What causes your sleep apnea?

Hi everyone - I am pretty young (29) but am sort of overweight at 240 lbs. I also take a medication that is very sedating and knocks me out at night. It seems like my weight and this med have caused my obstructive apnea, although my doctor said it's not from the medication. I still will argue that it causes it.

Does anyone else have a unique situation as to why they have sleep apnea?

Medication can aggravate it, but no, it is likely your weight that caused the condition. So many people who are overweight or obese have sleep apnea without any confounding factors that you can't really ignore it. So, you are in with a significant number of other CPAPers. However, if you are under 30, if you lose the weight, chances are, you will also be able to put aside the CPAP. Over 30, not so much a guarantee. Things tend not to back to where they should be.

Yes, there are instances where the sleep disorder has NOTHING to do with your weight. I slept on my side because of GERD, so probably hid the sleep apnea for a long time. Problem was, it worsened significantly after a surgery in January, so I just couldn't ignore it any longer.

A few years ago I was much skinnier, around 190-200 lbs, but still had sleep apnea and was snoring according to my wife. I am not really sure to be honest, if I lost a lot of weight I think it would help but I am think I am also just prone to it. And the med makes it worse.

I agree with SewTired. I think medication can definitely aggravate it, but the condition was likely already there. I'd been having symptoms of sleep apnea for two years and no doctor ever thought of it (though I was tested for practically everything else). Then I had an acute medical condition this past December that put me in the hospital and landed me on high doses of Dilaudid (a very strong painkiller), which I continued taking in pill form after discharge for over two months. It was during that time that I started to literally choke in my sleep and wake up gasping for air like I was suffocating. It was scary enough that my dad actually moved in with us for 6 weeks and my husband and dad took turns monitoring me as I slept. Once off the Dilaudid, the choking stopped, but given the two years of other symptoms, my doctor recommended a sleep study, and it revealed I have moderate OSA.

I don't by any means think the Dilaudid caused the OSA. I think it's been there (untreated) for a couple years and the Dilaudid amplified it since that stuff really knocks you out. While the medical condition (and pain) I endured for a few months there was truly awful, I think it helped get me to the OSA diagnosis, which I'm grateful for, since now I'm sleeping better than ever.