Who has ditched the CPAP after losing weight?

I've lost nearly 50 lbs in the past 4 months.

I'd be concerned to ditch it without another sleep study to confirm I don't need it.

That said, I have taken naps without it and seem to sleep well, and one night I put the mask on but forgot to start the machine, slept thru the night anyway!
 
deluge said:
I've lost nearly 50 lbs in the past 4 months.

I'd be concerned to ditch it without another sleep study to confirm I don't need it.

That said, I have taken naps without it and seem to sleep well, and one night I put the mask on but forgot to start the machine, slept thru the night anyway!
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does your machine not have autostart? mine will kick on if i put the mask on
 
myopicmystic said:
does your machine not have autostart? mine will kick on if i put the mask on
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Apparently not. (FWIW, it wasn't a restful sleep, but at least I didn't wake up every 20mins?)

I was told it's not a CPAP, it's an APAP. I didn't sit in a lab wearing it, to dial it in. Supposedly it auto-adjusts.

I didn't get a sleep lab test to see if I needed it, either. I got a take-home data-acquisition rig.

There's some numbers I see when I scroll thru the memory, like "Total AI", "Obs AI" and "Central AI". Anyone know what to make of those numbers? Maybe they indicate how much or little its kicking on to assist my breathing?
 
Yes, and it was amazing! Once I lost about 40 lbs I stopped snoring and have not been back to the cpap since! It’s a huge motivator to keep the weight off to say the least.
 
As much as I would love to return my CPAP to Veterans Affairs, I would absolutely need a new sleep study.

As someone who works in a level 1 Trauma Hospital/University in the Midwest, I was speaking with the head of the ENT Dept. I made a comment along the line of "I can't wait to lose some weight and ditch my CPAP". He told to not rush to that without another sleep study due to the fact there could be 1,000+ reasons other than obesity causing my sleep apnea. Every single human being is different in some way. Someone could have too soft of a pallet in their mouth, their teeth are not shaped correctly or they have an over/underbite. A tongue could be to large or their airway could be 1mm to narrow.

So i will lose the weight and conduct another sleep study. If I were you, I would as well.

but to answer your question, I am incredibly excited at the potential to ditch my CPAP!
 
I've lost around 30lbs so far and am still using it. I suspect it'll be another 30-50lbs before I'm confident enough to either test drive sleeping without it or asking for a sleep study.

However, I don't mind my machine, it's small and doesn't require distilled water. Plus, I felt so much better after starting it.
 
deluge said:
Apparently not. (FWIW, it wasn't a restful sleep, but at least I didn't wake up every 20mins?)

I was told it's not a CPAP, it's an APAP. I didn't sit in a lab wearing it, to dial it in. Supposedly it auto-adjusts.

I didn't get a sleep lab test to see if I needed it, either. I got a take-home data-acquisition rig.

There's some numbers I see when I scroll thru the memory, like "Total AI", "Obs AI" and "Central AI". Anyone know what to make of those numbers? Maybe they indicate how much or little its kicking on to assist my breathing?
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I'd recommend looking up something called OSCAR for deeper insight into your CPAP data. I'd also recommend spending a little time on CPAP forums learning some of the intricacies there. In some ways (with the advent of APAP being commonplace) I think the current gatekeeping around prescriptions for CPAP are a little excessive. At the same time throwing a random APAP with an average sized mask and default settings on someone without any deeper evaluation of performance might not be the best plan either.

I'm not opposed to DIY (that's what I did), but just pointing out that there are things to target and optimize with treatment that you'd likely benefit from exploring VS just letting/hoping the APAP algo takes care of everything and the CPAP software will properly report large leaks to you (it won't).
 
tubby said:
I'd recommend looking up something called OSCAR for deeper insight into your CPAP data. I'd also recommend spending a little time on CPAP forums learning some of the intricacies there. At the same time throwing a random APAP with an average sized mask and default settings on someone without any deeper evaluation of performance might not be the best plan either.
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Thank you, I'll look into that.

You may be misunderstanding what I'm saying. I didn't DIY it. My crappy-ass medical plan wouldn't cover a sleep study, so I wore an at home data-acquisition rig for 2 nights instead. They then used that data to program the APAP, and then had me come in for a fitting.

I do see a Dr. 1x/yr who reviews the data and offers guidance. (Data is uploaded via 5G). I am looking forward to that next appointment, as I'm curious if the weight loss has made changes necessary or if I possibly no longer have apnea.
 
deluge said:
Thank you, I'll look into that.

You may be misunderstanding what I'm saying. I didn't DIY it. My crappy-ass medical plan wouldn't cover a sleep study, so I wore an at home data-acquisition rig for 2 nights instead. They then used that data to program the APAP, and then had me come in for a fitting.

I do see a Dr. 1x/yr who reviews the data and offers guidance. (Data is uploaded via 5G). I am looking forward to that next appointment, as I'm curious if the weight loss has made changes necessary or if I possibly no longer have apnea.
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That could be a well-managed program, since in theory you have someone reviewing the data and in theory they would notify you if they saw problems or reasons to make changes. I'd personally still want to know what's going on there just for my own understanding, but not everyone enjoys technical topics and in theory that's being taken care of for you by someone who is being paid to do so. You'll notice that I use "in theory" a lot in this paragraph. 🙂

I'll also add that there's a good argument to be made for CPAP mode being superior to APAP mode (if one takes the effort to properly dial in the correct/optimal CPAP pressure), since the pressure fluctuations that come with APAP (and especially with pressure relief settings) can allow your airwaves to collapse and then have a need to be reopened (VS being continually held open). That's not something I suspect most clinicians are going to do for you, since it's so much easier just to let the APAP take care of the settings and your average user "likes" the pressure relief settings).
 
