Weight Loss = Fewer Or No Apneas?

[harmon k]

Thanks, all.

[Mosquitobait]

According to sleep doc (and bariatric group), if you lose weight down to normal weight, if you are under 35, your chances of doing away with a cpap machine are much greater than if you are over 35. This is because of skin, muscle elasticity recovery. I was told that you can expect your apnea to improve, but not to bet on whether you will still need a machine (you probably will still need it). Now, this discussion was about those who were obese. Those much closer to normal weight will have wider variation because there are other causes of apnea besides just weight.

That said, you will find a lot of bariatric patients sell their machine right after their surgery because they never planned to use it (they don't care if they have apnea or not) in the first place, but had to get it because of the presurgery requirements.

[dugdale]

OK, something that I have a bit of experience of :-)

In the last 12 months I've managed to lose just over 120lbs (still another 70lbs to go) and my apnea has pretty much stayed the same, in fact it might have even got slightly worse.
12 months ago I was unlucky if I scored more than 0.4 AHI each night, in fact most nights were 0
Recently I've been seeing results of about 0.7 AHI, even reaching 1.2 on one occasion. I haven't altered any settings on my machine during the last 12 months so are comparing results like for like.
By the way I'm well over 35 years of age (add another 20 years to that figure)

[Mosquitobait]

Dugdale, first, congratulations on the weight loss!! Second, it may take some time for the muscle/skin to resorb - I think it's typically a year to year and a half after you've stopped losing weight. Your AHI is excellent and variations may be due simply due to summer - pollen can make even non-allergic folks have some trouble at night. Still, feel free to post your Sleepyhead results and someone who is more skilled than I at reading them, may have some suggestions to help. I find that I have to change my filter more often and use a hypoallergenic filter in the summer or my AHI climbs over 1.0.

[C0mbe]

I have a bit of experience with this:

I was first diagnosed with sleep Apnea about a decade ago in my mid-20s. I was close to 300lbs at 6' tall and generally inactive. I subsequently lost about 100 lbs and was removed from therapy after tests confirmed I no longer was experiencing apneas.

Fast forward to last year. I've gained roughly 1/3 of the weight back, and was re-diagnosed with Apnea, much worse than the first time. I am still very active.

I think it depends on age, the person, and genetic factors, but It seems that once you have it, it's here to stay one way or the other. My current sleep doc has questioned whether I should have been removed the first time.