Losing weight really is the best long term solution

[Bapple60]

Hi All,

I'm a newbie and I love how the Guest post generated such a furor. I really learned quite a bit just reading responses to his/her post and the responses to the responses.
I have probably had OSA since childhood. My parents complained about my snoring when I was a youngster. I was a string-bean until my thirties when mother nature player her dirty little metabolism trick.
Now I am losing weight again, (~30 lbs) but my OSA has been a constant throughout. My extra weight seemed to make it worse (at least that's what my wife tells me!).
I arrived at CPAP therapy through a rigorous diagnostic program to determine my heart and vascular health (Bale-Doneen method). Getting a sleep study was part of it and CPAP was indicated, but lowering my BMI and getting plenty of exercise is also a big part of my treatment.

As far as I'm concerned, I want to confront all my health issues in as many constructive ways as I can. As near as I can tell, the folks on this forum are doing what they can to deal significant problems and should be proud of themselves. If I can ever get used to wearing this rig I know I will be!

Cheers,

Bill

[Kiralynx]

Odd that there's not one post here about how someone exercised, dropped some weight as requested by a doctor and improved their lot. <snip> It's odd that people don't talk more about fitness in general here. Google how to get better sleep and you'll always see exercise and eating well listed. I guess people are just happy to stick with the machine and hope for the best.

Guess you missed my post about losing 180 pounds. And keeping it off. I didn't, by the way, lose it on doctor's orders. I did it by embarking on a life-style change which my doctor, the same doctor who missed diagnosing my sleep apnea, and who missed diagnosing my endometrial cancer, thought foolish. That same doctor told me to "take a little lomotil" for my IBS issues. Changing my eating style solved the IBS issues. Still, I was told by an endocrinologist that I had to get off the diet which allowed me to feel better AND lose weight that I had to get off my unhealthy diet and eat lots of the kinds of foods which made me sick in the first place. In other words, I should stop eating pastured meats and cheeses, organic vegetables and fruits, almonds and pecans, a few legumes, homemade yogurt. Instead, I should eat lots of pasta and rice and bread. Huh?

I do 6-9 hours of water therapy every week. I also do tai chi, which my orthopedist says is the best exercise in the world for joint health, several times a week.

So where did you get the idea that I -- and many others in this Forum -- are "just happy to stick with the machine and hope for the best"?

My Bipap Auto SV is a valuable contribution to my over-all healthy plan. It has alleviated much of my hip and joint pain, just as my pain management doctor said it would. Yet it is not the only thing I am doing.

I come to this Forum to discuss Things XPAP. For food related issues, I visit a cooking Forum, or the SCD Forum where I discuss my lifestyle. For exercise, I talk to my physical therapists, since I am limited in what I can do, thanks to a 1982 back injury, and subsequent injuries in 2004 and 2005, not to mention the lymphedema issues resulting from my 2008 cancer surgery.

I suggest that you register, and then spend time reading in this Forum before stamping on people with a condition as being fat and lazy.

[Bearded_One]

...
Or possibly they had OHS (obesity hypoventilation syndrome) instead of OSA or in addition to their OSA.

Thanks Sleepy; I had assumed that it was OSA because they had been on CPAP and I wasn't aware of OHS.

[roster]

.......

And how about concetrating on health at every size, and not weight?

http://www.lindabacon.org/HAESbook/excerpts.html

O.

Oh, poor Linda, what a last name for someone with her views!

But on the other hand, there are some doctors who maintain that fat, even saturated fat, is good for the health of humans. When I was dieting/exercising/sleeping to lose weight, I ate a lot of fat. Mostly from nuts, olive oil, soy milk, sardines, and herring. It was the carbs that I cut back.

And then maybe Mr. Bacon is a fine husband.

O., thanks for the link.

[roster]

...one renowned SDB doctor believes the jaw began to narrow in our population about 200 years ago for some unknown reason...

Thanks for sharing this Rooster! It ties in with info I've read that as grains became an increasingly larger portion of our diets, we became shorter and less strong, our faces narrowed, our dental arch narrowed, our immune weakened, and our overall health declined with each successive generation experiencing these effects a bit more.

Muse,

Thanks, I only heard this from one doctor and expected it would be refuted. But it looks like you have seen more information that it is true.

So our grain-based diet is not only directly fouling up our body's response to carbs and insulin, but it is also doing it indirectly by causing SDB.

