Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.

What is Your Weight?

My Weight is Ideal
31
21%
1 - 24 Pounds Overweight
30
21%
25 - 49 Pounds Overweight
26
18%
50 - 74 Pounds Overweight
23
16%
75 - 99 Pounds Overweight
8
6%
100 + Pounds Overweight
27
19%
 
Total votes: 145

User avatar
BlackSpinner
Posts: 9745
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2009 5:44 pm
Location: Edmonton Alberta
Contact:

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by BlackSpinner » Fri Jul 31, 2015 3:18 pm

Enchanter wrote:
Julie wrote:You could win the Tour de France and not get rid of your apnea - it doesn't work that way and I think you know it.

Only a small fraction of people with OSA are thin. Some are, but most can get rid of OSA if they were in exceptionally good shape.
Your peer reviewed study that shows this please. Because the weight surgery study showed that 49% of people kept on having OSA after weight loss. Some got worse.

_________________
Machine: PR System One REMStar 60 Series Auto CPAP Machine
Mask: Hybrid Full Face CPAP Mask with Nasal Pillows and Headgear
Additional Comments: Quatro mask for colds & flus S8 elite for back up
71. The lame can ride on horseback, the one-handed drive cattle. The deaf, fight and be useful. To be blind is better than to be burnt on the pyre. No one gets good from a corpse. The Havamal

HairyReasoner
Posts: 127
Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 7:09 pm

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by HairyReasoner » Fri Jul 31, 2015 8:20 pm

Heart Jumping wrote:I've read that there is often a correlation between being overweight and suffering from apnea. I know that anyone can have apnea and that it is not caused by being overweight, but there is a correlation. I'd like to do an informal poll here to see how many here are overweight. In my case I'm about about 50 pounds overweight.

Thanks
It's kind of like cholesterol. There are two componenets. Weight and genetics. The weight certainly doesn't help, and often causes much more problem. Genetics have to do with the structure of the airway. My dad and I both have sleep apnea. I'm overweight, but my dad isn't appreciably so. I started with a pressure of 18, and after losing 100 pounds my pressure remained essentially unchanged. I have very severe apnea when untreated (my sleep doctor even called me hyper-severe), and my doctor told me early on not to expect to ever get off CPAP even if I got down to my ideal weight.

HairyReasoner
Posts: 127
Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 7:09 pm

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by HairyReasoner » Fri Jul 31, 2015 9:02 pm

JustinD9 wrote:
Enchanter wrote: Only a small fraction of people with OSA are thin. Some are, but most can get rid of OSA if they were in exceptionally good shape.
I have a BMI of 22 - in my instance its genetic (father also and probably my deceased GF).
Interesting comment about your grandfather. Of course apnea wasn't diagnosed back then, but when my wife described to my grandmother the noises I'd make in my sleep she responded that my grandfather made the same sounds when he slept. He died of a heart attack at 59. He did smoke, but he was not overweight. My dad said he remembered his father taking naps in the middle of the day and being a bit tired (although he was at the time founding what became a large company, so that could have had something to do with it). My dad also has sleep apnea. So the genetic component seems pretty strong.
I am a bit overweight, so that may compound the problem for me. However, when I lost a lot of weight it didn't change my pressure needs at all, and my doctor has told me I won't get off CPAP no matter how much weight I lose.

SewTired
Posts: 1737
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2015 8:33 am
Location: Minneapolis area

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by SewTired » Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:45 am

Enchanter wrote:
Julie wrote:"Only a small fraction of people with OSA are thin".

Absolutely untrue!!

Unless you have lots of credible research to point to, don't make statements that only make you look foolish. If you're repeating stuff your apparently incompetent doctor told you, stop doing it because it makes you look even more incompetent.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 081319.htm

The only people incompetent is the lab that can't gather up my tests.

Fuck everyone!
It's a good article Enchanter. But your mistake was in interpretation. Keep in mind the study only included people who were overweight already. It's heartening to many here who ARE overweight that losing weight may improve or eliminate their symptoms. It doesn't say anything about people who were normal weight in the first place when diagnosed.

