Hey guys!  
 
I was recently diagnosed with severe sleep apnea.  My cousin is a sleep lap tech and while opening a new lab I was their "test" subject.  We knew I had a problem but had know idea how severe it would be.  I stopped breathing an average of 74 times an hour.  The longest was for a minute.    

Last night I was fitted with a mask and had a followup test with the CPAP.  I need 2 different pressures so I have to wait for another CPAP machine before I can take one home.

My primary care doctor and some of the people I work with tell me I just need to lose weight that it's not sleep apnea.      If it's this severe don't I need a machine?  Has anyone else had this problem?  

Also what are some more resources so that I can understand sleep apnea better?

THanks for all for your help!!  I am so glad that I found this forum.  


_________________
Decisions Determine Destiny

Robin

Robin:

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in May of 2004.  I had several procedures performed to correct the problem--but unfortunately, they only stopped my snoring--I still have apnea.  

While I'm no expert on apnea, I can tell you my doctor told me to lose 15 lbs and quit smoking. At that time I weighed 150 and have since lost 35 lbs--guess what, no change.  So don't let anyone tell you it's solely because of your weight.  If you are extremely overweight, I believe it may help to lose some weight, but it's certainly not the "cure all."

Hope that helps!
Lisa

Thanks Lisa!  That does help.


_________________
Decisions Determine Destiny

Robin

OSA has many components to it.  Weight is one but not the only one and not the most important one (from my experience).  I am not over weight and have moderate-severe OSA (AHI =36 untreated).  It has more to do with your anatomy.  Also age seems to play a role in that your muscles in your throat (as elsewhere in your body) tend to loose tone with age.
If I were in your shoes I would find myself a sleep specialist MD or at least an ENT specialist.

To find more information just GOOGLE Sleep Apnea and it will keep you busy for many hours.  A good start is the sponsor of this site America Sleep Apnea Association.  Just click on ASAA in the heading at the top of the page just below the logo.

Good luck and happy reading.

Robin - The fact that your primary care physician says you just need to lose weight worries me.  You might want to consider finding a different doc!  Apnea can happen to anyone - not just old, fat people!  I think you definitely need a CPAP if you had that many episodes per hour!  What was your lowest O2 level?  Anything below 92% is cause for concern!  Your primary care physician should know that people who get less than 7-8 hours sleep each night are more prone to obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.  With stats like yours, there's no way that you're getting 7-8 hours of beneficial sleep!  Without beneficial sleep, the weight is going to be very difficult to take off.

Good luck to you!!!!!!

Robin,

You might want to check out the Frequently Asked Questions section (FAQ) of this forum to help you learn more about it.
The following is a link to the first of those FAQs about what is sleep apnea:  
Click here for link to What is Sleep Apnea topic of FAQ


The following is a link directly to the FAQ section of our forum.  You might want to look at some of the other topics:
Click here for link to FAQ forum section

Another part of this forum is an "Interesting Links" section, for more reading, if you wish.  Here is a link to th at section:
Click here for link to Interesting Links forum section


If your sleep apnea is severe, as yours is, or even moderate, weight reduction will not likely eliminate the sleep apnea.  There's always hope, of course, but I would say that this hope is reserved for only the mildest cases of sleep apnea.  So many people of normal weight have sleep apnea.  Yes, reducing a weight problem is important and can help make treatment easier for some.  But to expect this condition to go away with losing weight is not realistic.  And as was said, untreated sleep apnea makes losing weight an impossible task.  Cpap therapy can successfully treat your condition, and in the process help you to regain energy, strength and stamina making it so much easier to lose some weight and be healthier.  Having untreated sleep apnea is a kind of Catch-22 -- you need energy to lose weight which can give you energy, but you need a certain amount of energy to make it happen.  This doesn't mean you will automatically lose weight with cpap treatment (there may be other contributing factors), but it can happen, and much more easily.  

It was wrong of your doctor to say that about sleep apnea.  This is a real medical condition.  It is serious, it is life-threatening.  It is a breathing disorder that happens to occur when you're sleeping.  Untreated sleep apnea can lead to heart attack and/or stroke and a host of other medical problems and dangers.  Before understanding sleep apnea, people simply died or had trach procedures, or suffered a miserable existance throughout much of their life.  But now we know what is happening and how to treat it.  Some doctors, particularly some of the older ones, do not understand this condition.  The sad thing is that they dismiss it as a condition and endanger their patients.  Again, this is a serious medical condition, not to be taken lightly.

You are smart to want to know more.  Learn all that you can.  And feel free to ask all the questions you like.  


Linda

Thanks everyone for your help!  I am definately going to look for a new doctor.  I am so glad to know I have this forum for me questions.  Thanks again


_________________
Decisions Determine Destiny

Robin