Apnea vs weight

[mikeh99]

I'm curious whether anyone here has been diagnosed with apnea, then lost weight and reduced/eliminated the condition.

[zonk]

It definitely has some health benefits and improved life style. I don,t think loosing weight can cure sleep apnea as its to do with narrowed airways and some cases large tongue blocking the airways. It could lower the pressure a bit as there will be less resistance in case of obstructive sleep apnea but not much in case of central apnea. In any case to find out one need to have a sleep study

Edit: There,re some fat people have people sleep apnea and some fat people don,t have sleep apnea and there,re skinny people have sleep apnea too. So its not all about weight some to do with the anatomy and genetic play part as sleep apnea can run in families and also can affect some groups of people more than others.

[sober12]

I have heard that most of the obese peoples are diagnosed with sleep apnea. Studies have found that it slows down the metabolism in an individual's body. In addition to these, it also makes it difficult to lose weight.

[southernlady]

Getting rid of sleep apnea is a typical side effect of weight loss surgery. Not everyone does cause there are skinny people who have sleep apnea too. But a good majority of those who go thru WLS do resolve (NOT CURE) their apnea and are able to ditch the cpap machine. And yes, I know many of them.

So it does happen.

Liz

[Sleepster]

What I've heard is that if obesity is the cause of your OSA, then losing weight will cure it.

[Dreamcatcher]

No! There is no cure for sleep apnea, period!

Last year I spent 4 months in the gym and got my weight down from 100kg down to around 80Kg, stopped smoking and was eating better. It made no difference. I am very fit and have good muscle tone but again this did nothing for my sleep problems.

I have now gone back up in weight and am smoking again and yet again, no change. I know there are some cases of improvement but cure, no.

DC

OY! thats my doughnut

[archangle]

There are plenty of thin apneacs.

I'm sure there are those who will be cured of apnea if they lose enough weight.

The really sad thing is that people will decide "Oh, I'll just lose weight and not do CPAP." Then they won't lose the weight, or will suffer permanent harm from apnea while losing weight, or lose the weight and not cure their apnea, or gain the weight back and have apnea again.

Don't forget apnea damages your brain and heart. Not all of that damage is reversible even if you do cure your apnea. Personally, I think it accelerates aging in general.

Do the CPAP, then lose the weight, too. Check your apnea after losing the weight.

[weeble]

I personally think this is a bit of a can of worms. Everyone is different and I personally do believe weight loss does play a big part. I used to be very skinny...bordering on the low end of my weight range for my height. I could not put on weight, no matter how much food I constantly threw into my mouth. I used to sleep soundly and deeply....so much so that on a number of occasions I learnt to my surprise we had had a violent storm during the night - I hadn't heard it. We used to joke that the house could fall down and I wouldn't hear it! However, due to some side effects of some medications, at the age of 44 I started piling on the weight and that was when my troubles started....my partner would tell me I was snoring VERY loudly and "joked" I had sleep apnea. I of course said no way...but did notice that I was constantly tired and so I decided to go an have a study and Bingo! there it was. I need to lose around 20-25kgs, my dr keeps telling me to do it but although I am no longer tired during the day, I really don't have the energy to go to the gym and work out (never really been a gym junkie and I am the first to admit, I hate exercise.) I'm my own worst enemy but yeah, I certainly believe weight loss will help.

[mckevin32]

Can't speak to the science, but I can say that my brother, who had been on CPAP for over 5 years, remarried a year ago and significantly changed some lifestyle choices (read, eats better and lost weight) recently had another sleep study after which his doctor removed him from CPAP treatment. So while I cannot say that it is common or normal, I can say very definitively that it does happen.