Weaning down pressure and maybe off CPAP

I've been losing a lot of weight lately and have noticed my pressure felt way too high so I lowered it from 10 to 8. That felt much better. I've been monitoring my data on Sleepyhead weekly and my AHI is currently between .20 and .50 very consistently with no PBs. So, I think I can lower it some more. How low can I go with it before it no longer is doing anything really? Since I am still losing weight, I don't want to do another sleep study yet (or really ever .) At what point can I safely say I no longer need a CPAP? If I am not showing any events at the lowest therapeutic setting?

This question comes up fairly often here. The thing is that you're still getting some therapy even at the lowest possible pressure (4 cm). So to answer your question about when you can safely say you no longer need cpap -- that would be when you have a sleep study (no machine) to confirm it. And though it's not common, it can happen. Our longtime forum pal Rosie just posted that she did a successful weight loss program and then did a sleep study and it was confirmed that she no longer has sleep apnea. So it can happen.

Congrats on the weight loss.

ohwhatanight wrote:At what point can I safely say I no longer need a CPAP? If I am not showing any events at the lowest therapeutic setting?

You can't without a sleep study because the lowest pressure that the machine will go is 4 cm and while we don't think of it as being all that therapeutic ...it is.
It's also hard for a lot of people to use (especially those used to higher pressures) because we sort of feel like we are suffocating...we aren't but it can sure feel that way.

So if you can use 4 cm and don't really have anything but an occasional apnea event....then you get the sleep study without the machine for final proof.

Okay -= this sounds like good advice. I will keep decreasing pressure gradually down to 4 and when I have been there with very little events, I'll do another sleep study. Just didn't see any point in doing one now because I'd have to do another in a month, then in another month, etc as it will be such a moving target. But at the same time, I didn't want to just leave my pressure at the Rx level (10) until I lost all my weight, because it is really uncomfortable when it is too high. Thanks!

ohwhatanight wrote:I've been losing a lot of weight lately and have noticed my pressure felt way too high so I lowered it from 10 to 8. That felt much better. I've been monitoring my data on Sleepyhead weekly and my AHI is currently between .20 and .50 very consistently with no PBs. So, I think I can lower it some more. How low can I go with it before it no longer is doing anything really? Since I am still losing weight, I don't want to do another sleep study yet (or really ever .) At what point can I safely say I no longer need a CPAP? If I am not showing any events at the lowest therapeutic setting?

How do you know that the Sleep Apnea didn't CAUSE the weight gain to begin with? And, now the CPAP therapy may be helping you lose the weight. It's a FACT that for some people, the OSA came first and the weight gain was caused by it.

Far too many people are in denial about this and THINK they can lower their pressures or go off therapy once they lose weight.

Edit: And, your daily AHIs are about where mine are. Does that mean I can go off therapy? Not hardly! It's my numbers WITH therapy.


Den

.

I don't know which came first - can't know. However I have been seeing my numbers drop considerably as I lose weight. BTW - i hadn't lose any weight at all before in the three years I've been on CPAP, my weight loss has only been in the past 3 months after intense effort. I've lost 25 lbs so far and have seen a big change already in my numbers. So in my case, it may not be a FACT that sleep apnea caused my weight problem or that I will continue to have apnea once I am back to a healthy weight. "Some people" doesn't equal "all people".

Regardless of what caused my weight problems to begin with, my weight loss so far HAS improved things (measurable proof) and this may continue to improve as I lose around another 100-130 lbs over the next year with bariatric surgery in a week. I am not in denial about anything. Please don't assume I am. I sincerely hope I no longer need CPAP at some point, but time will tell. Some people DO actually get off CPAP with significant weight loss, I hope I will be one of them. If I am not, so be it.

You could try sleeping without the cpap and wear one of those Pulse oximetry and see how low your O2 levels drop.
I don't know if it is worth the risk. That might give you some idea though.

I wish you well