CPAP after weight loss?

[SavannaD]

Hi! New person here-- I've lurked on here before but never posted. I've been on CPAP for exactly one year now, and for the first 10 months it was basically the best thing that ever happened to me. The difference is night and day. But here lately for the past month/month and a half, I'm starting to feel really run down and headachey again. I have a thyroid condition and endometriosis, but both are being treated so I don't think it's relating to that. The only difference I can think of is that I've lost 21 pounds since November, but my CPAP is on the same setting as when I was 21 pounds heavier. Can that be affecting it? Unfortunately, even after this much time, I don't know anything about reading my CPAP machine. I just never got trained on it. Here lately I've been thinking that maybe I need to call my sleep doctor and figure this out, but I've been putting it off since I'm STILL paying off the cost of the 2 sleep studies last year. After last night though, I think maybe I don't even care, and that whatever it costs, I've just got to get this sorted out. Last night I slept almost 1o hours (totally abnormal for me) and still struggled for about an hour to get out of bed this morning. Skipped taking a shower and everything. And all day I've been completely exhausted and fighting off a headache, which is just exactly how things were before CPAP. I'm so terrified of going back to that every day

Anyone else dealt with the same?

[jen4700]

The first thing I'd do is get your thyroid levels checked again. Any sort of weight loss could affect how much med you need. I had my thyroid removed five years ago because of thyroid cancer and I get my meds / TSH / Free T3 T4 checked about every six months. We end up changing my meds about once a year for a variety of reasons. A blood test would be an easy first step in tracking down the problem. Good luck - keep us posted!

[BigTex]

You should fill out your profile with the equipment you are using.
If your cpap machine is data capable you can get some help reading the data.

The data should tell you if you need an adjustment.

[SavannaD]

I'll do that as soon as I get home and can look at my machine (at the office currently).

Thanks for the input. I just had my thyroid levels checked recently though, and everything seems good there.

[Julie]

And you might also want to be sure your mask still fits well, because weight loss can also affect your face of course, and what are the chances that you might now be mouth breathing when you're asleep (if you don't use a full face mask)?