Can Sleep Apnea Be Cured By Diet and Exercise?

[Johnny C]

You people are awesome. Sorry if I got defensive after the first reply. I'm just used to people telling me I am wrong when I try to discuss this topic... especially my family doctor. I try to tell him that my memory seems to be suffering and I deal with brain fog. He said that has nothing to do with sleep apnea and that I am fine. I'm beginning to wonder if the guy is a quack. I had to find a specialist on my own, and I went in for a sleep study. It came back inconclusive because they had me trying to fall asleep on my back, and every time I would nod off I would snore and my airway would get blocked and I would wake up immediately. They said they couldn't study me if I couldn't fall asleep. I think they just want to bill me for another sleep study. It seems pretty obvious to me that I have sleep apnea. I have woken up in a what seemed like a near-death brain fog gasping for air and feeling as if I had almost suffocated. I would jump out of bed gasping for air and feeling as if I almost died several times. Now I am beginning to wonder if I have had permanent brain damage, because my memory is not very good anymore, and I get headaches if I drink alcohol, even in small quantites... which never used to happen to me before. I stopped drinking althogether about a year ago because of this. I also get headaches from taking aspirin or Vitamin E now. Does anyone else here get headaches like this?

Since I got the runaround from my doctors, I took my health into my own hands and bought a Resmed AutoSet Respond APAP machine with a Respironics Comfort Gel mask on Ebay for $600.00. It only had one hour on it. I know you're not supposed to be able to buy these without a prescription, but I didn't know that at the time I bought it (about a year ago), and Ebay allowed the listing to stay up long enough for me to buy it. I tried it for several months, but every morning I would find the mask on the floor. Now I have been using a PureSleep mouthpiece for about a month and it allows me to sleep the night through without any apnea episodes, and I don't have the brain fog that I was having all the time. However, the PureSleep mouthpiece has changed my bite and I think it may have cracked one of my front teeth. I'm going to the dentist tomorrow to find out for sure. I'm not going to tell him it was from the mouthpiece because I know he will scold me for not buying one from him for $3000.00.

Thanks again for the great replies. This seems like a very warm and caring community. I think I will register for a membership.

[kteague]

Johnny - Those who didn't have sleep apnea before gaining weight probably stand the best chance of not having it after losing weight. It does happen - it's just not a guarantee. Remember that for the most part, those you see on boards like this have sleep apnea - those whose weight lost eliminated their apnea are probably going along their merry way. So you've got a "weighted" audience here.

Losing weight is not a speedy endeavor, and unfortunately, waiting to see puts your brain and body under great stress in the interim. The consquences of that could be more costly than cpap treatment. If you were to get a data capable machine, when you reach your target weight, you could drop your pressure a little at a time and see if you still have apnea events. If it turns out you no longer need cpap, sell it on cpapauction.com to recoup some of the cost. If you still need it, you haven't lost that time in treatment.

Even if you didn't get treated and lost the weight, you'd still need another study to see if it was indeed gone. Either way you go there's cost involved, so it comes down to what you believe is best for you. Losing excess weight healthily is always good, so go for it. By the way, combine that with playing the didgeradoo and you may be one of the lucky ones.

Kathy

EDIT: Somehow I missed your post right above this. I see you have a machine, so disregard those references please. Hey, have you tested your mouthpiece while using the machine at a lower pressure to see if you register any apneas?

[Wulfman]

You people are awesome. Sorry if I got defensive after the first reply. I'm just used to people telling me I am wrong when I try to discuss this topic... especially my family doctor. I try to tell him that my memory seems to be suffering and I deal with brain fog. He said that has nothing to do with sleep apnea and that I am fine. I'm beginning to wonder if the guy is a quack. I had to find a specialist on my own, and I went in for a sleep study. It came back inconclusive because they had me trying to fall asleep on my back, and every time I would nod off I would snore and my airway would get blocked and I would wake up immediately. They said they couldn't study me if I couldn't fall asleep. I think they just want to bill me for another sleep study. It seems pretty obvious to me that I have sleep apnea. I have woken up in a what seemed like a near-death brain fog gasping for air and feeling as if I had almost suffocated. I would jump out of bed gasping for air and feeling as if I almost died several times. Now I am beginning to wonder if I have had permanent brain damage, because my memory is not very good anymore, and I get headaches if I drink alcohol, even in small quantites... which never used to happen to me before. I stopped drinking althogether about a year ago because of this. I also get headaches from taking aspirin or Vitamin E now. Does anyone else here get headaches like this?

