Weight / Apnea

[snorestats]

OK...

We all know there is a relationship between weight and Sleep Apnea. My understanding is that those who have Sleep Apnea tend to be over weight (but of course, not always).

But, can the reverse be true? That is, can having Sleep Apnea cause weight gain? Has anyone been able to lose weight easier since being on CPAP?

Just curious.

[KeziasPurr]

I just started using Bi-Pap two nights ago, so I'm not sure if it will aide me in losing weight or not. But I have heard that it helps, b/c it gives you more energy during the day, which in turn speeds the metabolism. I hope it's true.

[Goofproof]

Everything effects everything, it's one of the Laws you can't get rid of.

If you feel better, you might do more things that burn fuel.

If you feel better, your body might use fuel more efficiently, causing you to put on weight.

Nature can be cruel, she doesn't provide easy answers.

The more healthy choices we make, the better we feel and longer we live, unless we get hit by a Bus or other mis-fortune. Jim

[DreamStalker]

Yes, OSA can cause weight gain. OSA starves your body of much needed oxygen while asleep … oxygen needed for metabolism and tissue repair/replacement and thus may place your body’s energy balance out of whack if your energy intake is not reduced to account for reduced energy output during sleep. In addition, OSA zaps much of your energy while awake thus making it more difficult to get proper exercise to burn calories once the body begins to gain weight.

I have slowly been losing weight since going on PAP treatment … but it is not the PAP treatment alone that is responsible. Rather it is an aid which allows me to have the energy to exercise and get rested sleep to regenerate used and exercised muscle tissue as well as improved organ function and improvement of other medical issues like hypertension and high cholesterol.

In the end, you must take advantage of the PAP treatment by actually using your new found rest and energy to exercise instead of sitting on the couch watching TV and you must also treat your body well by feeding it quality whole food nutrients instead of the commercialized addictive processed carbohydrate/sugar, antibiotic/hormone injected protein, and saturated/trans fat crap that the corporate food industry tries to pass off as food.

[Wulfman]

OK...

We all know there is a relationship between weight and Sleep Apnea. My understanding is that those who have Sleep Apnea tend to be over weight (but of course, not always).

But, can the reverse be true? That is, can having Sleep Apnea cause weight gain? Has anyone been able to lose weight easier since being on CPAP?

Just curious.

Please read the following article and see if you come up with the same conclusion I did over a year ago.

http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/issues/ar ... -07_08.asp

I've been of that opinion (apnea causes weight gain) for quite some time. Then I read that article and became even more convinced of the connection.

I would suspect that if many of the apnea victims (like me), at some point in their past....."burned the candle at both ends", worked multiple jobs, worked night shifts, stayed up late studying, and in many ways deprived ourselves of sleep. Apnea also tends to be hereditary.
I would imagine (thinking back on my life) that my apnea was increasing 25 or more years ago. I've probably snored for at least that long (I can remember being told that)......so maybe my OSA was gradually increasing. As someone who was very physically active and pretty fit, suffering some knee injuries about 20 years ago started slowing me down significantly.....and the weight started coming on......and kept coming......
Since being on CPAP, I'm losing some of it, just not as fast as I'd like......but then again, I didn't gain it all overnight, either.

Best wishes,

Den

[Guest]

In my experience, I gained 100 pounds or more. The only way I could stay awake on the job or driving was to eat. If I stopped eating, I would start to nod off. I even fell asleep on the phone in the middle of conversations with customers. Talk about embarrasing...... And of course, the more I ate, the more weight I would put on, and the worse the apnea became. That was over 20 years ago and I still haven't managed to get all the weight off, but I feel a whole lot better...

[Nitro Dan]

Sorry, got logged out for some reason....

[Bamalady]

Hi-

Here is a link to a thread I started asking about weight gain after beginning treatment.

viewtopic.php?t=14386&highlight=bamalady

I am 5' 6" tall and weighted 147 pounds before I started treatment...I got the Doc to tell me what was on my chart when I saw him last month. I have been using a machine for about 16 months now and weight a whopping 170 pounds. I had never had a weight problem. Before treatment, I thought about losing 10-12 pounds, but wasn't really concerned. Now I have about 35 pounds I need to loose.

