am probably gona be diagnosed and put on cpap within the next few days....

I am male  50    5  9   250 and am on a weight loss crusade.
So lests say I drop alot

I hear ppl come off cpaps with weight loss
How soon should I retest

Has anyone here heard of this or had it happen
how much weight off does it become significant to OSA

I realise you dont know my numbers
Hell I dont either-yet

Yes, I've heard of people coming off of cpap with weight loss.
But I've also seen quite a few normal-weight people who have sleep apnea.

Can it happen?  The best answer is yes it can, but then again it might not.
How do you like that non-committal answer?

The thing to do is to start cpap (which may make losing weight easier), and hope for the best.
I don't know how much loss would warrant a re-study.  Any significant weight change would be a good reason to be re-tested.
Even if after losing a chunk of weight you don't eliminate the sleep apnea, the weight loss could alter the required pressure of your cpap, maybe lower it and that could make using cpap easier.  


Linda


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fredboy wrote:

am probably gona be diagnosed and put on cpap within the next few days....

I am male  50    5  9   250 and am on a weight loss crusade.
So lests say I drop alot

I hear ppl come off cpaps with weight loss
How soon should I retest

It's not up to you to decide to retest.  Your doctor can use a number of criteria, but I'm willing to bet he won't do it until you drop at least 50 lbs and you're no longer in the obese BMI range.

Even with the weight loss, you may need to continue using the CPAP.  You're 50 and when you stretch 50 year old tissues they don't always return to normal.

Sorry, don't want to get your hopes up.  But you should lose weight anyway because of the other health benefits it will provide.

Trish

Linda wrote:

Yes, I've heard of people coming off of cpap with weight loss...

...The thing to do is to start cpap (which may make losing weight easier...

Linda

Newly dx with SA. How can CPAP make weight loss easier? I'm grossly overweight and have been all my adult life. An easier loss would be a good incentive to keep working with these insane machines.

Hose In The Nose wrote:

Linda wrote:

Yes, I've heard of people coming off of cpap with weight loss...

...The thing to do is to start cpap (which may make losing weight easier...

Linda

Newly dx with SA. How can CPAP make weight loss easier? I'm grossly overweight and have been all my adult life. An easier loss would be a good incentive to keep working with these insane machines.

A couple reasons. Basically, lack of sleep changes your body chemistry to make you gain weight, and being tired makes you unable to exercise. So if you get real sleep, you have more energy to exercise, plus (depending on how much your chemistry/hormones were messed up by your lack of sleep) it should also just plain be easier to do.

I need to get to bed, but a quick list of things sleeplessness affects: cortisol, leptin, ghrelin, glucose tolerance.


_________________
Machine: Puritan-Bennett GoodKnight 420E (Auto)
Mask: OptiLife/Hybrid

tillymarigold wrote:

Hose In The Nose wrote:

Linda wrote:

Yes, I've heard of people coming off of cpap with weight loss...

...The thing to do is to start cpap (which may make losing weight easier...

Linda

Newly dx with SA. How can CPAP make weight loss easier? I'm grossly overweight and have been all my adult life. An easier loss would be a good incentive to keep working with these insane machines.

A couple reasons. Basically, lack of sleep changes your body chemistry to make you gain weight, and being tired makes you unable to exercise. So if you get real sleep, you have more energy to exercise, plus (depending on how much your chemistry/hormones were messed up by your lack of sleep) it should also just plain be easier to do.

I need to get to bed, but a quick list of things sleeplessness affects: cortisol, leptin, ghrelin, glucose tolerance.

tillymarigold,

Thanks much for your quick response. I've not been very good at losing weight in my life. If this CPAP, or whatever I end up with, helps that, I would be very happy. That would help the rest of me so much.

I wouldn't count on CPAP causing weight loss, but have heard from several doctors that sleep deprivation could slow down the metabolism and therefore once the person is no longer sleep deprived they can lose weight. Also a possibility that a lot of overeating is caused by sub-clinical depression and grazing on any food in sight because of the lack of motivation and energy to do anything else.
So, good luck (haven't had it myself, hoping for improvements).


_________________
Arthur
Sleeping with a curvaceous blonde autoPAP (Resmed autoset). Surviving, and in small ways doing better. Maybe there will be that big surge of energy, and easier weight loss one day. Hope springs eternal.....

ArthurAnxious wrote:

I wouldn't count on CPAP causing weight loss, but have heard from several doctors that sleep deprivation could slow down the metabolism and therefore once the person is no longer sleep deprived they can lose weight. Also a possibility that a lot of overeating is caused by sub-clinical depression and grazing on any food in sight because of the lack of motivation and energy to do anything else.
So, good luck (haven't had it myself, hoping for improvements).

ArthurAnxious,

Well, it's a shot in the dark. I'm trying to build a looong list of incentives and reasons to get me to go to bed each night with a WWI gas mask. I'm throwing everything in the hopper. Losing weight would certainly be a goal. I've not been successful with that in the past. I think I would fall into the sub-clinical depression category. Plus, because of a list of other maladies, I can't get out and walk and exercise. There goes the old metabolism. Thanks for the encouragement.

Hose in the Nose,

Ok, you made me google.  I believe the first two are WWI vintage, and the third is WWII (modeled by a child).  Lovely.
Hmmm, I think #2 has potential for a stylish "new" full face mask.... and I do mean FULL face.