_________________
Mask: AirFit™ P10 Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask with Headgear
Additional Comments: Sleepyhead
Diabetes 2, RLS & bradycardia
Airsense For Her; Settings: range 8-12, Airfit P10 (M)

SewTired
Posts: 1737
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2015 8:33 am
Location: Minneapolis area

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by SewTired » Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:59 am

palerider wrote:
Enchanter wrote:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 081319.htm

btw, six and a half year old studies are hardly 'state of the art' in the whole SA world.
Studies don't have to be recent to be valid. I've seen several recent studies quoted by newspaper articles that confirm what was discussed in the article. You just have to look at the specific population they are studying. The problem, I think, is people see that 88 percent had reduced or eliminated need and in their minds it becomes 100 percent (or some tiny fraction less). Also reduced need still means you are on cpap, just lower pressure.

That said, just a reminder to folks that you do need to pay attention to the date an article or study has been published. A 10 year old article is probably of little to no value in the medical field without comparing to current stuff.

_________________
Mask: AirFit™ P10 Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask with Headgear
Additional Comments: Sleepyhead
Diabetes 2, RLS & bradycardia
Airsense For Her; Settings: range 8-12, Airfit P10 (M)

User avatar
chunkyfrog
Posts: 34377
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 5:10 pm
Location: Nebraska--I am sworn to keep the secret of this paradise.

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by chunkyfrog » Sat Aug 01, 2015 10:32 pm

Sometimes, losing weight results in higher pressure. Isn't nature weird?

_________________
Mask: AirFit™ P10 For Her Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask with Headgear
Additional Comments: Airsense 10 Autoset for Her

User avatar
Enchanter
Posts: 715
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2015 4:34 am

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by Enchanter » Sun Aug 02, 2015 3:52 pm

Listen. For overweight people, the fact of the matter is that getting down to a stellar, ideal weight is always going to be better regardless of what your CPAP numbers say. If you carry a back pack, and have to carry 20, 30 or 80 pounds, you're going to get more tired. By losing that weight the right way and being in better shape, and keeping it off, you are going to feel better regardless of the CPAP numbers. You know, I think some people don't want to put in the hard work and so therefore they make the decision to not try and lose the weight. For a lot of people, they may have only lost some of the weight and they needed to lose all of it to really feel the difference. I don't see the benefit to carrying excess body fat. How does that help you? I'm not fat shaming people. I have weight to lose, but I'm not gonna deny that. Other people deny that their is no benefit. Sleep apnea might make it harder to lose weight, but 90 percent of weight gain has to do with what you put in your mouth. Sleep apnea might give you less energy, but there are always ways to overcome a disadvantage.
My Current Therapies
- CPAP + Humidifier
- Allergy Shots + nose Spray + Hepa Air Purifier
- Cardiovascular Exercise + Stretching

Kam23
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2015 12:05 pm

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by Kam23 » Sun Aug 02, 2015 4:35 pm

Enchanter, gee you are stating an obvious...lose weight and you will be healthier. No kidding! You are stating what doctor's always say to overweight patients. Where you begin to blab BS is when you state that OSA is caused by being overweight! Not in all cases! Is it really that hard for you to understand that normal weight people have OSA? I find your line of thinking insulting. I was not overweight and had sleep apnea. So stop your assumption that being fat causes sleep apnea.

User avatar
Krelvin
Posts: 1977
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2006 5:23 pm
Location: Metro Phx Area - Dry Heat!

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by Krelvin » Sun Aug 02, 2015 4:48 pm

Enchanter wrote:Listen. For overweight people, the fact of the matter is that getting down to a stellar, ideal weight is always going to be better regardless of what your CPAP numbers say. If you carry a back pack, and have to carry 20, 30 or 80 pounds, you're going to get more tired. By losing that weight the right way and being in better shape, and keeping it off, you are going to feel better regardless of the CPAP numbers. You know, I think some people don't want to put in the hard work and so therefore they make the decision to not try and lose the weight. For a lot of people, they may have only lost some of the weight and they needed to lose all of it to really feel the difference. I don't see the benefit to carrying excess body fat. How does that help you? I'm not fat shaming people. I have weight to lose, but I'm not gonna deny that. Other people deny that their is no benefit. Sleep apnea might make it harder to lose weight, but 90 percent of weight gain has to do with what you put in your mouth. Sleep apnea might give you less energy, but there are always ways to overcome a disadvantage.
I'm sorry, but this is a real Jerk response coming from someone who has yet to successfully use CPAP despite more than 560 posts and help from many which finally gave up on you as an unfixable unhelpable person, who doesn't listen, states the same things over and over and likes to use the words I Can't!, They won't.

