Why are so many people being diagnosed with sleep apnea?

Here is another credible website about obesity and losing weight:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/ ... t/risk.htm

Eric

JeffH wrote:
I think a more accurate statement would be our design doesnt bode well for sleeping when you are way overweight as so many Westerners have become. Over abundance of food products, especially foods with saturated fats, red meat, etc. combined with sedentary lifestyles has turned too many Americans and other Westerners into fat, sloth like individuals with multiple health problems.

Many Americans have become so fat, they literally cant breathe properly while asleep. Thats the real problem in most cases, not the fact that humans sleep lying down.

Personally, I think many corporations want Americans to be fat and sick, so they can sell their pharmaceuticals and other products like CPAP gear to chronically overweight, unhealthy Americans.

Before Americans had sedentary jobs and lives and before food was in such over abundance, obesity wasnt nearly as prevalent. I bet OSA wasnt nearly as prevalent in the "old days."

Eric

Quite honestly, I think this belief -- that all people with apnea are fat and sick -- is why more people don't get diagnosed and treated. When I went in for my sleep study results and got my diagnosis, I was shocked, and blurted, "I thought only fat people got that." My doctor explained to me that at least 40% of his patients were average weight or less, and that it was a common misconception that apnea only affects fat people. In people who *have* apnea, being overweight can make it worse enough that symptoms start to become intolerable, and at that point many people go in to get diagnosed, which has led to a 'false positive' correlation between overweight and apnea.

I admit, though, that even I still am embarrassed to tell people I have it, for fear they will look me over and tell me to lose a little weight. This is one myth that I would dearly love to see go down the tubes.

Minerva

having already defended my position on this ad nauseum, i will be brief:

for 40 of my 43 years i was low to low-normal weight; it's only been the last three years that i have struggled with weight gain which i attribute to the years of damage being perpetrated upon my body by OSA, which i am convinced i've had since childhood

not only overweight people have OSA and, IMHO, more often than not people become overweight because they have OSA, not the other way around

Just like Kidney failure causes high blood pressure which in turn causes kidney failure.

Apnea can cause weight gain which can exacerbate apnea.

The two are related and can cause each other it just depends on the outside factors: heredity and overeating.

Right on Minerva!!!
The assumption that only fat people have OSA is , to be nice, ignorant!!!


Sharon1965 Wrote: not only overweight people have OSA and, IMHO, more often than not people become overweight because they have OSA, not the other way around....

Couldn't agree more Sharon

I've said everything else previously so I won't repeat it......

cheers
goose

MrGrumpy wrote:If you need to lose weight, use this website to determine calories needed per day per your lifestyle and age.

http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/calories-goal.php

Eric

Those formulas don't work for me.

I just got home from a two-day trip where the food was paid for. Sunday morning was a three-egg cheese omelet with o.j., cereal, milk and yogurt for breakfast. Sunday lunch was a large salad with Caesar dressing and a massive bowl of chili with lots of chips. Sunday dinner was better - a six-inch turkey sub, yogurt and apple in the hotel room. Unfortunately Davidson lost to Kansas.

Monday morning was a four-egg ham and cheese omelet, yogurt and a banana at 6:00 a.m. The 9:00 a.m meeting started with about six ounces of pepper cheese, crackers, cantaloupe and orange juice again. Lunch at 12:30 was a huge buffet spread including a grill. I had an 8-ounce cheeseburger, green beans, garlic/butter sauteed mushrooms, chips, apple pie and a strawberry/chocolate/caramel crepe.

After a 3-hour ride we were home at 6:00 and I ate again. Two pieces of whole wheat toast spread heavily with peanut butter, a banana, an apple, yogurt and a Mounds candy bar.

Still holding steady at a slim 170 lbs./6 feet. There has to be a metabolism factor in here.

On the reverse side, I have friends and associates who appear to eat much less than me but weigh too much!

rooster wrote:

MrGrumpy wrote:If you need to lose weight, use this website to determine calories needed per day per your lifestyle and age.

http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/calories-goal.php

Eric

Those formulas don't work for me.

I just got home from a two-day trip where the food was paid for. Sunday morning was a three-egg cheese omelet with o.j., cereal, milk and yogurt for breakfast. Sunday lunch was a large salad with Caesar dressing and a massive bowl of chili with lots of chips. Sunday dinner was better - a six-inch turkey sub, yogurt and apple in the hotel room. Unfortunately Davidson lost to Kansas.