Since I got the runaround from my doctors, I took my health into my own hands and bought a Resmed AutoSet Respond APAP machine with a Respironics Comfort Gel mask on Ebay for $600.00. It only had one hour on it. I know you're not supposed to be able to buy these without a prescription, but I didn't know that at the time I bought it (about a year ago), and Ebay allowed the listing to stay up long enough for me to buy it. I tried it for several months, but every morning I would find the mask on the floor. Now I have been using a PureSleep mouthpiece for about a month and it allows me to sleep the night through without any apnea episodes, and I don't have the brain fog that I was having all the time. However, the PureSleep mouthpiece has changed my bite and I think it may have cracked one of my front teeth. I'm going to the dentist tomorrow to find out for sure. I'm not going to tell him it was from the mouthpiece because I know he will scold me for not buying one from him for $3000.00.

Thanks again for the great replies. This seems like a very warm and caring community. I think I will register for a membership.

I get the impression that you don't normally sleep on your back.......am I correct?
If that's the case, that's unfortunate (kindest word I could think of). Although many sleep labs attempt to get their patients to sleep on their backs......because it's a "worst case scenario"......it's unconscionable in my opinion. I asked my sleep lab right up front whether they expected me to sleep on my back (because I cannot, when in bed), and they told me to sleep in my normal position(s)......I'm a side-sleeper.

I'm glad to read that you got a data-capable machine........so, I'd urge you to keep up with your CPAP therapy and improve your health.

Den

[Arthurs]

Johnny,

I just started out on CPAP treatment 2 months ago after being in denial for so long, and finally at the prodding of a good friend, went in for a sleep study 2 yrs ago. Even after my sleep study I chickened out and continued to be in denial for another year, but finally I caved in (or maybe my wife pushed the issue by banning me to the living room couch because of my snoring), visited the doctor this past summer, got a prescription and here I am now, feeling better that I have been for 10 yrs.

I was diagnosed with UARS, the doctor said I was "borderline" in my condition, and faced three choices, easiest to hardest in terms of difficulty:
1. Use a CPAP machine, gain my life and strength back, lose weight, and lead a healthier lifestyle.
2. Lose weight, live healthy and exercise, and hopefully gain my life back and maybe, just maybe, I may not need the CPAP.
3. Try surgery, even though my chances of success were only about 10%.

I guess it boils down to which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Yeah, I could go on a crash diet, exercise, lose weight, and hopefully my condition improves that I don't need a CPAP machine, but quite frankly I was too tired during the day to even contemplate trying to change my lifestyle. Or I could go on the CPAP machine, feel much better during the day, and have the energy to lead an active lifestyle that supports weightloss. I think and hope that I stand a better chance with the CPAP machine to help me. I already feel like I have my life back, even just a few weeks of sleep with the CPAP. One thing for sure, I'm not having to sleep on the couch anymore, and my wife sleeps soundly every night so far!

Arthur

[carbonman]

Where did you read that "... sleep apnea is caused due to living a sedentary lifestyle that causes the throat to become loose and fatty, causing the airway to be blocked by flabby tissue and weakened muscles. "?

That statement is offensive and I seriously doubt that there are any studies that show this.

The obesity hypoventilation syndrome, also known as Pickwickian syndrome,
or the early theories of OSA.
Even my PCP, who I have great respect for, was skeptable about sending me
for a sleep study, because, I didn't fit the [Pickwickian] profile.

I told myself, in my ignorance of OSA, after the sleep study appt. was set,
I don't have that, only fat people have that.
It was my brief trip down the river of DeNial.

To some degree, don't we all check to see if there is passage
available on that river, when we are faced w/OSA and the MASK?

