apnea and smoking

i had mild sleep apnea. i started smoking cigarettes again. since then i had a sleep study which showed slight worsening of sleep apnea.
it is very hard for me to use the cpap machine. i always take it off either during sleep or as i am about to fall asleep.
i always wake up gasping for air. i also have asthma.

it is very hard for me to stop smoking. i know all the risks. i keep trying to stop and failing.

has anyone been able to get off cpap by stopping smoking and losing weight or are those rare instances?

Quitting smoking is definitely the best thing for your health, but it won't do much for your sleep apnea, other than perhaps lessening the risks of heart attack, stroke, and hypertension that are caused by both, and greatly increased when you combine the two. Not enough of a lessening to mean that you don't need cpap, though Sleep apnea is generally caused by architectural problems - just born that way.

You have to get used to sleeping with cpap in much the same way as you go about quitting smoking. Stick with it, use the AA model of one day at a time, and get right back to it after a slip-up. Nobody LIKES sleeping with cpap until they realize how much better they feel once they get the discipline and get used to it. Then we find it hard to imagine sleeping without it, just like you presently can't imagine sleeping with it.

Hang in there. Talk yourself out of removing it while awake, and make it difficult to remove in your sleep by fastening it on with lots of bobby pins or another method.

YOU CAN DO IT! BOTH ITS- stopping smoking and starting cpap. Just gotta want it enough and tough it out.

While we hate the misconception that apnea is always caused by obesity, a number of people will get better if they lose the excess weight.

What's dangerous is to decide not to do CPAP because you're planning to lose weight.

I've heard the statistic that only 5% of the people who try lose weight and keep it off.

Even if you do lose weight, you are in danger from apnea until you lose the weight.

Apnea may make weight loss harder.

Even among those who lose weight, they might not cure their apnea.

Wear the CPAP if you want to live. Lose the weight while you're at it, and then see if you can do without CPAP.

I don't know what percent of fat people will lose their apnea if they lose the weight. I'm going to take a wild guess with almost no data and say the odds are less than 50%.

Stick around, and discuss your problems with CPAP. Quite a few people here have had similar problems and been able to conquer the facehugger monster.

Try an Electronic Cigarette. That's what I'm using. Haven't used/smoked tobacco since January I use JoyeTech Ego-C products.
I hope the Forum don't mind me posting examples of this. Here are some links:

CANADA:
http://www.shop.vaporium.ca/

USA:
http://vaporiumusa.myshopify.com/

This is where I get my supplies. This is only an example. In no way am I telling anyone to buy from this site. It's your choice where you buy your products.

If your not interested in this, there's always Nicorette or cold turkey ;-/

Paul

I am male, 50, in fair health, 25lbs over ideal weight, 32yr smoker.... This summer in June, I had pneumonia symptoms and was treated by a pulmo...CT showed large mass in right lung. Yes, very scary cancer concern! Doc said quit smoking,( but I did not or could not), and treated me with steroids and antibiotics. I was getting sicker and sicker, and quite frankly thinking I had cancer, was pretty much giving up and ready to leave this world.The pneumonia didnt (couldn't) clear and the mass was getting larger! I had 2 biopsy's, broncoscopy and needle. Both were inconclusive, so I went in for a surgical biopsy of the lymph node near my right lung.(smoked on the way to the hospital!) My lung was so full of fluid and pus, that I didn't breathe when extubated..Yep! Woke up in CVICU on ventilator and Ng tube....I had never been admitted to a hospital in my life, and suddenly I'm in CVICU with two hoses down my throat and one in my man parts. NOT FUN!

The fluids were removed from my lung and after 9 days in the hospital and heavy antibiotic regimen (finishing my last round this week), I was diagnosed with a severe bacterial pneumonia,(NOT cancer!!! the mass is now shrinking). I am also diagnosed with moderate COPD with spotting of Emphysema and now, severe obstructive sleep apnea!


While in the hospital, I had breathing treatments every 4 hrs, so I became very aquainted with my respiratory techs. You can learn a lot from these people. I was instructed one night in the wee hours as I sucked on yet another mask full of mucimyst(which is some horrible tasting stuff, pure punishment!) about how the cilia function in your lungs. Long story short, your lungs cannot repair damage as long as you smoke.

Here's a great link about cilia....http://www.wisegeek.com/how-does-smokin ... cilia.htm#.

I'm not one to preach to anyone about things, but if you have sleep apnea, I would stop smoking. Your heart can only withstand so much damage, and when it fouls up, it's almost always too late. I now have to sleep with O2, and now a XPAP machine, blood pressure meds, breathing exercises, and regular visits to my MD.