Regards,

[pandaspandaspandas]

I'm an athletic 21 year-old male. My BMI is 22.2 with less than 10% body fat. I was diagnosed with severe OSA a week ago, but I've had it for years. It has more to do with the structure of your airways than anything else. Yet it's very difficult for individuals in my situation to get a proper diagnosis because of the association with being overweight. Doctors are more likely to misdiagnosis because sleep apnea is given low consideration for thin or fit individuals.

[BlackSpinner]

So our grain-based diet is not only directly fouling up our body's response to carbs and insulin, but it is also doing it indirectly by causing SDB.

How ever we have been eating a grain/vegetable based diet for millenniums - most Hunter/ gathers societies had only 5-25% meat - very lean meat in their diet, the rest was wild gather grains, berries and roots. The reality is that pre-historic people had a hard time getting fats in their diet rather then the other way around.

[SleepyT]

Seems like the guest troll stirred up the pot pretty well! Beware the trolls! (BTW...I'm in the normal range for weight to height.....still have OSA....how many times do we have to say....it's not all about the weight!)

[wrenn]

I lost 115 lbs and went back for a new sleep study. Nothing had changed.

Generalizations never hold up guest.

[Jason S.]

I am 6"1 and weigh about 185... guess I am in the minority?

I think you are making a blanket statement there which is not accurate.

kudos for losing weight there, but do not put us all in the same boat. I am sure there is plenty of members in here with
more pounds on their frame then they should, however patting yourself on the back and then asking what everyone else is doing?

I hope I ma just taking your post the wrong way.

Me too. I've actually gained 10-12 lbs on CPAP, despite an increase in exercise and a better diet. My understanding the reason is I am no longer burning calories in restless sleep and I am digesting better now than I was pre-CPAP. I'd like to shed some from my gut but at 6'3" 195#, being overweight is not the cause of my OSA.

[drj130]

I am 6"1 and weigh about 185... guess I am in the minority?

I think you are making a blanket statement there which is not accurate.

kudos for losing weight there, but do not put us all in the same boat. I am sure there is plenty of members in here with
more pounds on their frame then they should, however patting yourself on the back and then asking what everyone else is doing?

I hope I ma just taking your post the wrong way.

Me too. I've actually gained 10-12 lbs on CPAP, despite an increase in exercise and a better diet. My understanding the reason is I am no longer burning calories in restless sleep and I am digesting better now than I was pre-CPAP. I'd like to shed some from my gut but at 6'3" 195#, being overweight is not the cause of my OSA.

I'm 5' 6", 149 pounds so I'm guessing that I'm in that minority with these two. As far as being active, well I don't think that you can get much more active than me, being in the military and all that.

Being overweight can add to the cause, but it is not the one single thing that causes it. I myself believe that mine is in part of my cleft palet and lip. But I could be wrong.

David

[roster]

How ever we have been eating a grain/vegetable based diet for millenniums - .....

The point, which I did not state, is that about 200 years ago man developed methods for milling wheat very finely. This allowed intake of high carbs with very little chewing. This is one doc's hypothesis on why the human jaw has narrowed in the last couple of centuries. If anyone has any sources of additional information, please post the links.

....... most Hunter/ gathers societies had only 5-25% meat - very lean meat in their diet, the rest was wild gather grains, berries and roots. The reality is that pre-historic people had a hard time getting fats in their diet rather then the other way around.

I understand that many of the societies ate large amounts of fatty nuts in season and scavenged the fatty bone marrow from large animals killed by carnivores. The carnivores could not break the bones of deer, bison, buffalo, antelope, etc., but the humans could with stones and other tools.

[raneyday]

Wow, you make it sound like adjusting to CPAP is easy. I only wish it were! It's taken me months and months to finally adjust to it, and I'd still give just about anything never to have to use it again. I've done CPAP and I've lost weight--losing weight has been easier and less stressful. Of course maybe losing weight is easier now because I'm getting decent sleep. There's a thought...

[Guest]

How ever we have been eating a grain/vegetable based diet for millenniums - .....

The point, which I did not state, is that about 200 years ago man developed methods for milling wheat very finely. This allowed intake of high carbs with very little chewing. This is one doc's hypothesis on why the human jaw has narrowed in the last couple of centuries. If anyone has any sources of additional information, please post the links.
[/quote]

While this might be happening, I doubt it has occurred. We're only talking 200 years, 6 or 7 generations at best, a relatively short period of time for an evolutionary change such as that taking place.

[BlackSpinner]

is that about 200 years ago man developed methods for milling wheat very finely. This allowed intake of high carbs with very little chewing.

Only in certain select societies, not in general humanity and 200 years is a minor blip.