Question for the forum members?

[JeffH]

I've had about a 70lb weight loss this year, but haven't really lowered my pressure yet. My AHI runs between .5 and 2.0 for the most part with very few snores and a reasonable leak rate. Have my mouth breathing under control and things are going pretty good.

Here's my question. I have reoccurring corneal abrasion in my right eye and it flared up again a couple of days ago. I decided to lower my pressure from 12.5 to 11.5 to try and keep the air out of my eye. I was surprised to find an AHI of 0.0 this morning. I'm leaving it at 11.5 tonight so I'll see if this holds true. This has me wondering what my pressure really is with this loss of weight. First, I've got to get the eye well before I do much with the pressure.

Last time I saw my Sleep Doc he told me I could lower my pressure because of the weight loss, but I'm so used to 12.5 that I was scared to try less. Any other stories and examples of folks lowering pressure and weight loss and if so how much were you able to turn the pressure down?

Thanks

JeffH

[DreamOn]

Jeff, I can't really address your question regarding CPAP pressure and weight loss, but perhaps an eye shield such as this would help with the eye irritation: https://www.cpap.com/productpage/eyeeco ... -mask.html.

[JeffH]

Jeff, I can't really address your question regarding CPAP pressure and weight loss, but perhaps an eye shield such as this would help with the eye irritation: https://www.cpap.com/productpage/eyeeco ... -mask.html.

Thanks. I've tried that one and the Tranquileye both. I use the latter.

Last nites AHI was 0.4 which is still an improvement over what I was getting at 12.5.

[TheDreamer]

Jeff, I can't really address your question regarding CPAP pressure and weight loss, but perhaps an eye shield such as this would help with the eye irritation: https://www.cpap.com/productpage/eyeeco ... -mask.html.

Thanks. I've tried that one and the Tranquileye both. I use the latter.

I'll have to make a note to check out the Tranquileye ones some time....

The Dreamer.

[ufo13]

Jeff:

The machine listed on your stats in your post indicate you have the resmed S8 AUTO! If thats the case what is your aprox 95% pressure reading from the LCD on the machine now that you have lost the weight? That may give you an indication of your new aprox pressure setting and you could use that number to try to find a new single pressure setting or a range of settings around your "new" titrated pressure, as indicated by your LCD or software! I am no doctor, and these are my opinions, but it may be helpful information for you to consider!

To answer your other question ref. weight loss I can only speak for myself-I was titrated in my sleep study way back about 14 years ago at 18 cm H2o, and used that fixed pressure for years, but then lost 75 pounds (and keep it off to this day) and purchased an auto machine and software ( and some help from Den-wulfman) and found that I only needed a pressure of 12 to 13! (my range is set at 10 to 15) So this may give you an indication that yes, after your loss of 70 pounds, you may indeed find your pressure can be set lower and the above info about your nightly 95% pressure readings if you have the auto will help point that out!

Hope this helps!

Steve,
ufo13

[JeffH]

Jeff:

The machine listed on your stats in your post indicate you have the resmed S8 AUTO! If thats the case what is your aprox 95% pressure reading from the LCD on the machine now that you have lost the weight? That may give you an indication of your new aprox pressure setting and you could use that number to try to find a new single pressure setting or a range of settings around your "new" titrated pressure, as indicated by your LCD or software! I am no doctor, and these are my opinions, but it may be helpful information for you to consider!

To answer your other question ref. weight loss I can only speak for myself-I was titrated in my sleep study way back about 14 years ago at 18 cm H2o, and used that fixed pressure for years, but then lost 75 pounds (and keep it off to this day) and purchased an auto machine and software ( and some help from Den-wulfman) and found that I only needed a pressure of 12 to 13! (my range is set at 10 to 15) So this may give you an indication that yes, after your loss of 70 pounds, you may indeed find your pressure can be set lower and the above info about your nightly 95% pressure readings if you have the auto will help point that out!

Hope this helps!

Steve,
ufo13

I need to update my profile. I didn't get along well with the Resmed machine and Patty is using it now. I'm back on my Remstar M Series machine. It isn't an auto (I can't handle the pressure changes) so I'll just be playing with the settings for a while now.

When I had my first sleep study over 12 years ago I weighted 294 and they said I needed a pressure of 12, so I 236 I'm curious what I really need.

Thanks

JeffH

[Wulfman]

Jeff,

You could approach this in the reverse order of someone starting out and working up to their optimal pressure......leave it where you've got it for a few nights and see what happens.......then drop another 1/2 cm. for a few more nights......etc., etc.

Some people who have lost weight have reported actually needing more pressure, but you just never know till you try.

The numbers are one thing......sleep quality and "how you feel" are still the ultimate factors.


Den

[JeffH]

Jeff,

You could approach this in the reverse order of someone starting out and working up to their optimal pressure......leave it where you've got it for a few nights and see what happens.......then drop another 1/2 cm. for a few more nights......etc., etc.

Some people who have lost weight have reported actually needing more pressure, but you just never know till you try.

The numbers are one thing......sleep quality and "how you feel" are still the ultimate factors.


Den

Excellent idea Den. That sounds like what I'll do. If my numbers get weird or I start getting bad headaches in the morning I'll know I've gone too far. So far 11.5 seems to be working pretty good. I'll keep it up for a couple of more days and drop it to 11 and see how I feel.

Thanks

JeffH

[AirBreather]

Weight is widely thought to be a major contributing factor to sleep apnea. However, I lost 70 lbs a few years ago and it didn't make any difference whatsoever to my optimum treatment pressure. Of course, your case may be different, so I think it would be wise to progressively try slightly lower pressures to learn whether there is a lower pressure that will provide as good or better AHI averaged over several days of time.