
Throat: Crowded pharynx, telescoping uvula, somewhat large tongue. No caffeine, no alcohol, non-smoker. Sleeps 8 hours per night with consistent bedtime. No trouble falling asleep. Some daytime sleepiness.

History 2005- Septoplasty to correct deviated septum. Surgical enlargement of the nasal valve. No benefit 2006- Turbinate reduction surgery. No benefit 2007- Two Snoreplasty injections into the soft pallet. No benefit 2008 Sleep study- AHI: 21.7, O2 desaturation: 94%, Hypopneas: 184, Apneas: 4, Loud snoring, diagnosis: OSA, treatment: CPAP 8cm H2O 2009- CPAP found to be ineffective due to arousals caused by mask leaks. (I tried several masks) 2009 Sleep study- AHI: 0.30, O2 desaturation: 88.7%, Hypopneas: 0, Apneas:2, Loud snoring, diagnosis: no OSA. 2010 – Two Somnoplasty treatments into soft pallet. No benefit 2011- CPAP non-compliance due to arousals caused by mask leaks. 2011 Sleep study- AHI: 2.4, O2 desaturation: 96%, Hypopneas: 12, Apneas: 0, Loud snoring, diagnosis: no OSA 2011 Flonase prescribed. No benefit. 2011 Oral appliance fitted by specialist in sleep medicine (mandible advancement with tongue retention). Slight reduction in snoring but noticeable jaw pain. 2012 Provent therpy. No benefit. 2012 Tonsillectomy. No Benefit. 2013 Oral appliance fitted by specialist in sleep medicine (base tongue control). Slight reduction in snoring but some discomfort. 2014 Pillar implant procedure (5 implants). No Benefit

Does anyone else have this condition where the base throat anatomy collapses independent of tongue position? I'd love to hear a success story other then CPAP.

Thanks, Dan

Welcome Dan14! My goodness, you really do a good job of tracking your treatment. I admire you ability to stick to finding a treatment. Your story illustrates how complicated apnea can be and that it's not just one spot in the airway that causes apnea and/or snoring. Sounds like you have your own special mix of trouble spots and you are fixing them one by one. Maybe someday we will have some kind of a scanner that will show all the trouble spots and provide a plan for what to fix first, second, etc..

One day soon, when there are thousands of people in the MyApnea network you might be able to find a lot similar to you and the researchers can ask all of you special survey questions to find answers to your challenging snoring and apnea. Then they can figure out how to get to a solution sooner. It might help if you talk with your doctors about getting their other patients to join MyApnea.org. Thanks for becoming part of the research network!