Losing weight & its effect on sleep apnea

I'm trying a different approach, I'm injecting myself with growth hormones, the way I have it figured if I can get to 8 foot eleven inches, I'll be at my perfect weight. Jim

Julie wrote:Raise the max, yes, but it's the low pressure at 4 that matters, so I'd put it at least to 6 for now (few days) and see how it goes. You can put the max to e.g. 15.

Thanks Julie. I will raise the Max. Wow all the way up to 15? Seems kind of high but ok I will try it and see what happens.

I am wondering why you wrote that its the low pressure of 4 that matters and that I should raise the minimum to 6.

Why does the low pressure of 4 matter? It starts at 4 so I can easily fall asleep (I like low pressure to start) then it quickly auto adjusts to where it needs to go. How does raising the min to 6 help?

you can see your pressure rise as your leaks rise
fix your leaks first then
raise your starting pressure to 6 or even 8
but leave the max at 11 for now until you get the leak line straight

Guest wrote:you can see your pressure rise as your leaks rise
fix your leaks first then
raise your starting pressure to 6 or even 8
but leave the max at 11 for now until you get the leak line straight

That makes sense to me and something I was thinking that when it hit the max on the chart there were also alot of leaks at the same time. The leaks didn't wake me. I will make the straps tighter and see if that gets rid of the leaks.

I am curious why you say to raise the minimum from 4 up to 6 or 8? What is the benefit of doing this. I fall alseep fine at 4 then why raise to 6 or 8? (It only stays at 4 for a short time until it auto adjust higher).

4 is the machine default low... and if/when apneas occur at higher levels, it can take a while for the machine to respond, often not in enough time to be useful intercepting other high level events. Plus most people find it difficult to inhale at 4. It's the low number that responds to events, not the high setting.

pumbany wrote:I am curious why you say to raise the minimum from 4 up to 6 or 8? What is the benefit of doing this. I fall alseep fine at 4 then why raise to 6 or 8? (It only stays at 4 for a short time until it auto adjust higher).

with a low starting pressure like that it will not suppress any events and takes longer to get up to a pressure that will suppress anything. i am surprised you can breath as 4cm most people are short of breath at 4
not only will it take less time to get to a working pressure for you but you should see an improvement in your ahi. isnt that what you are looking for
you dont want the mask overly tight either that also leads to leaks
in case no one has told you put your mask on have your cpap set to go right to your highest pressure
in this case 11 or even 12
then lay down in your sleeping position
adjust straps while in your sleeping position at your max pressure
else when you fall asleep and the pressure rises it will increase the force on the straps and they stretch causing leaks.
you want your mask snug but not overly tight
g nite

Thanks guest. That is a great idea that I never tried. I will set the machine to the highest pressure I plan to sleep at and check the mask to make sure it doesn't leak. Then I will put it back to the lower settings. I am going to try this tonight. I had always been adjusting the mask at a pressure of 4, this makes sense to adjust it at the highest setting.

I can breathe at 4cm, it was never a problem I have been at the 4 setting as the min for 10 years. I am surprised to hear that anyone has trouble at 4. I guess I am the exception.

Tonight I am going to adjust the setting to 5 Min and 12 Max, This is higher on the min and max than I was using. I will look at the report tomorrow and see how it looks.

pumbany wrote:I can breathe at 4cm, it was never a problem I have been at the 4 setting as the min for 10 years.

if i can be honest with you i am truly surprised that anyone who has been on cpap for 10 yrs would even want to start out at 4
by now you should be able to start out at your 95% pressure to eliminate more events
most people stop using ramp after 6 mos or so
you may notice an immediate improvement if you start out at a higher pressure like 95%
and once you get your leaks fixed you should feel like a new man

The 95% figure is based on events being 'up to' 95% as the highest they went to... it does not mean that the pressure was at a high point 95% of the time at all.

Guest wrote:

pumbany wrote:I can breathe at 4cm, it was never a problem I have been at the 4 setting as the min for 10 years.

if i can be honest with you i am truly surprised that anyone who has been on cpap for 10 yrs would even want to start out at 4
by now you should be able to start out at your 95% pressure to eliminate more events
most people stop using ramp after 6 mos or so
you may notice an immediate improvement if you start out at a higher pressure like 95%
and once you get your leaks fixed you should feel like a new man

Thanks Julie. I was thinking about why I have always been starting the pressure at 4 for going on 10 years. When I first started with CPAP I had a Respironics Fixed pressure machine. The place that set it up put it at 4 and I had no idea how to change it. The pressure maxed out at 12 or more and I also had no idea how to change it.

I used these pressure settings because I didn't know they could be changed. I thought you got what you got and you don't get upset.
When I started 10 years ago I began with a full face mask. I do remember it being a horrible experience. The initial pressure of 4 was horrible, it was hot inside the full face mask and I did feel terrible at that initial pressure. Eventually I would fall asleep until it shot up to 12 or more which always woke me up because of all the loud leaks. But I fought through it no matter how horrible it was I stuck with it.

I guess somewhere over the 10 years I simply got used to a pressure of 4. Because it really feels fine to me. Or maybe its because I no longer use a full face mask I am not sure if that makes a difference.

I am taking the advice and raising the min and max pressure. Last night I raised the min to 5 and the max to 12. (I see that in the sleepyhead report I did come close to the new max of 12, but didn't reach it.)
I tested the mask leaks out at 12 before going to bed at the regular pressure. I had to make the mask extremely tight for it not to leak at 12.

I have to say that last night was a horrible sleep. I had trouble falling asleep and staying alseep, I am not sure why, maybe the mask was to tight. I will have to loosen it tonight when I test it at the higher pressure.

Is there a particular mask that works good and doesn't leak at high pressure? Is there a particular mask that everyone is using? I have always had problems with leaks at the high pressures.

This is my Sleepy head report from last night at the new pressure settings.

Hate to say it, but 5 is still a very low pressure... I can't talk about your mask however, that's something you're going to have to sort out... maybe someone else here could advise, but the difference of a whole 1 cm in pressure (at that level) is highly unlikely to have made that difference.

pumbany wrote:Thanks Julie,

I will track all the stats.

That is a scary thought that you mentioned about some people doing worse after weight loss, hopefully that doesn't happen.

Either way I will be a human guinea pig and see what happens.

I'm afraid I'm one of those people that it happened to. I didn't have sleep apnea until I lost 30 pounds. However, I would need a machine anyway because my oxygen level is too low due to slow heart rate. My sister was one of the lucky few who didn't need a cpap after having nose surgery.

SewTired wrote:

pumbany wrote: I'm afraid I'm one of those people that it happened to. I didn't have sleep apnea until I lost 30 pounds.

So you had a sleep study and it showed no sleep apnea.

Then you lost 30 pounds and you went for a 2nd sleep study and it showed you had sleep apnea?

How long of a period of time was this?

Why did you decide to go for a 2nd sleep study after losing the weight?

pumbany wrote:

Guest wrote:

pumbany wrote:I can breathe at 4cm, it was never a problem I have been at the 4 setting as the min for 10 years.

if i can be honest with you i am truly surprised that anyone who has been on cpap for 10 yrs would even want to start out at 4
by now you should be able to start out at your 95% pressure to eliminate more events
most people stop using ramp after 6 mos or so
you may notice an immediate improvement if you start out at a higher pressure like 95%
and once you get your leaks fixed you should feel like a new man

Beware of guests posting advice. They can really screw you up.

Too many highly competent regular members to mess with guests.

And too many people having registered as members who show up once in six months with only negativity.