My home sleep study results. Comments welcomed

There's no way to know for certain what might happen with the weight loss in terms of the apnea events without another sleep study.
I was a skinny minny when my OSA developed (courtesy of menopause in my situation...everything starts to sag ) so there is no guarantee that yours is related to weight alone but it never is a bad thing to lose the weight....and keep it off.
Your OSA is on the mild side and you might get lucky.
My suggestion would be to use the machine while getting the weight off and see how you are at keeping it off and then talk to your doctor about a repeat sleep study at some time in the future to see what happened...if anything.

Some people have been able to have their OSA reduce to within normal acceptable levels with weight loss...some have found that it didn't help but maybe pressure needs are reduced...and some people have found that pressure needs have actually increased. There's no hard fast rule to go by because you are going to find that everything about OSA and this therapy comes with a really big YMMV sticker.

I have put on a few pounds since my diagnosis but I know that even if I lost those pounds it wouldn't make any difference in my situation because when I was first diagnosed I wasn't packing on this extra weight.
Now it would still be good for me to lose the weight but I have to be realistic about my situation.

So the answer is "maybe"....lose the weight...keep it off...and retest to make sure because that is the only way to know for certain.

Well for now I am content to real the benefits of the therapy and take another home test down the road. I already feel that my sleeping is improved, so big bonus for me!!!

I went ahead and got my data into Sleepyhead. I think what I'm seeing is that my reduced number of AHI's are being controlled.

https://goo.gl/photos/6RBW9uhBiN59dcUr6

Looks pretty good. If your average stays around 7ish you might want to consider increasing the minimum to maybe 6 cm....especially if you are seeing any snores on your daily reports which isn't mentioned on the report you posted. Just a minor little tweak to think about. Nothing urgent though.

I wonder if this is a change that I can make or something I speak to the doc about? Thank you for all your thoughtful input. My snores seemed low somehow (I'll get those numbers when I get home . Surprisingly low considering how much my wife has mentioned it. Again though, maybe thats the therapy benefitting me?

honeybadger wrote:Thanks so much for sharing all this information. I am not really bothered by the pressure of 4, or the mask by-and-large. Sometimes, come morning time I will wake up withe pressure somewhere between 6-10 and get that suffocating feeling, but i jist tell myself that its psycological and either get up if its close to wake up time, or ty and go back to sleep otherwise.

Side question, I wonder if my 27lb weight loss is something i should be thinking about right now and whether or not i would have "events" at this new weight without the assistance of the machine.

If you are having events with the machine, you certainly would have more without it.

honeybadger wrote:Side question, I wonder if my 27lb weight loss is something i should be thinking about right now and whether or not i would have "events" at this new weight without the assistance of the machine.

Your machine is raising the pressure during the night. It doesn't raise the pressure unless it senses your airway is starting to partially collapse. So, the fact that it is raising the pressure is a strong indication that you would experience apneas without the aid of CPAP.

About weight and sleep apnea, one doctor has said, "It's not the size of the neck on the outside, it's the size of the airway in the neck."

Go to a mirror and count the number of teeth you can see. Are they straight (without having had braces) and uncrowded?

honeybadger wrote:I wonder if this is a change that I can make or something I speak to the doc about?

Most of us regulars in the forum control our settings. On my annual visits I show my doc what settings I am using and how I am doing (Sleepyhead). She has asked me a couple of times to lower my minimum, but I have refused because I know the therapy will not be as good. It's my therapy, not hers. We still have a very good relationship.

Thanks! So now that I feel as though my sleep has improved, I need to focus on sleeping more. Still not getting more than 5-6 hours per night!

At least what i'm getting is bettee

honeybadger wrote:I need to focus on sleeping more. Still not getting more than 5-6 hours per night!

A check list of basic requirements -->

- Practice good sleep hygiene (Google it and read several sources)
- Eat a good diet
- Have a regular, moderate exercise program
- Try to avoid daytime naps.
- Practice total abstinence of caffeine including sources like chocolate (sigh)
- Review all medicines, vitamins and supplements you are taking to make sure none are interfering with sleep
- Optimize emotional stress in your life
- Use CPAP software to make sure your therapy is optimized
- If you still don't feel or sleep well, make sure you have regular medical checkups to confirm there are no other medical problems.