Sleep apnea questions related to obesity/overweight

[Based]

Ive read a bunch of stuff and i know a doctor would be better to answer, but in my current situation i cannot visit one for about another month.

Can OSA be cause solely from obesity or being overweight? If so would it be completely cured by losing a lot of weight and with daily exercise or would it be something that would stick around permanently now that i have it?

[zonk]

Hi Based and welcome
All sort people get diagnosed with sleep apnea including skinny people. Shedding few kilos is beneficial to your general health but there is no way of knowing without a sleep study after the weight loss

Keep in mind not all apneas are obstructive kinds there are other kinds too, central, mixed, and complex
Each condition is different, treated differently with a different type of machine

Best of luck with the doctor appointment

[Based]

Hi Based and welcome
All sort people get diagnosed with sleep apnea including skinny people. Shedding few kilos is beneficial to your general health but there is no way of knowing without a sleep study after the weight loss

Keep in mind not all apneas are obstructive kinds there are other kinds too, central, mixed, and complex
Each condition is different, treated differently with a different type of machine

Best of luck with the doctor appointment

Well my mother said she had it when she was more overweight and that she lost it completely when she shed like 40-50 pounds. Also i didnt get it until at least 2-4 years ago (trying to remember) and thats when i started gaining the most weight.

[DocWils]

It would depend on how long you have had OSA and how far your obesity has gone along. It is highly unlikely you would completely cure yourself via weight loss, but it would go far to lessening the problem and extending your life and improving your quality of life. In addition, OSA caused by obesity requires, in the losing of weight, to do throat toning in order to restore elasticity and further lessen the OSA incidence - the most effective method has been learning to play the digeridoo and learning the circular breathing techniques involved.

So I certainly encourage you to lose weight, improve your fitness and do throat toning. Generally there is a strong correlation between neck diameters of 40 cm in males (37 cm in females) and OSA. However, OSA can occur for many reasons, and body fat may only be one factor in your case. That would not mean that it is pointless to lose weight if you are overweight - it is always important to keep a reasonable weight. But it would mean that it may not completely clear up your OSA. In the meantime, you would still need to go on CPAP, and certainly a clear determination of the cause of your OSA would be helpful.

[me50]

I have been told that having OSA and being so tired all the time can cause a person to gain weight. Before I was diagnosed and when I was able to work, I kept my weight down but was still chubby. When I was not able to work any longer and was still not diagnosed with OSA, I did gain some weight. Then, I had a death by medical negligence in the immediate family and pretty much only ate soft foods and lost weight but when I got in trouble with my doc for not eating, I put on some weight again. I think I am on the right path to getting my OSA under control with the mask change and have a new sleep study next week (this after nearly 3 years). Here is hoping my sleep quality and my tiredness will improve and I will have the energy to be more active!! I hope this encourages new OSA diagnosed members to keep on trying and don't give up because there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

[DocWils]

It is true that there is a correlation between OSA (or insomnia, for that matter) and weight gain, but it is not an initial cause of weight gain. What you are looking at is a sort of vicious circle and so by starting CPAP therapy and taking steps to lose weight you can help to break that circle. But there must be initial weight gain to start off the cycle, so to say that OSA causes weight gain is a causal fallacy. Certainly any form of sleep disturbance helps to make it difficult to lose weight, and the initial studies focussed on insomnia and night workers. Later SA was included in the study groups and showed the same correlations.

[zonk]

Also i didnt get it until at least 2-4 years ago (trying to remember) and thats when i started gaining the most weight.

Have you had a sleep study or/and been using CPAP?
Definitely would help to exercise and eat properly

[trish6hundred]

Hi Based,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Best of luck to you and hang in there for more responses to your post.

[Based]

Thanks for all the responses guys. I appreciate it.

Now, i have not actually been diagnosed. Like i said in my first post, i cannot make an appointment to even discuss this with my doctor for about a month due to some problems. This may be a bit of self diagnosing, but with good reason.

Most of the time i cannot get through a full night of sleep without waking up, at least once consciously knowing i did. Some days are better and some are worse. I usually attributed it to my pets (4 dogs) making to much noise and what not. But i fell asleep with someone on the phone last night and they mentioned that i paused in snoring for about 5-10 seconds and then maybe made a noise and started snoring again. Now of course this doesnt mean anything by itself but i noticed how much i woke up and there was no actual external stimuli to wake me up. This coupled with the observation from my friend, my feeling of constant tiredness even if i do get a good amount of sleep, some odd night sweating, irritability/depression, my weight, and my mothers account of having it.

Obviously im not a doctor, but these things are all pointing me in this direction. I am hoping to find out of its just paranoia or if its the real deal. Till then im trying to research as much as i can and learn what to do. I will be going back onto a diet i did for a couple of months this summer that lost me 30 pounds, although i gained half of it back. Also going to try and make some kind of exercise plan that i can do at least every other day. Not just for this but for my general health as well. I also googled some throat toning exercises that i will also do in the meantime as even if they dont help out so much, there is no loss to do them.

Thank you again everyone for the responses.

[PaulaO2]

It also depends on where the weight is. If you're a big guy with a big thick neck, weight lost MAY help if that big thick neck wasn't there before the weight gain. But if you're a "pear" with the weight more around the middle and not much at all around the neck, weight loss probably won't help.

BUT, weight loss will help with a lot of stuff, not just sleep apnea. Goodness knows I'm trying to lose it myself.