Why don't you stick to working on what you have not been successful with yet and getting your OSA under control and spend less time preaching about weight loss.

I wasn't overweight when OSA started to affect my life and I have been using it successfully for more than 9 years now.

Now you are giving out health advice? What a joke.
Current Settings PS 4.0 over 10.6-18.0 (cmH2O) - Resmed S9 VPAP Auto w/h5i Humidifier - Quattro Air FFM
TNET Sleep Resource Pages - CPAP Machine Database
Put your equip in your Signature - SleepyHead v1.0.0-beta-1
Kevin... alias Krelvin

User avatar
palerider
Posts: 32300
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 5:43 pm
Location: Dallas(ish).

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by palerider » Sun Aug 02, 2015 5:31 pm

Enchanter wrote:Listen. For overweight people,
when did you change from "can't even figure out how to assemble a mask" to "I know everything about weight and it's affect on sleep apnea?"

_________________
Mask: Bleep DreamPort CPAP Mask Solution
Additional Comments: S9 VPAP Auto
Get OSCAR

Accounts to put on the foe list: dataq1, clownbell, gearchange, lynninnj, mper!?, DreamDiver, Geer1, almostadoctor, sleepgeek, ajack, stom, mogy, D.H., They often post misleading, timewasting stuff.

User avatar
Bookbear
Posts: 1148
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:47 pm
Contact:

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by Bookbear » Sun Aug 02, 2015 10:06 pm

Everything I've read (that is based on observations and clinical studies, not 'conventional wisdom') says that in a great majority of cases, apnea causes weight gain, not the other way around. Weight gain can make it worse, but it is not usually the cause of apnea. There is some evidence that when excess weight and apnea are co-incident, there is a genetic component that somehow links the two, i.e. the gene(s) that predispose to obesity are found together with gene(s) that predispose to structural conditions (narrow throat, excess tissue at the back of the throat) that are associated with apnea.

_________________
MachineMask
Additional Comments: Avg. AHI .4
Getting old doesn't make you 'forgetful'. Having too damn many things to remember makes you 'forgetful'.

tiredandscared
Posts: 333
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:47 pm

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by tiredandscared » Mon Aug 03, 2015 1:45 am

It depends on underlying cause. There are tens of known causes that lead to sleep apnea.

-Soft palate abnormalities.
-Large uvula.
-Large tonsils.
-Large tongue.
-Large adenoids
-Fatty tissue in the throat.
-TBI(traumatic brain injury).
-Congestive heart failure.
-Stroke.
-Snoring(is a predisposing by damaging nerves and muscle fibers in the throat muscles)
-Hypothyrodism

All of these are obstructive or intrinsic(nerve, muscle tissue) related. There is definitely a correlation with obesity. The fatter you get, the more fatty tissue will develop in your throat and cause obstruction or malfunction in the smooth muscles of the throat. Whether you accept it, as an aggravating factor caused by OSA or as a direct cause of OSA. The more weight you put on, the likehood of you getting sleep apnea or worsening a pre-existing condition increases exponentially. The majority of people in the BMI 40+ range have sleep apnea.

In my own family, we have two known cases of it(myself and my father), both weight related. My deceased grandfather(god rest his soul), I also suspect had it. As he got diabetes 2 and eventually got a stroke.

Weight loss seems to help some subset of people, while it won't have an affect on others. Some people with mild sleep apnea and OSA of different disease severity, can cure it with weight-loss. But it doesn't happen to everybody.
Last edited by tiredandscared on Mon Aug 10, 2015 11:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Kam23
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2015 12:05 pm

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by Kam23 » Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:02 am

tiredandscared wrote:It depends on underlying cause. There are tens of known causes that cause sleep apnea.