I just got a cpap about a month ago. It is a real pia. Sometimes I feel like a hound dog riding in the back of a truck because its forcing so much air through the mask. Lol waiting on a doc app to tell me how im doing.
If losing weight will help get rid of it I need to step it up a bit.
 
X3rocks said:
I just got a cpap about a month ago. It is a real pia. Sometimes I feel like a hound dog riding in the back of a truck because its forcing so much air through the mask. Lol waiting on a doc app to tell me how im doing.
If losing weight will help get rid of it I need to step it up a bit.
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Don't you have an automatic setting on your CPAP so it will self adjust?
 
308fan said:
Don't you have an automatic setting on your CPAP so it will self adjust?
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It supposed to be set between 6-16. Whatever that means. Supposed to go do another sleep study to set it. Its on a more or less generic setting from what I understand.
 
I gotta love hate with my cpap. I don't think I'll travel with it anymore. But dang I love how it works. My throat gets dry without it too.
 
308fan said:
I use the automatic setting and it works really well for me.
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I threw the mask across the bedroom about midnight last night. Got tangled up in the hose. Only way it will not leak is to crank down on the straps pretty good. Then my damn nose starts itching. Gotta take it off scratch my nose and start all over again.
This thing is stressing me out, not to mention the wife just looks at me like
“uhm no”.🤷‍♂️😂
 
X3rocks said:
I threw the mask across the bedroom about midnight last night. Got tangled up in the hose. Only way it will not leak is to crank down on the straps pretty good. Then my damn nose starts itching. Gotta take it off scratch my nose and start all over again.
This thing is stressing me out, not to mention the wife just looks at me like
“uhm no”.🤷‍♂️😂
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Might want to test the water with different mask styles (full face VS nasal VS pillows). And might be worth washing the part that contacts your face with soap and water. I'm pretty lazy about washing mine, but find with a full face if I do wash it, I seem to stop having the "itch" problem for a bit. Getting the tightness perfect on the straps is a whole different kind of voodoo where the best I've found is to go into "mask fit" mode (for max pressure) and play around with different tightnesses (from different straps) while laying on the pillow at different angles until I find a balance that sucks less than what I previously had without leaking.
 
X3rocks said:
I threw the mask across the bedroom about midnight last night. Got tangled up in the hose. Only way it will not leak is to crank down on the straps pretty good. Then my damn nose starts itching. Gotta take it off scratch my nose and start all over again.
This thing is stressing me out, not to mention the wife just looks at me like
“uhm no”.🤷‍♂️😂
Click to expand...
What mask are you using? I use the nasal one. I do not like my mouth covered by the big mask.
 
Been on mine since Feb and always crazy to find out how much one needs it. Honestly I don’t want to ditch it but will be happy when I don’t need it. As mentioned through the thread the doctor told me some people are just prone to OSA even if they’re not over weight. We will see! Excited for you journey, my sleep numbers have improved! Check out SleepHq to learn how to read those numbers and understand CPAP therapy, it’s worth it!
 
125 pounds down and I completely ditched the CPAP. Apnea is gone and I sleep like a baby now. CPAP was PIA. I woke up just as much from wrestling with the hose as I did from the apnea.
 
308fan said:
What mask are you using? I use the nasal one. I do not like my mouth covered by the big mask.
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Small one that covers the nose and mouth. They said I needed this one. I packed it all back in its case yesterday. I through with fighting it.
 
A friend of mine had his turned down after a heart attack based on the study: https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/why-doesnt-cpap-reduce-heart-disease

To summarize, high airflow has been shown (at least in this study) to not have the cardiovascular protectiveness that CPAP users have been promised. Still should be used, just at a lower setting to reduce inflammation markers.

That said, I’ve known him for many years and he snored like a truck before he ever got heavy. But before the weight loss he had started snoring while awake and relaxing on the couch just watching TV. He’s only in his mid 40’s.
 
Yep! Started at 328lbs. 3 weeks in (I was down only 12lbs) my wife remarked that I wasn't snoring or holding my breath. The energy level in the mornings, clarity of thought, attitude change, etc were amazing. I'm now at 8 weeks, down 22lbs, and have a smart watch that monitors for sleep apnea and have confirmed. Different folks' threshold for when their apnea stops is different. Mine was just below my starting weight. Yours may be a bit further down, but keep at it...it's worth it!!
 
I am hoping to get rid of it!!! I have been having a problem with my mouth drying out at night. If I turn up the humidity then my hose fills with water and makes noise. I wake up more now than before. I wish there was a way to see if my episodes were getting better but It looks like I can only go back 3 months on my app unless I am not doing it correctly.
 
I’m soooo close to ditching it. My APAP machine has adjusted all the way down to 4 cm, and I’m sleeping better than I have in a while. The notable thing is I’m still 25 lbs away from the weight I was at when I first started having OSA. Which may indicate, that in my case at least, tirz is causing improvement aside from just the weight loss.
 
I've been on my CPAP for what feels like so long now. It's part of my sleep routine at this point. The last thing I do before passing out is turn it on. I'm knocked out within 5 minutes. That being said, I'm really interested in seeing if another sleep study results in being able to not using it anymore. I have a feeling that mine is a little more than obstructive sleep apnea, though. I notice that I gasp at random times throughout the day while awake sometimes.
 
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