Weight Loss and rid sleep apnea?

[jstill]

Hello, i was just curious on here if anyone has lost a good amount of weight, and was able to rid their sleep apnea and rid the cpap machine? Thank you

[Woody]

It can happen but don't bet on it. Sometimes your sleep apnia will even get worse with
weight loss. A friend om mine was 90 lb overweight and hers got worse after losing 80 lbs.
And sometimes it will get better and you think you are cured when you arn't all that much
better. By the way a good exercise program ofton helps a great deal even in the absence of
weight loss.

[Wulfman...]

Hello, i was just curious on here if anyone has lost a good amount of weight, and was able to rid their sleep apnea and rid the cpap machine? Thank you

Not many. It was probably the Sleep Apnea that caused the weight gain to begin with. The CPAP therapy MAY help some people lose some weight though. Too many people have their thinking backwards with regard to these situations.
Don't forget, there are also people of "normal" size or even skinny who have Sleep Apnea. And, there are three types of Sleep Apnea......Obstructive, Central and Mixed. Any of them can cause a loss of oxygen while sleeping. The loss of oxygen is what screws up the body's metabolism and hormones and contributes to weight gain. Remember......this is a BREATHING disorder and NOT a "sleeping" disorder.


Den

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[chunkyfrog]

It has been known to happen, though rather uncommon.
Losing excess weight is always a good thing.
Any motivation to drop the adipose is a huge plus.
It might even make cpap more tolerable.

[Janknitz]

Losing weight, especially by adopting a more healthful lifestyle, is always a good thing, and yes, some people who lose weight do "graduate" from needing CPAP AS LONG AS THE EXCESS WEIGHT STAYS OFF. Do a search for a recent post by member Roseacre who was able to get off CPAP after losing via gastric bypass.

But this result happens far less frequently than your doctor would have you think. And losing weight with untreated apnea is very, very difficult, so it's not an either or. If you do lose weight, don't assume your apnea is "cured"-- you need to have that confirmed with a sleep test.

[bignews1and2]

I started therapy and Atkins in 02/14. 3 months later I lost 15 pounds. I was excited because 2 years before being diagnosed I lost the same weight on same diet and got a lot of energy back. At the time I thought it was just the diet. Having been diagnosed I surmised my weight loss cured my apnea. Having been down 15 pounds in May I diagnosed myself cured and stopped therapy. Insurance came knocking for my SD card in August. I started up again because i didn't want to lose the machine for nights when i may have imbibed and found i shouldn't have stopped. I'll keep using until a test says I can stop.

[Wulfman...]

I started therapy and Atkins in 02/14. 3 months later I lost 15 pounds. I was excited because 2 years before being diagnosed I lost the same weight on same diet and got a lot of energy back. At the time I thought it was just the diet. Having been diagnosed I surmised my weight loss cured my apnea. Having been down 15 pounds in May I diagnosed myself cured and stopped therapy. Insurance came knocking for my SD card in August. I started up again because i didn't want to lose the machine for nights when i may have imbibed and found i shouldn't have stopped. I'll keep using until a test says I can stop.

Did you lose your machine (when the insurance came knocking) or were you able to keep it? It sounds like you still have one, but I was just wondering about the situation you described.


Den

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[Janknitz]

Having been diagnosed I surmised my weight loss cured my apnea. Having been down 15 pounds in May I diagnosed myself cured and stopped therapy. Insurance came knocking for my SD card in August.

You're making some pretty broad assumptions there.

[Too tall]

I definitely do think you can lose weight and greatly improve your AHI. I lost 60 lbs and dropped my AHI to an 8 however I don't know what it was before the weight lose but based on my day time sleep issues going away and snoring being eliminated after the weight lose, I think I was considerable highter than an 8 AHI. I can't prove it however. I'd get skinny and take another sleep test. Good luck, hope you can get off the CPAP.

[rosacer]

Hi jstill,

I lost almost 100% of the excess weight to arrive to the normal BMI via Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, a lot of exercise (I still do exercise and I will do for the rest of my life), reducing the amount of calories I intake and the kind of food I eat ( I follow a healthy diet high in proteins and low in carbohydrates and sugars, no alcohol, pastries, candies, plain sugar, syrups, greasy food, ice cream, soft drinks, etc. Food is fuel, period ! ).

I would like to clarify that what will make you loss the excess weight is not the bariatric surgery (no matter which do you have) it is what you will do with it to change the way you eat and how much activity you do and I repeat for the rest of your life. Even after bariatric surgery you can regain ALL the weight back if you don't change anything else.

Here in Quebec Canada, when you are not a super obese one of the reasons you can be put on a list for bariatric surgery is to have a co- morbidity like sleep apnea, among others. If sleep apnea is one of the morbidities in the list it is because medicine thinks there are chances to get rid of it loosing weight.

I don't think or say 100% of sleep apenea patients whom will lost the excess weight will get rid of it and the statistics doesn't tell that neither but still there is a % of people whom will get rid of it.