Monday morning was a four-egg ham and cheese omelet, yogurt and a banana at 6:00 a.m. The 9:00 a.m meeting started with about six ounces of pepper cheese, crackers, cantaloupe and orange juice again. Lunch at 12:30 was a huge buffet spread including a grill. I had an 8-ounce cheeseburger, green beans, garlic/butter sauteed mushrooms, chips, apple pie and a strawberry/chocolate/caramel crepe.

After a 3-hour ride we were home at 6:00 and I ate again. Two pieces of whole wheat toast spread heavily with peanut butter, a banana, an apple, yogurt and a Mounds candy bar.

Still holding steady at a slim 170 lbs./6 feet. There has to be a metabolism factor in here.

On the reverse side, I have friends and associates who appear to eat much less than me but weigh too much!

Id say so regarding the metabolism issue. You sound like my Dad, one of those guys who has one of those super fast metabolisms who burns a 100 calories every time he blinks!

I also confess, what is a man who just weighs 170 at 6 feet doing with OSA? Honestly...how can your airway collapse during your sleep when youre that thin? Enlarged tonsils? Genetically caused narrow airway?

Eric

When I got my machine last month. The tech said a few years they got about 40 new people a month. She says they now get 400 new people a month.

In my session there were about 12 people. Half of those people were pretty heavy some scarily so. Guess what the other half looked like average thin people.

In my case the doctor commented how some people can have smaller jaws than normal and that can cause the tongue to push farther in.

Probably because it is so UNDER DIANOSED to begin with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MrGrumpy wrote:
Id say so regarding the metabolism issue. You sound like my Dad, one of those guys who has one of those super fast metabolisms who burns a 100 calories every time he blinks!

I also confess, what is a man who just weighs 170 at 6 feet doing with OSA? Honestly...how can your airway collapse during your sleep when youre that thin? Enlarged tonsils? Genetically caused narrow airway?
Eric

eric
i think that is the point some of us on this thread have been trying to make!!!!!
in an earlier post i explained that i have had symptoms of OSA as far back as i can remember, and was thin my whole life...finally after countless years of my body being under attack, i began to gain weight on a consistant basis...at this point i'm 30 - 40 lbs overweight, but i'm still not enormous...i eat an extremely healthy diet and was very active until just a couple of years ago, and i'm still not what one could call sedentary, even though chronic pain has taken a very strong hold on my body...

NOT EVERYONE WHO HAS OSA IS OVERWEIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just sayin...

sharon1965 wrote:

MrGrumpy wrote:
Id say so regarding the metabolism issue. You sound like my Dad, one of those guys who has one of those super fast metabolisms who burns a 100 calories every time he blinks!

I also confess, what is a man who just weighs 170 at 6 feet doing with OSA? Honestly...how can your airway collapse during your sleep when youre that thin? Enlarged tonsils? Genetically caused narrow airway?
Eric

eric
i think that is the point some of us on this thread have been trying to make!!!!!
in an earlier post i explained that i have had symptoms of OSA as far back as i can remember, and was thin my whole life...finally after countless years of my body being under attack, i began to gain weight on a consistant basis...at this point i'm 30 - 40 lbs overweight, but i'm still not enormous...i eat an extremely healthy diet and was very active until just a couple of years ago, and i'm still not what one could call sedentary, even though chronic pain has taken a very strong hold on my body...

NOT EVERYONE WHO HAS OSA IS OVERWEIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just sayin...

Have you lost that 30 to 40 lbs? And if you have, I am assuming your OSA didnt go away? This is very interesting because I think I might have a defect in my airway, long suspected it.

Eric

MrGrumpy wrote:.........

I also confess, what is a man who just weighs 170 at 6 feet doing with OSA? Honestly...how can your airway collapse during your sleep when youre that thin? Enlarged tonsils? Genetically caused narrow airway?

Eric

No tonsils, straightend septum and turbinates reduced.

7 doctors over 6 years had your mind set and I suffered those 6 years because of it. In the meantime I found many thin people with osa.

Best comment on cause was from my ENT, who said the back of my tongue is a little bit thicker than normal and the airway in my throat is a little smaller than normal.

What is your story MrGrumpy?

rooster wrote:

MrGrumpy wrote:.........

I also confess, what is a man who just weighs 170 at 6 feet doing with OSA? Honestly...how can your airway collapse during your sleep when youre that thin? Enlarged tonsils? Genetically caused narrow airway?

