rest of your life?

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

rest of your life?

Post by Guest » Sun Mar 20, 2005 6:04 am

I realize most every person here on the forum has OSA and is in some phase of treating it. But have you heard of people eventually not needing cpap treatment, like if they lose a lot of weight or something? Or is it pretty much a life-long sentence? I'm guessing it's the latter.

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wading thru the muck!
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Post by wading thru the muck! » Sun Mar 20, 2005 6:19 am

There are a number of ways that people have ultimately been able to safely quit using cpap. None of them are guaranteed to work for every individual. If this is a goal for you (to get off cpap), start with the safest methods like losing weight an see if that does it for you. But don't be disappointed if it does not work. This is the catch-22 of alternative "cures" for OSA. Most work sometimes, but many don't work most of the time.

Sorry if this seems round-about.
Sincerely,
wading thru the muck of the sleep study/DME/Insurance money pit!

Guest

Post by Guest » Sun Mar 20, 2005 6:36 am

wading thru the muck! wrote:There are a number of ways that people have ultimately been able to safely quit using cpap. None of them are guaranteed to work for every individual. If this is a goal for you (to get off cpap), start with the safest methods like losing weight an see if that does it for you. But don't be disappointed if it does not work. This is the catch-22 of alternative "cures" for OSA. Most work sometimes, but many don't work most of the time.

Sorry if this seems round-about.
Nothing round-about about it!
Thank you!
I suspected this answer. I would never want to do something drastic like surgery, because I don't trust such methods, and so many other things can go wrong. And if the weight reduction doesn't cure things, maybe there's hope it might alleviate the severity of the OSA. And if not, there's the added bonus of feeling healthier, right? Always a good thing!

Mikesus
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Post by Mikesus » Sun Mar 20, 2005 6:41 am

As wader said, it depends...

Is your OSA strictly a function of weight? (Rare from what I have heard, but have read about some mild cases that seem to resolve after weight was lost)

Is your OSA only worsened by weight? (more than likely this is the case)

Is your OSA not related to weight? (not likely but could be)

Here is a study that shows that it is a function of "narrowing of the glottis" (the space between the vocal folds)

Link Here