Has anyone had success getting rid of OSA by loosing weight?

When I was first diagnosed with OSA, I was only about 10 lbs overweight. I think the OSA began because my chin tissues became flabby when I turned 40 (my tongue falls down my throat - tonsils, etc. have long ago been removed). I have since gained around 50 lbs and I think it is because of the perpetual tiredness. I use a CPAP - have done so for around 6 years and it helps A LOT - but it is not a complete solution. I am still tired and one doctor thinks this is why I continue to gain weight despite numerous attempts to loose weight. Other doctors keep saying that the only thing I can do to lessen the OSA and increase my energy levels is to loose weight. It is a downward spiral and I wonder if some type of really extreme weight loss effort that would put me in a normal weight category would in fact get rid of OSA - anyone done that? Thanks.

If your OSA started when you gained weight, go for weight loss - it might just work. However, for many of us SA is really a function of our anatomy, which no amount of weight loss is going to fix. Weight loss is always a good thing if you are 50-60 lbs overweight for many reasons. Just keep on using the X-PAP unless a sleep study indicates that you no longer need one.

Reducing your weight may give you more energy and perhaps help your OSA a little, but it probably will not lessen your need for the CPAP therapy.

Losing weight is always a good thing.

No...loosing weight has not helped. Try forcing yourself to get off your but and go for a walk.

Losing weight helped me a great deal, although it didn't eliminate the need for CPAP and I didn't expect it to. It let me lower my pressure from 15 cm-H2O to 13, with my doctor's approval. That may not sound like much, but it has been night-and-day for mask leaks. I've been looking at the mask leak graphs with the detailed view in the Resmed software. I used to have graphs that started at baseline and stayed there much of the night, but with mountains along the way that sometimes represented an hour or more of serious leaks. They were never enough to affect pressure, because the trusty S8 has blower power to spare, but leaks are uncomfortable. There is a vision thread going on today that touches on one of the leak problems. Those mountains have turned to mole hills. I don't know why there should be such a change between 13 and 15, but for my particular combination of face and mask, there is, and I'm grateful. In addition, my aerophagia got worse as I lost weight at the old pressure, and lowering the pressure brought me back to what had become normal for me. This admittedly involves the passage of a substantial amount of air through the system on a daily basis, but I was bloated and burping for a while, so I'm happy about the change. Losing 55 lbs. has a few other advantages as well, of course, but we all know that.

Loss of muscle tone isn't improved by losing weight.

If you are fat, and have weak stomach muscles, if you lose the weight via diet alone, you will be thin with weak stomach muscles.

If you are fat, and have weak inner-throat muscles, if you lose the weight via diet alone, you will be thin with weak throat muscles.

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Perhaps this is why a didgeridoo can provide a measure of relief:

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A didgeridoo is not specifically designed to strengthen your inner-throat muscles.

What would happen if:

- A machine were designed to strengthen inner-throat muscles, say by electrical stimulation?

- Instead of six day a week of the same training, perhaps some kind of "circuit" training were applied, as has been used with great success in weight training?

- a short course of anabolic steroids were applied?

- instead of six months, the subjects trained (on and off) for two years?

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The didgeridoo study was published in 2005.

Why isn't the literature filled with many attempts to duplicate or improve on that study?

We should hear the sound of a didgeridoo in every sleep-lab in the world.

Instead, I hear the soft purr of an electronic cash register.

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Thanks for all the great insights! I think what I am hearing is just what I was thinking - loosing weight is probably going to help but not totally fix the problem. And, of course, being a healthy weight will have other advantages, especially with the tiredness.

You are asking a bunch of people who frequent a cpap support site whether they succeeded in getting off CPAP by losing weight.

SleepingUgly wrote:You are asking a bunch of people who frequent a cpap support site whether they succeeded in getting off CPAP by losing weight.

Yes, that does seem a little crazy.

But some of us may be here because we need the eggs.

Eat well and be active for overall health. Just like all humans should. It will make everything better than it otherwise would be. That is a better motive than trying to get off CPAP.

For someone who suddenly gains weight and so suddenly develops sleep-breathing difficulties from that happening, and from that alone: yes, losing that suddenly gained weight and doing so soon before full-blown OSA sets in may completely solve the problem for that person. It has happened. But other than that, once the syndrome sets in and stays in place for a few years, it is likely the person will need to stay on CPAP for life even if later underweight.

That is my opinion.

But eating well and being active is still the correct goal.

SOME people have succeeded in no longer needing CPAP after losing weight--there was a recent poster as a matter of fact. You may not be getting responses, because why would those people continue to hang around here, if they no longer need cpap?

Losing weight is ALWAYS a good thing, particularly if you do it in such a way as to improve your overall health--reduce fat tissue, not muscle tissue, improve your blood sugar control and lipids. (I have specific opinions on how to do this, as do many others, but that's a subject for a different post!).

And you may be a lucky one who succeeds. You won't know until you try, so go for it.

HOWEVER, don't make the assumption that if you lose weight you will automatically reverse your need for CPAP or reduce your pressure needs. You will need to work with your doctor to assess that periodically, probably by way of new sleep studies.

And, if you do lose weight and manage to get off CPAP, don't forget that regaining the weight will put you right back where you are right now. I read somewhere last week that 90% of people who lose weight on a diet, ANY diet, regain the weight (and often more) within a year. So you will need to be forever vigilant about that.

The people here may be overly pessimistic. Anyone who cured their CPAP with weight loss is probably not participating on this board any more.

However, a lot of people don't cure their apnea with weight loss. Quite a few thin people have apnea.

Lose the weight, hope for a cure or improvement, but don't count on it.

One opinion:

There's no guarantee weight loss, in itself, is going to clear up sleep apnea, but it won't hinder it, and it has many other benefits.--Frankie Roman, MD, JD Doctors Hospital, Center for Sleep Disorders, Masillon, Ohio. Board Member, National Sleep Foundation

http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/ ... leep-apnea

Some have OSA because of excess weight, others have excess weight because of OSA.

What stood out for me in your post was the continued weight gain. Since you are working with your doctor, is it safe to assume they checked your thyroid and/or other medical causes known to cause your symptoms? And is it confirmed by nightly data that your treatment is indeed therapeutic? Are there any other factors that could be making your sleep not restful, like a medication side effect or other sleep disorders? Even with good cpap treatment, I was still not sleeping well or very functional because I also have trouble with leg movements during sleep. I just wonder if everything has been done for you that could make a difference in how you feel, and better support your weight loss efforts.