Weight loss to get rid of sleep apnea?

[franckDG]

Hi,

I have recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea. I have the sleep in test tomorrow to calibrate my cpap machine and I assume I will get a machine shortly after. I think that my sleep apnea symptoms (bad sleep, chronic fatigue) date back about 6 To 7 years. I used to be in great shape but a sport injury prevented me from exercising for almost 3 years and I put on 30 to 40 lbs. Then I think that my sleep apnea started because I started feeling really tired and it became a real struggle to exercise. I am hoping that with the CPAP machine, I will be able to exercise again and lose the extra weight and maybe/hopefully my sleep apnea will go away... So my question is: has anyone on this forum been able to get rid of sleep apnea altogether by losing weight?

Thanks!

Franck-

[Julie]

Hi, welcome. Unfortunately, there are very few people who've been able to stop Cpap because of weight loss, and those are generally the ones who've i.e. had bariatric surg. and lost 100+ lbs or others with very mild (or positional) apnea to begin with who lost substantial amounts. One problem is that apnea is now thought to cause weight gain, rather than vice versa, plus so many here have apnea as a result of anatomic features, rather than weight (some are skinny). I wouldn't start off looking for ways not to use Cpap until you get definitive feedback over time from software, other sleep studies, etc. etc. What you can do is download (free) SleepyHead software (works with Macs too) from the first note on main pg (Pugsy's Pointers) and use that to keep track of your progress with your machine...

Can you go to the User Ctl panel under the logo and then hit Profile... fill out your machine details (full name & model #, mask and type, etc.. as well as your pressure settings), and please use text vs icons (makes it easier for us to quickly see what you're using). Also, what are your study results (AHI, O2 sats, etc.) if you have them.

[Pugsy]

There are a few of our forum members who have been successful ridding themselves of their OSA with weight loss alone but it isn't something that works for all OSA patients.
So the answer is maybe yes and maybe no.
Weight gain isn't the only cause for OSA. Remember lots of skinny people out there that have OSA.
When I was first diagnosed with OSA I was a skinny Minny.

That said...losing weight sure won't hurt and it might help and it's worth trying because losing excess weight is good for us even if it doesn't fix our floppy airway tissues.

No guarantees though...and if you get to your ideal weight (and can stay there which is easier said than done for a lot of people) do have a repeat sleep study without cpap to make sure the floppy airway tissues are no longer floppy. It's the only real way to know for sure if you no longer need the cpap or not.

[Elle]

A few years back I lost 115 lbs. (the year after starting cpap). My pressure needs didn't change. 4 of my siblings use cpap with the 5th about to be tested. The only way you will know if it works for you is to try it.

Cpap should definitely help you with the weight loss goal but don't assume that will cure the OSA.

[Bignate76]

I got my Cpap machine Oct 30 2014. Since then, well Oct 15th is when I started my diet, I've lost 125 lbs through diet and exercise.

My average pressure has increased as the pounds came off, not decreased. I'm going the wrong way to get off it lol.

Honestly, after you settle into a routine and get accustomed the equipment.. you will feel SO much better you won't mind the thought of using it indefinitely.

I wish I had started therapy a decade ago!! I love my machine! It really is a life changer. That 15cm of air has done more to fix me and change my life than any pill a DR has ever prescribed....

[BlackSpinner]

Honestly, after you settle into a routine and get accustomed the equipment.. you will feel SO much better you won't mind the thought of using it indefinitely.

I wish I had started therapy a decade ago!! I love my machine! It really is a life changer. That 15cm of air has done more to fix me and change my life than any pill a DR has ever prescribed....

This! It is the only thing that has ever fulfilled its promise 100% without nasty side effects. Not even the hysterectomy that got rid of a lot of issues comes close because it caused other problems, besides being painful and requiring 6 weeks or more to recover from.

[Janknitz]

Your question is a common one for newbies. I think it's part of the grieving process--bargaining. "If I lose weight I won't have to use a CPAP." The bottom line is you MUST use CPAP, it MAY help you lose weight, and weight loss MAY reduce the need for CPAP. We don't know the maybes, but you can certainly try and find out.

Weight loss is never a bad thing. I've lost 75 pounds but it didn't cure the underlying cause of my sleep apnea (narrow airway due to facial dysmorphisms). So I'm still on CPAP, but I love sleeping well without apneas--CPAP is great for me.

So start with CPAP and work from there.

