Weight Loss and rid sleep apnea?

Woody wrote:I saw a little article about childhood stuttering and sleep apnea. It boiled
down to the Dr's concluding that a slight brain difference from childhood may
predispose us to sleep apnea. They were almost apologetic saying that before
they made this finding they always thought it was just the fat. http://articles.latimes.com/2002/nov/19 ... na-apnea19

Read the article and my first thoughts were thank goodness I am not a man or was fat or stuttered! Ok that was tongue in cheek.

Woody wrote:I saw a little article about childhood stuttering and sleep apnea. It boiled
down to the Dr's concluding that a slight brain difference from childhood may
predispose us to sleep apnea. They were almost apologetic saying that before
they made this finding they always thought it was just the fat. http://articles.latimes.com/2002/nov/19 ... na-apnea19

Seems overly simplistic to just throw away, the structural causes to suggest it's "brain damage". I don't suggest that the discovery of a possible link between stuttering in childhood and OSA, but would suggest that it may be 1 of the causes.

Since having been diagnosed with osa I look back and realize I had symptoms 20 years ago. I only weighed 165 them and for ten years after. 165 for me is almost under weight. I knew off I lose weight I will still have osa

I have used a BIPAP (?) for almost 10 years. I have lost over 20% of my body weight over the last 2 years. Over the last 6 weeks or so, I haven't been able to sleep through the night; I feel like I only sleep for about 15 minutes and then wake up. Could the pressure level be too high, causing me to wake up so often?

Keitz - I suggest you start your own new thread, and please give more info for us to go by so we can help... like what specific machine & model # you use, what type of mask, what pressure settings are now, what meds you might be on, anything you can think of that could remotely be related.

Will do - tune in tomorrow Thanks!

kellz wrote:I have used a BIPAP (?) for almost 10 years. I have lost over 20% of my body weight over the last 2 years. Over the last 6 weeks or so, I haven't been able to sleep through the night; I feel like I only sleep for about 15 minutes and then wake up. Could the pressure level be too high, causing me to wake up so often?

You could also need MORE pressure. Not only is weight loss a 50% chance of getting rid off OSA but it can also mean your OSA gets worse as several people on the forum can testify.

49er wrote:Ok, this board keeps generally claiming that weight loss will not get rid of sleep apnea but what scientific links is that based on? I know Black Spinner provided one that said that around 49% of people were able to after bariatric surgery (hope I have that right) but anybody have any other proof?

In all fairness, I haven't seen any research that proves otherwise. But isn't the responsible reply to say we don't know, weight loss never hurts to improve health, get a sleep study to find out if you can get rid of the machine or not after you are done losing all the weight.

Just wondering as I am concerned that people will get discouraged by the responses and not even make an attempt to lose weight.

49er

I believe that's exactly what I said!

Here goes...

In July 2013 I weighed 240 lbs. A friend gave me an old mountain bike and after the first ride I knew that I had to lose weight or die on some trail somewhere (and I have ridden bikes for 30+ years).

In July 2014 I was down to 170 lbs and I am still at that weight. Ironically I busted a clavicle 6 weeks ago so I am in the process of healing.

As I started to lose weigh my apnea got worse, AHI was creeping up and eventually got over 10, (historically it has been around 4.5 due to 2.5-3.0 centrals), with some 60+ second long obstructive apneas.

At 190lbs got a sleep study and the conclusion was my pressure needed to drop from 12.6cm to 5-6cm. AHI sleep study AHI was great, real life AHI was off the charts. Got an oximeter and it confirmed a real problem existed. Sleep doc stuck by their "gold standard" and my S9 and my 50D oximeter were both giving incorrect data.

I happened to read a reply by Chicago Granny to someone, who was waiting for a machine, to get a cervical collar until the machine gets there as it helps to tilt head back to clearing passageway for CPR. Searched and found threads by Julie and Mars on using a cervical collar.

I went out and bought one and also played around with various type and height on the bed pillows and it has solved the high AHI and long duration obstructive apneas. Lately my AHI is running between 3.0 - 4.0 and gets into the 2's and occasionally below. I still monitor the AHI each morning, although I haven't looked at the details in rescan for quite a while. Occasionally I forget and without the collar my AHI will run 8 - 10 or more.

My totally unscientific conclusion is that at 240 lbs, the fat in my neck helped to prop it up, and when I lost the weight, my head would tilt forward and cause an obstruction. The collar keeps the neck from falling forward. For some reason, my therapy suffers if I use only one bed pillow so it is a little like no man's land in that using 2 pillows gives me the right height and the collar keeps my chin up. Also, I don't believe that the collar without CPAP would solve my apnea as I am still getting events with CPAP.

On the soap box side of things... I sleep every night on straight CPAP without a humidifier, SoCal winter humidity helps, with a full face mask, and using a cervical collar. My wife can't believe that I can sleep like that. My thought is that if I have to sleep like that, that is what I am going to do.

John

EDIT-ADDED: I guess a more direct answer is... no there is no conclusive evidence that weight loss will eliminate sleep apnea although I imagine it has for some. My concern would be if it is just a temporary fix and the apnea returns at some later date.