[john_dozer]

I'm not a doctor, but "brain fog" and short term memory loss were extremely stong symptoms with me. I had something like a 58 AHI. The Fog is gone most days now. I'm about two months in, but the the short term memory loss has only started to recover now.

As for the weight loss issue, the first technician I had told me two stories.

The optimistic story first. There was a patient who tried to eliminate his need for CPAP through aggressive weight loss. He was apparently successful. But I don't know how much weight was at issue or how severe his apnea was. The technician did qualify that this was the exception and not the rule.

The next story was that he had a very heavy man tested for apnea and they never found a trace while a skinny young woman tested positive.

For myself, I've fluctuated in my weight a lot. However, there always seemed to be a point where above that weight, my general well being seemed to suffer. That break point has changed slowly with age, but in the short term a 10 lbs change in weight through that break point mattered a lot.

Is it apnea related, I don't know. I do know that my weight strongly affects my well being. And that I'm hoping that controlling my apnea I can get my weight down.

If you sense the same thing about yourself, why not lose some weight? And if you drop a cm or two for your prescribed pressure in the process, bonus.

[stacia123]

Brain fog and memory loss were big big symptoms with me. I had what I called "noun trouble" and couldn't remember lots of words. I discovered that my math skills were pretty sketchy, too, and my short term memory was iffy. Much of this has improved after nearly a month on the machine, but I suspect it will take a while to completely resolve, if it ever does.

[yorkiemum01]

Wow...if only it was that simple.
Both my parents and siblings have been on CPAP for years, and I remained
in denial for a decade (I'm a vegetarian, exercise regularly, and live a normal 30 something
lifestyle), yet this year I was falling asleep at the wheel due to my OSA. Found in the sleep
lab my diagnosis was 'severe' with my oxygen sats running into the 70's, and barely
getting 3 hrs sleep a night, never finding REM.
Dr's cant seem to tell me whether my children (teens/young adult) now are at higher risk
as the family history issue hasnt been long studied. My boys are all healthy, active, of normal
weight, and we're left with more questions than answers.

[Bearded_One]

I was never in denial regarding OSA, I accepted it as a treatable medical condition. I was not overweight when I was diagnosed in my late 30's, and I suspect that I have had it since early teens; which would mean that I had it while I was very muscular.

About a year after I started CPAP, I pursued surgery, but as my sleep specialist was my only source of information, I had no way at the time to know how useless surgery really is.

[yorkiemum01]

not meaning to take this thread off topic.....but the physicians I've seen in the last
year tell me the 'surgeries' for help/cure of sleep apnea are a 50/50 bet at best.
Would prefer better odds than that.

[Bearded_One]

The real success of surgeries is even worse than 50%, because "success" is defined as a 50% reduction in apneas.

[dtrain84]

great question! I am new to this forum and about 9 months into being diagnosed with SA - my doc even suggested my SA "might" go away if I lost weight - I need to lose about 25 lbs. BUT - I always have snored very heavily - (probably had SA but just never diagnosed) - even when I was in shape and at a good weight. So I don't know. I have not been able to adapt to CPAP yet - always tearing off mask at night - but just bought a full face mask and hoping that helps as I am a mouth breather. I can't even remember the last time I recalled dreaming.

[carbonman]

I suspect that I have had it since early teens; which would mean that I had it while I was very muscular.

B-One, I think I have had it since my teens, too. Always hard to sleep, always waking up,
sleeping for 12-14 hours at a time. Never really feeling rested.

Maybe when we you're young and stong, your body can fight it off and
still function. I didn't really notice the problem until I had pancreatitis
and almost died. That weakened my body and immune system so much,
that I no longer had the strength to fight off the fatigue.
That was 14yrs ago.

Thank God for cpap.

[jules]

Can Sleep Apnea Be Cured By Diet and Exercise?

NO

[Paul56]

The thought I had when diagnosed with apnea was... "I'll go on a diet, lose the weight and maybe the apnea at the same time."

After some reading I changed my tune and got a machine asap. I consider that only one portion of getting back into shape. I am eating more healthy, getting more exercise and the plan is to take off a few pounds.

So I would say to not set your expectations that losing weight & exercising will cure your apnea but that combined with apnea treatment it will improve your overall health which should be the goal.