Sleep Apnea Questions

[dbowers 0]

My surgery is scheduled for this Wednesday. I'm wanting to hear from any other post op-ers that have sleep apnea. My question is at what point in losing do you need to have another sleep study done, or how do you know if you CPAP level is too high? I'm hoping my apnea goes away. I have a love-hate relationship with my CPAP right now. :wink2:

[vmaldonado 0]

Did anyone have a starting weight of 190 and have Lap Band surgery? I have BP problems for over 3 yrs...pre-diabetic...migraines....and I am considereing Lap Band. Oh and sleep apnea

[vmaldonado 0]

Anyone? Anyone at all?

[newimage 2]

Hello...my weight was 267. I was pre-diabetic, had high blood pressure and also sleep apnea. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in Apr 05. My primary dr told me that when I had lost 25 % of my weight that he would have me do another sleep study. We'll see.

Good Luck!!!

[Onnie67 0]

i sent you a private message...

[MerryHearted 20]

It varies from doc to doc as to when they want you to get another study done. Mine said to call her once I'm under 200 lbs. I know my pressure is too high right now, but I'll be under 200 soon enough and then I'll schedule another sleep study. I think she said every 30-40 lbs she'd like another study done after that.

I'm guessing I'll have a study this summer, after which they'll drop my pressure considerably. Then I'll ask for another study when I hit 150 or whenever I think I might not have apnea issues anymore. [i'd love to just get rid of the dang machine!]

[bandpal 7]

My surgery is scheduled for this Wednesday. I'm wanting to hear from any other post op-ers that have sleep apnea. My question is at what point in losing do you need to have another sleep study done, or how do you know if you CPAP level is too high? I'm hoping my apnea goes away. I have a love-hate relationship with my CPAP right now.

Dear db,

First of all, congratulations and good luck with your surgery on Wednesday! I had mine on November 21 of last year and have lost 65 pounds, from 286 to 220. I am also a CPAP user. When I got the CPAP, my doctor told me that I probably wouldn't need it if I ever got my weight down to 185. With the band, this has become a real possibility. I'm looking forward to getting rid of it. Even though I've grown accustomed to it over the last three years, it's a pain lugging it around when I travel, and I'm tired of my wife calling me "hose-nose". To my knowledge, if you don't have one of those "smart" machines that record your data on a car that you can send in for analysis, the only way to confirm that your pressure is too high is through spending another night at the sleep laboratory. Of course, if my brains ever started to drip out through my ears, that would be a helpful clue as well.... hang in there and be patient. Once your weight starts coming down, your sleep will improve - mine did!

[dbowers 0]

Thanks everyone, I can't wait to get rid of my CPAP either. (I've never found the headgear that I'm completely comfortable with, and I hate the marks it leaves on your face. I don't have it too tight, any looser and it affects the fit of the mask.) Y'all let me know how your sleep study's go...

[Dr.Greenburg 0]

My name is Dr. Jonathan Greenburg and I treat sleep apnea and snoring in my clinics in the Los Angeles area. I wanted to share just a little bit about sleep apnea.

There is a lot of information that I give on my website, but I am not trying to advertise, I am trying to educate.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea is caused by an obstruction. Losing the excess weight helps because there is pressure relieved from the throat area. You will notice as people lose weight their faces and throat area gets smaller.

The weight loss may help with slight or even moderate snoring cases, but apnea cases most times are not effectively resolved. The reason for this is you are not dealing with the obstruction, which is the tongue.

If you don't deal with the tongue, you won't solve the problem.

This is why CPAP works almost 100% of the time, however the problem is that CPAP wearers (as noted here) hate them, especially when having to travel or have a decent love life, and there is over 60% non compliance to using them.

There are alternative treatments that I would encourage you to consider such as the oral device that I use, or others, however they have to address the tongue or you won't have a great deal of success.

Surgery for sleep apnea has about a 15% success rate.

Just thought I'd share the facts and help you out. Take care, and I wish you all the best.

[plain 12]

There is a lot of information that I give on my website, but I am not trying to advertise, I am trying to educate.

It's been my experience that when anybody says they're not trying to advertise a product......they're usually trying to advertise a product.

Everybody can believe whatever they want, but saying that the tongue is the main obstruction is just plain anatomically wrong. Does anybody else think it's a coincidence that a dentist is pushing the dental method? I'm a registered sleep therapist and misinformation regarding sleep is a huge pet peeve, so I thought I'd throw my $.02 in. Ask your doctors for information.

To all bandsters that hope that their CPAP pressure may be decreased with a big weight loss.......maybe it will be turned down, maybe not. Weight certainly can affect OSA, but the main cause is how the airway is built. Some of the worst OSA patients I've had in my lab were very thin. It's all in the airway :coolgleamA:

[amsderb 1]

What a pain it all is...I am jsut getting used to my mask and now that it is a month old....the seal breaks easily...

I still hope this gets resolved with weighloss....but I do have tonsils and adnoids in there!

[JRT Mom 920]

I would LOVE to get off my bipap--I have never had such an intense love-hate relationship with anything in my entire life! Hubby has sleep apnea also--it sounds like Mr and Mrs Darth Vader in our bed every night! And when we travel we have to lug TWO machines...

[lele 0]

My Husband loves my C-PAP machine.:blushing: He enjoys a good night sleep. I don't snore or toss and turn.

[NY2LAGirl 0]

I am having the band May 13th and my starting weight is 195. I have sleep apnea and am praying it helps.

[amsderb 1]

Ny2LAgirl welcome to May Flowers then! Congrats! It is coming soon...I hope to be done with the cpap also!!