Obstructive sleep apnea is one of the most common complications of diabetes, especially among people who are overweight. A recent study of 306 obese people with type 2 diabetes who wanted to lose weight found that more than 86 percent of them had sleep apnea. The standard treatment for sleep apnea i...
Losing Weight to Reverse Sleep Apnea
10/12/09 4:31pm
11/ 2/09 10:53am
The results or conclusions of the mentioned study or report are borne out in my personal experience. Having been diagnosed 18 years ago with Sleep Apnea and having slept with CPAP since that time until 37% (110 lbs) weight loss a little over a year ago. Obvious less severe apnea now and am able to not use CPAP for extended periods without problems. I reportedly do not snore at all. Biggest problem is finding face mask equipment for CPAP that will work now and not leak air with the weight loss in face. I am at the point now of almost having better nights without the equipment. Will wait for another period of time before having sleep study to see if equipment not necesary due to extreme cost of sleep study.
11/ 2/09 8:34pm
I had already lost 40 pounds when I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I really didn't feel sleepy; but, my endocrinologist looked at all of my other symptoms - high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol - and asked me to take the test. I tested at 18 episodes per hour. I already felt so much better than I had felt before I had lost the 40 pounds that I tried to talk to my doctor about waiting a few months and doing a retest. He would not consider it, so I fired him and found another doctor. Unfortunately, the first doctor had already had the CPAP machine delivered by the time that I found the new doctor. So, I used the new machine for 4 months until I had lost another 30 pounds when my new doctor said that agreed to retest me. The sleep apnea reversed and I gave the machine back to the pharmacy.
11/ 3/09 11:29am
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I too had a diagnosis (by sleep study at J-H) of OSA. BUT - I was blessed to be able to lose 80 lbs (approx 30% of total weight), and the situation, while not gone (darn!), has resolved to a more "acceptable" (sort of) risk-profile. As you indicate, weight loss is a substantial partial-solution to the problem, especially when you consider the attendant risks (eg, stroke!), I urge ALL w/ weight issues to get "professional weight loss" expertise into their mix. Their lives (as they like to think of them), literally, depend on it.