I lost 70 lbs. Do I need my machine?

So I started using an Aircurve 10 VAuto nearly two years ago. I have lost 70 lbs and I have gotten myself into much better shape at the age of 63. My apnea numbers were recently around 3 per hour with the machine. I struggled to get it below ten till a few months ago when it just started dropping. Presumably due to my weight loss.

The past three nights I have slept without the machine. I must say the sleep has been very restful as far as I can know. Prior to CPAP, I snored like a grizzly bear. I don't even snore now at all according to my very light sleeping wife, without the machine since my physical changes.

So how do I know if I no longer "need" the machine? I use a FitBit which has a sleep tracker. It estimates Rem sleep and light sleep as well as time awake. Is it safe to assume that if it is registering a consistently high amount of Rem and Light sleep and little awake time that I am fine not going back to the machine?

Thank you!

The_Boaphile wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 08, 2023 5:27 pm

Is it safe to assume that if it is registering a consistently high amount of Rem and Light sleep and little awake time that I am fine not going back to the machine?

You need another sleep study to know for sure if you can ditch the machine or not.
No other way to know.
Home study would be fine as long as it is a Type 2 home study.

Hi - There's another letter down below yours by about 15-18 notes... heading "Lost 100 pounds: no improvement". Why not read that and see what you think afterward.

here's the post julie refers to-

viewtopic/t186474/Lost-100-pounds-no-im ... ead#unread

(good catch, julie!)

I really need to leave a link sometimes, don't I!

Julie wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 08, 2023 8:55 pm

I really need to leave a link sometimes, don't I!

no worries, i got you covered!

I also lost about 40lbs. Took a second sleep study after that, and while my AHI went down, didn't get to "normal". The AHI on my side was about 4, considerably better than my first sleep study, but on my back about 52. If I slept solely on my side, which I try to do but don't quite get there *smile*, I could squeak by as "normal". However, I'd rather have an AHI of less than 1, which is where I'm at with a CPAP machine. Then I also don't have to worry about pushing sleeping on my side, I can just be comfortable and not think about it. Although, as I said, I do try to sleep on my side...if I wake up and I'm sleeping on my back, I just roll onto my side *smile*.

So yes, the answer is that you need to take another sleep study to see where you stand after weight loss. No fun, but I used Ambien this time and got a lot more sleep, much better than my first sleep study where I got about 3 hours of sleep total. They had to wake me up to get me to sleep on my back to get enough back-sleeping data.

I lost 10 lbs since last fall, and noticed my AHIs dropped from 3-5 to less than 2, and often below 1 starting in January. I even had a night of zero, which never happened in the past.

Two weeks ago, my CPAP motor had been making a horrific noise, making it impossible to stay asleep. Stopped using the machine, and in the meantime, have been using a mandibular advancement device that I had used before starting CPAP in 2020. Been sleeping pretty well, and my snoring (according to my wife and SnoreLab app) has been minimal.

Prescription for new machine put into DME last week, but having slight problem with insurance since unit is only around 3 years old (warranty expired after 2 years). I assume that the Doc will get this worked out, but spoke to DME and they said Resmed machines are back ordered for 2-3 weeks.

Since February, my tolerance to the CPAP machine had been decreasing and went from 6 hours of use to barely making it to 4 hours. Would often awake in middle of night, and sometimes had a hard time going back to sleep. Much of it was from difficult nasal breathing (congestion), or sometimes my head would get hot from the mask and taking it off was the only way to fall back asleep.

To be honest, I'm really happy not having to deal with middle of the night waking. Will eventually start on CPAP when new machine comes, but not having to deal with the sleep disruption and the machine maintenance makes it tempting to stick with MAD and ditch the whole thing.