[purple]

I probably needed sleep apnea treatment when I was a teen ager and, like most teenagers, not overweight. Being able to move large amounts of O2 while awake, as an athlete can do, does not mean you can not have sleep apnea. Unrelated things. One of the regulars on the TV show about Fishermen in Alaska died as a result of Sleep Apnea. More likely his anger issues had something to do with his not getting enough sleep. The great Football player Reggie White (Minister of Defence) died, related to a sleep apnea condition. Imagine how much better his career could have been had he been able to start Sleep Apnea Treatment from the time he was a Teenager.

It is more likely that you can lose weight if you have successful Sleep Apnea treatment, rather than you be able to give up the machine if you lose weight. Let me say that another way, If you want to lose weight, use the xPAP machine. Then you can see if you can get off of machine.

Sleep Apnea, for most of us, relates to the inherited shape of our nose/face/head, and the kinds of things we did while growing up. My Sleep doc suggest that the shape of my nose, (inherited from my father) probably caused me to gasp for air from the time I was a baby. The Obstructive Sleep Apnea coming more into effect when my jaw did not grow forward during my teen age years, and the tongue, soft tissue behind grew to adult sizes in a smaller area.

Of course some Apnea is more based like Neurologically based events and perhaps centrals. I hypothesis that a lot of Iraq Veterans will develop this from head concussions related to their war years. And the VA will be slow to send them for Sleep Apnea Tests.

What I can say is, successful Sleep Apnea Treatment is like coming back to life. Once I woke up in the morning say, It can not be time to get up yet. TO. Oh gosh, there are so many interesting things to do today.

[sc0ttt]

So my question is: has anyone on this forum been able to get rid of sleep apnea altogether by losing weight?

Franck-

Just a reality check here, and I'm not disagreeing with any of the other posts already in this thread... but if losing weight really did work for some people, it's unlikely they would've stayed around here in the forum to keep posting.

[archangle]

I suspect the question you're really asking is:

Can I just lose weight instead of doing CPAP?

Answer: that's a bad idea.

1. Weight loss doesn't cure apnea for many people
2. Most people who promise themselves they are going to lose weight fail to do so.
3. Most people who lose weight gain it back.
4. You'll be suffering from apnea while losing weight.
5. Apnea does tend to lead to weight gain, making weight loss worse.
6. Even if weight loss does improve your apnea, there's a good chance your apnea will come back as you age.

Get the CPAP, then lose weight if you need to. At worst, you end up still needing CPAP, but you've lost weight. At best, you end up thin and not needing CPAP.

Read the Useful Links in my signature link at the bottom of this post for hints on not getting screwed by the DME (CPAP salesman) and getting the right CPAP machine.

[purple]

I think if someone lost weight, and got off xPAP machine, they would come back and gloat. Tell us to follow their example.

[Drowsy Dancer]

I got my Cpap machine Oct 30 2014. Since then, well Oct 15th is when I started my diet, I've lost 125 lbs through diet and exercise.

My average pressure has increased as the pounds came off, not decreased. I'm going the wrong way to get off it lol.

I didn't lose nearly that much weight, but I lost weight after starting CPAP, and my pressure needs also increased (or else i was able to dial in more precisely on my true pressure needs than the six hours the tech had to titrate me in my split night study).

[jnk...]

My understanding (which is as likely to be as flawed as anyone else's around here, or anywhere) is that for those people for whom recent weight gain was the primary factor that put them over the edge into the OSA realm, losing that recently gained weight may, indeed, if done in a timely manner, put them back over the diagnostic line into non-OSA-diagnosis land.

On the other hand, once someone has had OSA for a while, the brain/nervous system gets wired for it, to adapt to it, and there is no known way to unwire all that yet. That is separate from (even if related to) the mere physical aspects of the condition.

All that aside though . . .

. . . every human being these days needs to focus squarely on eating correctly and being active. The great thing about PAP therapy is that it helps give us the tools to do just that--it helps correct our sleep in a way that allows us to focus clearly on matters of diet and exercise. That will improve our health in more ways than can be enumerated here.

IMO.

[Noctuary]

I am about 20 lbs overweight and am willing to lose not to get off of CPAP, but just in the hope that I would feel better.
I went to zero carb to try to lose some weight, but that didn't work. I'm going to try a diet that had me losing a lb a day for two weeks. Between the rapid weight loss and all the boiled eggs, my total cholesterol skyrocketed, but I don't care about that now.

[accurate]

You just don't know the answer. Lose the weight and see if you can kick. If not, then you're gonna take therapy. Why the drama? I was the same as you, I hated the thought of tying myself to a machine, but for many of us, we gotta have the machine. It doesn't matter what shape you were in. Hell, I was athletic. It happens, you deal with it.