-Soft palate abnormalities.
-Large uvula.
-Large tonsils.
-Large tongue.
-Large adenoids
-Fatty tissue in the throat.
-TBI(traumatic brain injury).
-Congestive heart failure.
-Stroke.
-Snoring(is a predisposing by damaging nerves and muscle fibers in the throat muscles)
-Hypothyrodism

All of these are obstructive or intrinsic(nerve, muscle tissue) related. There is definitely a correlation with obesity. The fatter you get, the more fatty tissue will develop in your throat and cause obstruction or malfunction in the smooth muscles of the throat. Whether you accept it, as an aggravating factor caused by OSA or as a cause of OSA. The more weight you put on, the likehood of you getting sleep apnea or worsening a pre-existing condition increases exponentially. The majority of people in the BMI 40 category have sleep apnea.

In my own family, we have two cases of it(myself and my father), both weight related. My deceased grandfather(god rest his soul), I also suspect had it. As he had diabetes 2 and eventually got a stroke.

Weight loss seems to help some subset of people, while it won't help some. Some people with mild sleep apnea and OSA of different disease severity, can cure it with weight-loss. But it doesn't happen to everybody.
So if I read your post correctly you are completely ignoring the fact that there are people who are NOT fat and have sleep apnea...how do you account for those people. BMI of 40... Not here. If I lost all the weight I have gained over the years I would still have sleep apnea. So quit blaming ALL sleep apnea on being fat!

tiredandscared
Posts: 333
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:47 pm

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by tiredandscared » Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:28 am

Kam23 wrote:
tiredandscared wrote:It depends on underlying cause. There are tens of known causes that cause sleep apnea.

-Soft palate abnormalities.
-Large uvula.
-Large tonsils.
-Large tongue.
-Large adenoids
-Fatty tissue in the throat.
-TBI(traumatic brain injury).
-Congestive heart failure.
-Stroke.
-Snoring(is a predisposing by damaging nerves and muscle fibers in the throat muscles)
-Hypothyrodism

All of these are obstructive or intrinsic(nerve, muscle tissue) related. There is definitely a correlation with obesity. The fatter you get, the more fatty tissue will develop in your throat and cause obstruction or malfunction in the smooth muscles of the throat. Whether you accept it, as an aggravating factor caused by OSA or as a cause of OSA. The more weight you put on, the likehood of you getting sleep apnea or worsening a pre-existing condition increases exponentially. The majority of people in the BMI 40 category have sleep apnea.

In my own family, we have two cases of it(myself and my father), both weight related. My deceased grandfather(god rest his soul), I also suspect had it. As he had diabetes 2 and eventually got a stroke.

Weight loss seems to help some subset of people, while it won't help some. Some people with mild sleep apnea and OSA of different disease severity, can cure it with weight-loss. But it doesn't happen to everybody.
So if I read your post correctly you are completely ignoring the fact that there are people who are NOT fat and have sleep apnea...how do you account for those people. BMI of 40... Not here. If I lost all the weight I have gained over the years I would still have sleep apnea. So quit blaming ALL sleep apnea on being fat!
Did you miss the thread title? The subject is the relationship between weight and OSA. Not whether thin people with OSA don't exist. I didn't even leave out that possibility. Re-Read my post. I clearly listed 11 conditions and factors that can lead to sleep apnea. But I also discussed weight as a related issue.

User avatar
Captain_Midnight
Posts: 761
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: The Great State of Idaho

Re: Poll Re: Apnea and Your Weight

Post by Captain_Midnight » Thu Aug 06, 2015 10:25 pm

I'm of normal weight (maybe a bit on the high side of normal, sometimes, but within the normal range). According to my pulmonologist, I've had OSA all my life, although it was only diagnosed about 9 yrs ago.

Statistics vary, but I've read that something like 15-30 percent of all osa occurs among those of normal weight. I suspect that it's much higher.

Some of the very best threads on this fine forum have been about weight and weight loss and control methods (and success stories about durable weight loss.)

As an aside, I've thought it would be interesting if folks posted their current weight along w their avatar. (This would be resisted by many, hereabouts, so I withdraw the suggestion.)

.

_________________
Machine: DreamStation Auto CPAP Machine
Mask: ComfortGel Blue Nasal CPAP Mask with Headgear
Additional Comments: APAP range = 10 - 12.5 In H20