When to do a new sleep study after weight loss?

[nomad]

Here's my deal... I've made the decision to be healthy again. I'm a male, 5'10", was 240 lbs and am now down to 218 (better diet and am exercising 3 to 5 times per week - a lot of walking). In the next few months, I plan on being down to 190 to 195. I think for my frame, that'll be a good weight for me. I guess I'll reevaluate when I get there.

Anyway, my question is:

At what point in your weight loss would it be beneficial to go in for another sleep study to see if your settings have changed? Should I wait until I hit my goal or would I be better off doing it sooner? Just curious...

[Wulfman...]

Your profile shows a REMstar Pro 2, which collects nightly data to the Smart card.
If you can get hold of the Encore Pro software and a card reader, it would be much cheaper to monitor your therapy than to have further sleep studies. And, if you can't find the software, do either your local DME or doctor have it to download your card?
With that knowledge, you could tweak your own therapy any time you want or need to.

Den

[Wyl]

I'm an inch shorter than you, and have gone through the same type of thing and even started at the same weight more or less (I peaked at 238). While I can't tell you what you should weigh, 190-195 at least on the BMI charts would put you at 27-28, which is still "overweight" with elevated risks for health problems. You probably should be shooting for closer to 160 actually (BMI 23). I'm down to 173 and still heading for 149 as my target (BMI 22), and while I look and feel a lot better than I did at 238, I still have a spare tire that needs some more work -lol-

That said, to a large degree you'll have to go by how you're feeling as far as another a sleep study goes. At my first set of studies in 2000 I weighed 230 and had an AHI of 23. I had another set of studies done in July (2007) at 186 or so lbs, and had an AHI of 67 (sounds counterintuitive, but that's what it was). My pressure titrated at 10 both in 2000 and 2007, but I've found that I do better on 11 now than 10.

So unless you're feeling significantly different during the day to where you think your weight loss is impacting your therapy, I probably wouldn't worry too much about a follow up study until you get to where you intend to be weight-wise. Although an alternative would be to see if your doc will get you a rental APP for a couple of weeks to make sure your pressure requirements are still the same.

[nomad]

Yeah, I have the card. I guess I can take it to my DME and get him to read it. I just don't need to be shelling out the $$$ for the reader and software right now.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure any new sleep study would be 100% covered by my insurance. They've been really good about covering all my CPAP stuff. I've never had to pay for anything... not even any co-pays. I'm pretty fortunate in that department.

[Goofproof]

Feed the Kitty! Meow! Jim

Better to get a one night guess than know every night. Not for me.

[nomad]

190-195 at least on the BMI charts would put you at 27-28, which is still "overweight" with elevated risks for health problems. You probably should be shooting for closer to 160 actually (BMI 23). I'm down to 173 and still heading for 149 as my target (BMI 22), and while I look and feel a lot better than I did at 238, I still have a spare tire that needs some more work -lol-

Right now at 218, my BMI is consistently hovering around 27-30. Thanks to genetics, I have fairly broad shoulders, and a thick chest. Regardless of what my weight ends up being, I would like to see a BMI in the low 20's like you said.

That seems really odd that your AHI's went up when you lost weight. I've always hear it's the other way around.

[superjet as a guest]

If you get to the point where you feel your sleep is not as good as it was when you first got on CPAP (qualitatively), go in or start monitoring yourself with software. Only you can decide when any symptoms return.

Congrats on the weight loss so far, and good luck keeping it going. The favorable changes in your metabolism from consolidating your sleep sound like they're working to your advantage.

Super Jetty jet jet.