AHI changed dramatically

I was diagnosed with severe OSA in 2009, the numbers were 97/hr for AHI and oxygen was 82% at lowest. I have complied with cpap treatment ever since. I have however lost close to 30 kilos(66 lbs i think). My GP (general practitioner) requested a new sleep study which i did couple of weeks ago, the numbers came back as 5.6/hr AHI and 98% oxygen. the results amazed me. I have made an appointment with an ENT surgeon for proper diagnosis. Anyone on the forum heard of numbers going down that much.

thanks
tony

Why not get a new sleep study?

Did one two weeks ago. You mean another one?

Oh I'm sorry, of course not! Think I should go sleep now as I'm not making sense! It does happen that numbers can go down, but yours are particularly dramatic as you said. Are you going to stay on Cpap, or ... maybe just try to e.g. not sleep on your back and see what numbers look like on software, but I'm not sure you use it, which would make such a difference to being able to know how you're doing every night and what aspects of Cpap or OSA are good, better or worse. I'm not sure at all why you're seeing an ENT doctor unless he's doing another study, etc. (which would not make sense). A couple of nights of good numbers, however you feel, are not enough to say you should go off Cpap of course, and you want to be sure the weight doesn't come back, but congratulations on the loss and will keep fingers crossed that you may not even need Cpap in future.

IMO in a large portion of the people who suffer Obstructive Apnea, it is directly contributed to by being severely overweight. 66 lbs is a huge amount of weight to lose for the average overweight person. think about it like this, if you are 260lbs and lose 66lbs you have lost right at 25% of your body weight. That will make a huge difference in your overall health, and likely greatly reduce (untreated) obstructive apneas, which would have the effect of improving your health even more.

You arent the first person who has made a drastic weight change and essentially "cured" thier OSA, one of my co-workers recently underwent a new sleep study after losing a similar amount of weight and he no longer suffers from OSA and has been able to stop using his xPAP under his doctors supervision.

Oh and congrats on the weight loss

Congrats on your weight loss. Do you have copies of the recent sleep study? Would be a good idea to check it in detail, particularly to make sure the study did capture you in REM sleep while supine. That is often the worst case scenario for events. If it did not capture you in REM while supine, the results may not fully represent your OSA. Hopefully your OSA really has improved to the degree the test results indicate. Some people are helped by losing weight and you could very well be one. I do know one person whose OSA was resolved. Keep in mind that your number is right on the borderline so you need to stay attentive for any indication you've slipped into needing treatment again. Good luck going forward.

Congrats tonyfirefox 99!

tonyfirefox99 wrote:I have made an appointment with an ENT surgeon for proper diagnosis.

Just curious about what an ENT will diagnose and how he will go about it?

Thanks for the replies everyone.
The sleep study was done thru a Respiratory and sleep physician. My Gp thinks i should be talking to an ent specialisit to see whether or not i have any mild blockages that can be fixed thru surgery.
I'm trying to attach my sleep study files now.