The good news is that my weight seems to have stablized. I have not gained any more for the past couple of months.

Seems I am not the only one from the responses to the thread.

[DreamStalker]

Hi-

Here is a link to a thread I started asking about weight gain after beginning treatment.

viewtopic.php?t=14386&highlight=bamalady

I am 5' 6" tall and weighted 147 pounds before I started treatment...I got the Doc to tell me what was on my chart when I saw him last month. I have been using a machine for about 16 months now and weight a whopping 170 pounds. I had never had a weight problem. Before treatment, I thought about losing 10-12 pounds, but wasn't really concerned. Now I have about 35 pounds I need to loose.

The good news is that my weight seems to have stablized. I have not gained any more for the past couple of months.

Seems I am not the only one from the responses to the thread.

Could be non-CPAP related like a thyroid problem?

I am assuming that no ther changes have occured like diet or activity level or sudden change in glucose/insuline levels.

[Bamalady]

DreamStalker-

Could be non-CPAP related like a thyroid problem?

I am assuming that no ther changes have occured like diet or activity level or sudden change in glucose/insuline levels.

No problems with Thyroid or sugar.....Doc checked. I have not increased my food intake and my activity level is better than pre-PAP.

I asked the Dr. if he had other patients who had gained weight. He said, "No." I then asked why I was gaining???? His only explaination was that I must be resting better.

Obvious questions: But Doc, am I the only patient that is resting better? And if I am not, then why am I the one gaining weight??

No, I didn't ask those questions. I don't think it would have done any good.

I am just glad that the increase has stopped.

[kavanaugh1950]

bamalady, i too have put on about 30 lbs since starting cpap. i think my body is utilizing the food better. pat

[SleepingBeauty]

I was warned by the tech doing my sleep study about weight LOSS! He said not to become alarmed if I started losing weight. He said he lost 60 pounds the first year. Alarmed? I wanted to take the machine he was using to test me home with me and start that "dream diet" right away! My friends and I have always teased about going to sleep and waking up 20 pounds thinner.

Please don't tell me I might actually begin to gain weight! Because THAT alarms me!

[pedroski]

But, can the reverse be true? That is, can having Sleep Apnea cause weight gain? Has anyone been able to lose weight easier since being on CPAP?

I've only been on cpap for 6 weeks, but one thing I have noticed is that my appetite has reduced quite significantly. Pre pap I used to be ravenous in the afternoon and especially at night. Now I'm not, and I'm happy with smaller meals. As you probably already know, studies show sleeping fewer than eight hours a night boosts our levels of ghrelin, a hormone that makes us feel hungry, while suppressing another hormone, leptin, which makes us feel full. My sleep tech told me that these hormones are suppressed or boosted by around 15%, which gives us a net 30% weight inducing effect!

http://www.dana.org/books/press/brainwo ... sleep.html

Peter

[Hurricane]

Here is another twist on weight gain, since going on cpap I have lost 20 lbs. being my Dr put me on lasix ( water pill) I was happy with that but then went into a no loss period. My wife works, I retired a couple of years ago, so I took over the cooking so that supper would be ready when she got home. I bought a couple low fat cook books, recipes came out fine we both enjoyed the meals, but no more weight loss, I showed the book to my daughter,over the holidays saying how disapointed I was not having any weight loss, then she slamed me with Dad, these recipes are for 6 people, Duh we were eating 4 others portions, Hard to eat a steak the size of a deck of cards, what they recomend, so portion control is what we are working on now.
Fortunatly we both aren't that much over weight, so yes cpap is important, along with diet and excercise, that has always been hard for me ,
Looking forward to this year, planning to take better care of myself, and other half.
Hurricane

[bookwrm63]

Thanks for that laugh Hurricane! I can just picture it now...how funny! Well good luck!