Linda


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Linda wrote:

Hose in the Nose,

Ok, you made me google.  I believe the first two are WWI vintage, and the third is WWII (modeled by a child).  Lovely.
Hmmm, I think #2 has potential for a stylish "new" full face mask.... and I do mean FULL face.





Linda

Linda,

hahaha We do have to keep our sense of humour in all of this. When I lose mine...like during the night of the sleep study...that's when I crash and burn. I believe you are correct about the masks. I'm pretty sure the first two are from WWI. I think the child's mask is of WWII vintage and possibly British. Perhaps getting ready for the blitz? Somebody can correct me on this. Talk about HOSEHEADS!!! See...things can always be worse. We probably have less leaks today too. Them with leaks, died immediately. Us with leaks, die slowly. Black humour.

I can tell you something from my expeirience, that on balance when I have managed to keep my weight down I usually find that my APAP needs less pressure to keep me from having apneas. So, if I could just get the extra wieght off completely I might recover. Also, if you have an auto-PAP you would probably realize when you are cured of OSA by the fact that it wouldn't trigger the need for pressure at all and thus it would self diagnose you as being apnea free if it never climbed above starting pressure. Of course if it is set to a narrow range, that would not apply. So good luck, most of us have to get to a reasonable body weight if we don't want to spend our 70s and 80s battling type 2 diabetes and heart disease... so lets just hit the gym and the salad bar, and we'll look better at the beach.


_________________
Arthur
Sleeping with a curvaceous blonde autoPAP (Resmed autoset). Surviving, and in small ways doing better. Maybe there will be that big surge of energy, and easier weight loss one day. Hope springs eternal.....

CPAP can make weight loss easier, but in my personal experience, sleep apnea (treated or not) isn't going to be "the straw that breaks the camel's back" with your motivation to finally lose weight.

Here's my story.  I'm 38, have been slowly gaining weight for the last 10 years -- from 170 to 195.  When I knew that I had sleep apnea (December 2006), I also went on a crusade to lose weight through diet and exercise, drop a "quick" 25 and get out of wearing a cpap.   I thought that I had been tired before, because of the apnea.  Once I started working out, I became absolutely Exhausted, 24/7.  I did this for about a month, and with my exhaustion getting Worse with each day.  Plus, I Wasn't losing much weight, I went down to about 191.  And this was from working out 40 min a day, 6 days a week, 2000 good calories per day. I'm guessing that my lack of good sleep had slowed down my metabolism, and the apneas prevented my body from recovering from workouts.

You metioned long-term obesity.  There are many studies about people who have been obese their entire lives, and how hard it is for them to lose weight.  It's a stomach chemical/genetic thing plus a lot of brain chemical/genetic things.  I've known only 2 people who were long term obese and have dropped the weight and kept it off.  They did it different ways, but they have one thing in common -- their decision to lose weight was more like a religious conversion than anything else. They both decided they were going to Be "athletic guys".  The guy who kept it off entirely also saw his desire to over-eat as an addiction, like alcoholism.

Both guys have become those Really active, athletic guys you see who can't wait to get home so they can go on a bike ride with their family, or go jogging, and they are active all weekend long.   Personally, I haven't had that kind of religious conversion yet -- I'm much more of a "get home from work, eat, put the kid to bed, then surf/TV/read/vege".   Being an all-the-time active, athletic guy sounds to me like it's Not a fun way to live.   So, if I'm honest with myself, I guess I'm still waiting for my conversion.  

BTW, I got my apap in May, and I feel Much better, but I haven't started working out because work has been busy, family has had some crisis, vacation, etc. etc.      --see what I mean?

Troy,

Like your description.  And yep, cpap treatment doesn't cure everything.

I often joke to myself, saying that the good news is that after starting cpap I'm now my old self.
The bad news ...................................................is that after starting cpap I'm still my old self.    



Linda


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ArthurAnxious wrote:

I wouldn't count on CPAP causing weight loss, but have heard from several doctors that sleep deprivation could slow down the metabolism and therefore once the person is no longer sleep deprived they can lose weight. Also a possibility that a lot of overeating is caused by sub-clinical depression and grazing on any food in sight because of the lack of motivation and energy to do anything else.
So, good luck (haven't had it myself, hoping for improvements).

OSA affects your glucose metabolism and once you go on CPAP this becomes corrected (takes about 3 mos) and you can start to lose weight.  The added bonus of sleeping well is more energy, so you no longer eat for energy (it's not lack of motivation or lack of anything better to do that causes grazing) and you also can do more, which also contributes to weight loss.

my two cents

Trish

justtrish wrote:

ArthurAnxious wrote:

I wouldn't count on CPAP causing weight loss, but have heard from several doctors that sleep deprivation could slow down the metabolism and therefore once the person is no longer sleep deprived they can lose weight. Also a possibility that a lot of overeating is caused by sub-clinical depression and grazing on any food in sight because of the lack of motivation and energy to do anything else.
So, good luck (haven't had it myself, hoping for improvements).

OSA affects your glucose metabolism and once you go on CPAP this becomes corrected (takes about 3 mos) and you can start to lose weight.  The added bonus of sleeping well is more energy, so you no longer eat for energy (it's not lack of motivation or lack of anything better to do that causes grazing) and you also can do more, which also contributes to weight loss.

Trying to lose weight while having untreated OSA (not using CPAP) is very difficult indeed.  Short of not eating, or eating hardly anything, it's just not going to happen.

my two cents

Trish