Eric

No tonsils, straightend septum and turbinates reduced.

7 doctors over 6 years had your mind set and I suffered those 6 years because of it. In the meantime I found many thin people with osa.

Best comment on cause was from my ENT, who said the back of my tongue is a little bit thicker than normal and the airway in my throat is a little smaller than normal.

What is your story MrGrumpy?

My story is I suffered with OSA for about ten years before having it treated. I was formally diagnosed with mild OSA eight years ago, but my insurance refused to cover it and my doctor wasnt very cooperative about the whole thing...he wasnt knowledgeable at all about OSA.

Last year I ended up in the chest pain unit at a local hospital for shortness of breath, chest tightness...heart attack type symptoms. They gave me the complete check out, ruled out heart attack, told me my blood oxygen levels were low at night and I ended up being referred to a pulmonary doctor who does sleep medicine. He screened me for asthma, came back negative (at least at the time the tests were given, I wasnt symptomatic then), sent me for another sleep study which came back positive for mild to moderate OSA.

I was then treated with CPAP starting last summer and had dreams and halfway normal sleep for the first time in literally ten years.

Unfortunately, I have become very overweight as a result of the fatigue and lack of energy from the ordeal of the last ten years. I also have low testosterone, secondary form of hypogonadism. My sleep doctor is strongly encouraging me to lose weight, telling me losing a lot of weight will probably reduce the severity of my OSA.

I was interested in the idea behind structures in the throat causing OSA because right before I fell apart, I had been working at a job where I was exposed to a lot of occupational dust, developed severe sinus problems and breathing problems. A piece of skin in the back of my throat enlarged in the period before I fell apart, I dont know what its called, all I know is it was somehow related to the dust exposure I had. Its never been the same since and I always wondered about it...doctors ignore it.


Eric

MrGrumpy wrote:

rooster wrote:

MrGrumpy wrote:.........

I also confess, what is a man who just weighs 170 at 6 feet doing with OSA? Honestly...how can your airway collapse during your sleep when youre that thin? Enlarged tonsils? Genetically caused narrow airway?

Eric

No tonsils, straightend septum and turbinates reduced.

7 doctors over 6 years had your mind set and I suffered those 6 years because of it. In the meantime I found many thin people with osa.

Best comment on cause was from my ENT, who said the back of my tongue is a little bit thicker than normal and the airway in my throat is a little smaller than normal.

What is your story MrGrumpy?

My story is I suffered with OSA for about ten years before having it treated. I was formally diagnosed with mild OSA eight years ago, but my insurance refused to cover it and my doctor wasnt very cooperative about the whole thing...he wasnt knowledgeable at all about OSA.

Last year I ended up in the chest pain unit at a local hospital for shortness of breath, chest tightness...heart attack type symptoms. They gave me the complete check out, ruled out heart attack, told me my blood oxygen levels were low at night and I ended up being referred to a pulmonary doctor who does sleep medicine. He screened me for asthma, came back negative (at least at the time the tests were given, I wasnt symptomatic then), sent me for another sleep study which came back positive for mild to moderate OSA.

I was then treated with CPAP starting last summer and had dreams and halfway normal sleep for the first time in literally ten years.

Unfortunately, I have become very overweight as a result of the fatigue and lack of energy from the ordeal of the last ten years. I also have low testosterone, secondary form of hypogonadism. My sleep doctor is strongly encouraging me to lose weight, telling me losing a lot of weight will probably reduce the severity of my OSA.

I was interested in the idea behind structures in the throat causing OSA because right before I fell apart, I had been working at a job where I was exposed to a lot of occupational dust, developed severe sinus problems and breathing problems. A piece of skin in the back of my throat enlarged in the period before I fell apart, I dont know what its called, all I know is it was somehow related to the dust exposure I had. Its never been the same since and I always wondered about it...doctors ignore it.


Eric

eric said:

I was interested in the idea behind structures in the throat causing OSA because right before I fell apart, I had been working at a job where I was exposed to a lot of occupational dust, developed severe sinus problems and breathing problems. A piece of skin in the back of my throat enlarged in the period before I fell apart, I dont know what its called, all I know is it was somehow related to the dust exposure I had. Its never been the same since and I always wondered about it...doctors ignore it.

could you be referring to your uvula?
just for the record, mine is too big and too long...always has been...and i have a narrow airway ~ these, along with genetic predisposition, are the reasons for my OSA