Why is 'effort' not considered an alternate?

With New Years coming and resolutions I thought it might be a good time to ask this question.
Studies have shown that weight loss and exercise reduce sleep apnea.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/24870569/
Also didgeridoo playing reduces apnea.
Josiah asks the question if there are alternate treatments and is giving the answer "NO".
Is that because we don't want to put in the effort? Or what?

Mogy wrote:With New Years coming and resolutions I thought it might be a good time to ask this question.
Studies have shown that weight loss and exercise reduce sleep apnea.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/24870569/
Also didgeridoo playing reduces apnea.
Josiah asks the question if there are alternate treatments and is giving the answer "NO".
Is that because we don't want to put in the effort? Or what?

With weight loss and exercise you may be able to reduce pressure settings...
Dideridoo may do the same... Neither have been shown on a significant basis to "reduce apneas".
Even reduced apneas may not mean that you do not need CPAP treatment.
There are many alternate treatments...few have been shown to work.

The site that you are showing was a test of 25 older adults that must have had very high untreated apneas....19 of the 25 reduced their AHI by 10. We don't know what that reduction brought their AHI down to.

No!, Because XPAP is the "Gold Standard", You may Swim in De-Nile, playing games, but it's your health and life you are playing with. What's it worth to your Family and friends, even yourself. These are things you must decide for yourself for you must live with the choices.

Many of us could live healthier, losing weight, eating better, cutting out smoking and drinking. It won't be a cure, it probably won't be enough, but it might help.

Most other ideas are just plain stupid, go for them if they suite your mentality, however, don't suggest others to jump off the bridge with you. Jim

Mogy wrote:With New Years coming and resolutions I thought it might be a good time to ask this question.
Studies have shown that weight loss and exercise reduce sleep apnea.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/24870569/
Also didgeridoo playing reduces apnea.
Josiah asks the question if there are alternate treatments and is giving the answer "NO".
Is that because we don't want to put in the effort? Or what?

The "Or what?" answer is that OSA is probably how the weight gain was brought on in the first place.
It can be a "chicken or egg" question. Which came first?
However, losing the weight doesn't guarantee that it removes the OSA, or even lessens it.
OSA throws your metabolism out of whack and is the cause of weight gain for many.
Keep in mind that "apnea" means "loss of breath". You're not breathing and that means that blood oxygen in your system is dropping.
Lots of "normal" and "skinny" people have sleep apnea, too.

"NO" IS the appropriate answer in most cases.


Den

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The Gold Standard only treats 50 percent of diagnosed sleep apnea patients. What about the other 50 percent? There must be something that can help them.

Mogy wrote:Why is 'effort' not considered an alternate?

It is in certain snowflake leagues. Everyone gets a trophy.

Mogy wrote:The Gold Standard only treats 50 percent of diagnosed sleep apnea patients.

CPAP treats 100% of those who use it responsibly.

Mogy wrote:With New Years coming and resolutions I thought it might be a good time to ask this question.
Studies have shown that weight loss and exercise reduce sleep apnea.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/24870569/
Also didgeridoo playing reduces apnea.
Josiah asks the question if there are alternate treatments and is giving the answer "NO".
Is that because we don't want to put in the effort? Or what?

From my point of view, I would like to address your initial question: "Why is 'effort' not considered an alternate?"
1) The question seems to assume that xPAP therapy requires no effort - I believe quite the opposite to be the truth, it requires a lot of effort and discipline to integrate it into one's daily life while searching (sometimes, seemingly endlessly) for the optimal mix of equipment, process, and knowledge to make it do its job optimally.
2) The question also leaves unstated what benefit should we be seeking that drives the search for alternatives? If one has access to the best, why search for something better? To what end? This also raises the question better in what sense? If someone says "it is better", I need to know "in what way is it better?" What makes it better? What does xPAP lack in addressing the situation that makes one so desperate to find an alternative?
3) Has anyone demonstrated to a degree of certainty that any alternate treatment or change will replace xPAP in as wide a range of population as xPAP currently helps?

Tricky Wash wrote:

Mogy wrote:The Gold Standard only treats 50 percent of diagnosed sleep apnea patients.

CPAP treats 100% of those who use it responsibly.

BINGO!!!

I don't know where you came up with that "statistic", Mogy, but I disagree with it.
I also believe that 100% of quitters.......ARE quitters. You can't succeed if you don't try or give up.

And........"89% of all/quoted statistics are made up on the spot" ( look it up )


Den

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Tricky Wash wrote:

Mogy wrote:Why is 'effort' not considered an alternate?

It is in certain snowflake leagues. Everyone gets a trophy.

Best laugh I've had all day. I have got to join one of those leagues.

Mogy wrote:The Gold Standard only treats 50 percent of diagnosed sleep apnea patients. What about the other 50 percent? There must be something that can help them.

If they won't make to effort to let xPAP do its job, why would you think they would work even harder to find an (perhaps non-existant) alternative? After all, as Tricky Wash and Wulfman proposed: "PAP treats 100% of those who use it responsibly."

Wulfman... wrote:

Tricky Wash wrote:

Mogy wrote:The Gold Standard only treats 50 percent of diagnosed sleep apnea patients.

CPAP treats 100% of those who use it responsibly.

BINGO!!!

I don't know where you came up with that "statistic", Mogy, but I disagree with it.
I also believe that 100% of quitters.......ARE quitters. You can't succeed if you don't try or give up.

And........"89% of all/quoted statistics are made up on the spot" ( look it up )


Den

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Hi Den,
I would think at least 89 percent.
So did you try the lose weight, exercise program, or give up?

Mogy wrote:The Gold Standard only treats 50 percent of diagnosed sleep apnea patients. What about the other 50 percent? There must be something that can help them.

The reason The Gold Standard only treats 50 percent of diagnosed sleep apnea patients, is because only 50% of them have the intestinal fortitude to succeed at many things they need to do. It's strange as lots of us end up overweight
you would think we had more Guts, at least in size if not length. Jim

Can't's are born quitters.......

Mogy wrote:

Wulfman... wrote:

Tricky Wash wrote:

Mogy wrote:The Gold Standard only treats 50 percent of diagnosed sleep apnea patients.

CPAP treats 100% of those who use it responsibly.

BINGO!!!

I don't know where you came up with that "statistic", Mogy, but I disagree with it.
I also believe that 100% of quitters.......ARE quitters. You can't succeed if you don't try or give up.

And........"89% of all/quoted statistics are made up on the spot" ( look it up )


Den

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Hi Den,
I would think at least 89 percent.
So did you try the lose weight, exercise program, or give up?

Well, after I started therapy, I lost about 40 pounds or so, but then it plateaued.
My knees are too bad to do much exercising (injured them in 1986 and it's been a slow, downward spiral).
No way would I give up. I can't sleep without my CPAP gear.......not even for a nap anymore. I actually look forward to sleeping with my equipment.......and have for quite a few years.


Den

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Hi Jimw159,
I agree that xPAP requires effort.
The question is more directed to alternative or adjunct treatments.
This study says that 54 percent were compliant using xPAP.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2679572/

At lot of people are falling through the cracks.
I don't believe that they are all quitters.
Are drugs and surgery the only alternatives for these people?
Is there no other alternative that warrants mentioning?