Am I screwed?

I'm a 34 year old male who weighs 270 pounds and is 6 feet 3 and a half inches tall. I've recently been diagnosed with very severe sleep apnea with a AHI of 77 and I'm really freaking out. I suffer from chronic anxiety and OCD which are not helping the situation at all. I'm afraid that I'll die from this very soon and I might hate wearing the machine when sleeping. Could of the result been much worse? Did I break records having an ASI of 77 or have many people scored in this range? If I lose a lot of weight, can my sleep apnea become moderate or mild or even go away completely?

DarthMaster09 wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 13, 2025 12:57 pm

Did I break records having an ASI of 77 or have many people scored in this range?

While it sounds like a lot you aren't alone and you didn't break any records. I know of people with a diagnostic AHI of well over 100.

DarthMaster09 wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 13, 2025 12:57 pm

If I lose a lot of weight, can my sleep apnea become moderate or mild or even go away completely?

Maybe.....maybe not.
It all depends on how much of a factor your weight is making on your results.
What about all those skinny ass people who have OSA????? Weight alone isn't the sole primary cause.
Plus we have known of people who lose a significant amount of weight and their pressure needs have gone up and not down.

Lots of maybes.

DarthMaster09 wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 13, 2025 12:57 pm

I suffer from chronic anxiety and OCD which are not helping the situation at all.

Emotional health issues are often the result of untreated sleep apnea and the resulting sleep deprivation. The good news is things may improve for you with successful CPAP treatment.

You're definitely not screwed. There are a lot of different mask options, so don't give up on CPAP therapy if you have issues early on. When I started, I had to swap masks five times before I found one that worked well for me. It also generally takes a bit of time to get used to sleeping with the machine (how long depends on the person; in my case it was about two to three weeks).

As already mentioned, mental health issues are greatly exacerbated by poor sleep. If you can stick with it and get successful treatment, it is quite likely that this will improve significantly for you.

Sounds like you haven't started with CPAP yet. Yes, there are lots of different CPAP masks, I'm sure that you can find one that works for you. This forum is a good source of help to get you over the bumps and pot holes that may come up. The main thing is to stop worrying until you actually have something to worry about. Just follow the path of getting therapy for your sleep apnea...get a CPAP machine, try some masks, and get comfortable with it. Things may go very well for you, there's really no point in getting all worked up about it before you've even started on CPAP. Your energy is better put into to getting started with CPAP instead of into worrying about what might happen. You know at some level that you need CPAP therapy, just go with it and don't worry about it at this point.

I have severe apnea. I was diagnosed with 70 AHI and I continue to have clusters of that AHI for over an hour 18 years after my first sleep study. I feel my being overweight contributes to my sleep apnea which began 33 years ago at age 40 when I became overweight after a back injury. I once lost 20 lbs. due to an illness and my AHI went down. I gained back 30 lbs. and it went back up. I stay anxious, exhausted, and depressed due to my poor health but just lately I've been making adjustments to get better therapy and better sleep, which gives relief to anxiety and depression as the fatigue and sleepiness go down.

I am still adjusting my machine after 18 years of therapy and finding better gear as it becomes available. You will find advice here that can help you find the quality treatment that may back out the screw.

Yes, losing weight in my opinion can reduce AHI.
Beginning CPAP therapy can be so difficult some give up but some adapt, as I did with time. It was a heck of a trip getting used to the monster on my face. (dreams of the Alien movie face grabbing thing)
Diagnosed with 70 AHI is treatable and needs to be asap.
Poor sleep wrecks your body and mind's health.

When I have AHI 70 clusters and pretherapy, waking is like what I think coming out of a coma could be like. It takes a couple of hours to be fully awake then the day is ruined by fatigue exhaustion, anxiety, depression, and sleepiness to the point of narcolepsy 2 (feel as if you are going to pass out trying to stay awake).

I started in 2008 with an untreated AHI of 147 or so. Got my AHI average below 1 with my machines. I have only tried to sleep without a machine 2 times, neither my choice. Both times were miserable. When I was diagnosed I would get up to pee 4 or 5 times a night. I was also ready for a nap at 10 AM. Now I don't nap, I can drive without falling asleep too. I think I have had sleep apnea since my early teens. Most of my working career was shift rotation. I blamed my constant sleepiness on my hours. I couldn't believe the change getting my BiPap machines made for me. I was in the ER due to atrial fibrillation waiting to get admitted for a pacemaker and I refused to go to sleep untill they got me a room where I could plug in my machine. Good luck with your new machine and believe me, if you work at making PAP treatment successful, you will feel naked without your mask on at night.

My AHI was 78, so I'm right there with you.

I hated CPAP at first, and came to it kicking and screaming. But I decided I had NO CHOICE if I wanted to live. So failure was not an option.

I made little, simple goals. I once saw a billboard that said "the best goals are halfway achieved when you set them". In other words, baby steps. That has been my approach to problem-solving ever since.

The first baby step for me was to be able to sleep 1 entire hour with a mask on. This was HARD,I had panic attacks due to claustrophobia from the mask (I was started with full face masks). But I made a rule for myself that if I wanted to rip the mask off I had to count to 10 SLOWLY first. Then instead of ripping off the mask, I made myself count to 10 again, and a third time if I got through that--only then could I take the mask off. About half the time, I didn't need to rip it off after the third time. AND, if I did take it off, I had to put it back on when I was calmer. No trying to sleep without it. It took a few weeks for me to find a mask I could sleep in and make it a whole hour. Hopefully, it won't be that hard for you (much better masks these days!).

After I made it one hour, I went for 2. I still had panic attacks, but now about 75% of the time I didn't need to take off the mask. It was much easier to get to 2 hours. I would wake every 2 hours or so, often did not have to take off the mask to calm down and go back to sleep.

Next baby step was 4 hours, no longer needing to take the mask off at all when I woke. Then 6 hours, and finally 8 full hours.

The first morning I slept through the night with the mask, I woke up in an entirely different space. Instead of panicked and angry--as I had been since childhood (I think I have had apnea since I was a child), I woke up calm and comfortable--like floating on a cloud. I enjoyed the sensation of cool air from the mask and I didn't want to remove it immediately. My first good night.

Next goal was more good nights than bad. There were some bad nights when I would wake every few hours, and sometimes in a panic, but gradually the bad nights became fewer and fewer.

My final goal was to just be able to put the mask on my face and go to sleep as automatically as I put on my pj's. No big deal, rarely or never having "bad nights". Eventually I got there.

Now I'm at a point where they would have to pry the machine out of my cold, dead, hands to make me sleep without it. I wake up before my alarm and enjoy the sensation of the cool air on my face. I'm comfortable and calm--it's like the best drug ever. I love my CPAP now.

You may be a lucky one who takes to CPAP like a duck to water, or you may ride the struggle bus like I did. But here's the most important thing I can tell you--you mentioned anxiety and OCD. With severe apnea like you and I have, you are spending every night bathed in a cocktail of stress hormones. When your apnea is treated, that doesn't happen anymore. And a lot (admittedly not all!) of my daytime anxiety WENT AWAY. Life is much better.

So don't let your anxiety and OCD be an excuse for not working as hard as you can to learn to use CPAP. Let it be your motivation. You CAN feel better in your skin. Do the hard work.

We can help in your journey. As problems come up, ask for help here. We can be your advisors and cheering squad. Go for it.