I know it's hard, I tried for years to stop, and it took dying on the operating table for me. It's been 8 weeks yesterday, and I still think about it, but for me, it's like playing with matches near a gas pump.
Do yourself and anyone who gives a ish about you a favor, and try to quit. You will feel better. Your doctors can help you to heal better. Most of all, you'll hang around a little longer! Peace and good luck on your journey!

And for the advocates of e-cigarettes; even though many toxic chemicals are removed, some of the worst remain.
Nicotine is bad for your heart and causes inflammation and plaque in your blood vessels.
Patches and gum will still cause a rapid or irregular heartbeat, heart attack, stroke, thrombosis, etc. (enjoy)
You will die with pretty white teeth and nicer-smelling breath.

chunkyfrog wrote:And for the advocates of e-cigarettes; even though many toxic chemicals are removed, some of the worst remain.
Nicotine is bad for your heart and causes inflammation and plaque in your blood vessels.
Patches and gum will still cause a rapid or irregular heartbeat, heart attack, stroke, thrombosis, etc. (enjoy)
You will die with pretty white teeth and nicer-smelling breath.

AMEN! Just quit.....

One encouraging fact... each attempt to quit smoking is a learning experience and makes it that much more likely you will succeed next time.

Now, some unasked for advice... Don't stop trying! Trying in the past and returning to the habit seems disheartening, but don't despair. Try to analyze your quitting experiences to gain helpful information. What triggers uncontrollable urges? What helps you turn away from temptation? What kinds of thoughts do you have, when weighing whether to light up again? What thoughts help, what thoughts do not?

If scaring yourself might work, there are lots of websites that detail the harmful effects of smoking. If positive reinforcement works for you, there are many websites that tell you all the positive stuff that happens to you after smoking that last cigarette.

Quitting smoking made me feel SO MUCH better. Getting used to CPAP and using it through the night made me feel SO MUCH better. You have a double opportunity to improve your quality of life. Just keep getting back up on that horse. Keep putting the mask back on, keep trying to quit.

I know you didn't ask for this advice, but I just cannot help myself when it comes to encouraging people to quit smoking.

If you don't buy them, you can't smoke them.

(works for cookies too - I have had a cookie problem in the past. If I don't buy them, I can't eat them.)

You might also try Swedish snus. While *not* safe, because it is still tobacco, it is significantly safer than cigarrettes. Most importantly, there is no smoke at all, and therefore no tar, etc. in the lungs. Unlike US "dip" chewing tobacco, there's no spitting with snus. This is not a long-term solution (though there have been people snusing for decades), but has helped a lot of folks wean off cigarrettes and is a harm-reduction methodology.

If you do go down that route, google "buy Swedish snus" and find a place that sells the real stuff (I personally use SnusCentral, but there are quite a few choices out there). You'll probably want to go with portioned snus as it's much easier to use than the loose stuff. The US brands (Camel, etc.) have been test-marketing snus here in the US, but they're not saying what additives they use or anything else, making it suspect.

Hang in there. It is at least possible (though not highly probable) that quitting smoking and losing weight may get you off CPAP. Chances are it will not, however, but taking steps like quitting smoking (completely or through harm reduction) and losing weight will always get you healthier overall anyway. So they're not bad goals, even if they don't get you off the hose =)

TalonNYC wrote:You might also try Swedish snus. While *not* safe, because it is still tobacco, it is significantly safer than cigarrettes. Most importantly, there is no smoke at all, and therefore no tar, etc. in the lungs. Unlike US "dip" chewing tobacco, there's no spitting with snus. This is not a long-term solution (though there have been people snusing for decades), but has helped a lot of folks wean off cigarrettes and is a harm-reduction methodology.

If you do go down that route, google "buy Swedish snus" and find a place that sells the real stuff (I personally use SnusCentral, but there are quite a few choices out there). You'll probably want to go with portioned snus as it's much easier to use than the loose stuff. The US brands (Camel, etc.) have been test-marketing snus here in the US, but they're not saying what additives they use or anything else, making it suspect.

Hang in there. It is at least possible (though not highly probable) that quitting smoking and losing weight may get you off CPAP. Chances are it will not, however, but taking steps like quitting smoking (completely or through harm reduction) and losing weight will always get you healthier overall anyway. So they're not bad goals, even if they don't get you off the hose =)

I just wanted to say +1 to the Swedish Snus. While I also realize no form of nicotine is completely without risk nor tobacco, I have done quite a bit of research when trying to quite American "chew/snuff - in lip" and have since switched to pouches of the Swedish Snus which I order overseas and have found I can get my nicotine fix without some of the side-effects of unpasteurized tobacco made in the USA. Again, I'm not trying to push this on anyone but it is a regulated "food product" in Sweden and studies have shown it to be a fairly significant alternative with lower risks than any other form of tobacco.