The only way to know if you are free or not is to have a sleep test once you have arrived to the healthy weight or close to it. I had one in the hospital where I slept all the night at 4cmH2o because the tech didn't think I needed to have more pressure and because my prescription was for a sleep test to find the new pressure I needed. It was not a split test so I slept all night with the cpap machine connected at the lowest pressure possible. The results was an AHI=5.2 if I remember well and because of that I had a second sleep test this time using a in-house machine sleeping without mask or CPAP.

The result was AHI=2.0. So, the doctor declared me free from sleep apnea. He sent me a very subtle warning about regaining weight and telling that his office was opened for me in case of need in a future. My conclusion is that yes there is people able to get rid of sleep apnea loosing weight but it's not a guarantee. If I remember well the statistics tells something like 50% of chances.

When my doctor knew I was going to have bariatric surgery he gave me right away a prescription for the sleep test to find my new pressure, he even didn't told to see if you are free from sleep apnea he told to find the new pressure. Nobody with sleep apnea and excess weight can know if he/she will get rid of the machine until the weight is gone, and in my opinion not everyone will get worse (higher pressure needed) because he/she lost weight. We can't generalize the good or the bad it is a case by case situation and it is to walk in the unknown.

I'm having a hard time believing I'm free from OSA even after two sleep tests. I thought I was one of those people whom have small air ways or sinus problems or name it. I still need to be convinced by the time but I also believe there is people able to get rid of it. Time will confirm my freedom or my captivity

Rosie

[Woody]

I saw one web page indicating that a low carb diet may help sleep apnea even
without any weight loss. And to go along with this I saw a couple of post saying
their sleep apnea did clear up on a low carb diet after just a week or 2 long before
any real weight loss. I sure would like to know if losing 100lbs would cure my sleep
apnia and while I am wishing that would happen winning the lottery wouldn't be bad
either.

[Julie]

Ok, first of all whatever you read saying a low carb diet magically got rid of someone's sleep apnea in a week is nonsense... there's a lot of that out there on the web, usually posted by people trying to sell something and get rich quick. Second, if losing a LOT of weight incidentally helps one (of very many) person to be able to stop using Cpap, following a proper new sleep study after weight loss, then that one person has been very lucky and good for them. But the great majority of people on Cpap may lose (or gain) e.g. 20 lbs at a given time, need a lower Cpap pressure for a while, but then gain the weight back again, and hopefully still be using Cpap. Most of us aren't able to lose e.g. 100 lb just like that AND keep it off, let alone be able to stop using Cpap altogether - anatomy being what it is, sleep apnea will be present in some people no matter how skinny they are and weight is only part of it all. So while low carb diets can be great for weight loss, don't kid yourself that losing a few lbs over a few weeks will let you quit Cpap... never going to happen that way. And the only way you can know if you no longer have apnea is to have a new sleep study... never assume that having lost some weight means you are 'cured'!

[49er]

Ok, this board keeps generally claiming that weight loss will not get rid of sleep apnea but what scientific links is that based on? I know Black Spinner provided one that said that around 49% of people were able to after bariatric surgery (hope I have that right) but anybody have any other proof?

In all fairness, I haven't seen any research that proves otherwise. But isn't the responsible reply to say we don't know, weight loss never hurts to improve health, get a sleep study to find out if you can get rid of the machine or not after you are done losing all the weight.

Just wondering as I am concerned that people will get discouraged by the responses and not even make an attempt to lose weight.

49er

[Julie]

People who need to lose weight should do it regardless of apnea and Cpap, but if their ultimate goal is to get off Cpap, then they should understand that it's not very likely to happen without major changes, as well as being smart about getting a sleep study to confirm things.

I think it's discouraging to be told 'just lose the weight and you'll get off Cpap', only to find it doesn't often work that way... better to understand that while it may in a few cases of substantial weight loss be possible to quit Cpap, that you'll still feel much better for having lost the weight, Cpap or not, lower pressure or not. If I found out that my hard work of weight loss did not let me come off the mask when I fully expected that I would, I'd be very tempted to go out and eat my head off!

[49er]

People who need to lose weight should do it regardless of apnea and Cpap, but if their ultimate goal is to get off Cpap, then they should understand that it's not very likely to happen without major changes, as well as being smart about getting a sleep study to confirm things.

I think it's discouraging to be told 'just lose the weight and you'll get off Cpap', only to find it doesn't often work that way... better to understand that while it may in a few cases of substantial weight loss be possible to quit Cpap, that you'll still feel much better for having lost the weight, Cpap or not, lower pressure or not. If I found out that my hard work of weight loss did not let me come off the mask when I fully expected that I would, I'd be very tempted to go out and eat my head off!

Excellent points Julie. I guess I was looking at it from the point of view that if we tell people that losing weight won't lead to losing the cpap, folks might not even try. So that is why I may seen anal retentive about this.

And it still goes back to my point that there is no research to say one way or another. So why not just say, we don't know what the research says but losing weight definitely will improve your health as long as you implement the necessary lifestyle changes. And get a sleep study to find out one way or another. And you could add in the disclaimer that if you're just losing weight to get off of the CPAP, that is wrong reason since there isn't any solid research either way.