From my first week.
https://i.imgur.com/LdkpmsD.png
https://i.imgur.com/5xYgmmH.png
A month later.
https://i.imgur.com/no9Yjoq.png
Fairly current.
https://i.imgur.com/Ws9CNjU.png
2017, the year I had sleep apnea.
https://i.imgur.com/qqQpiFR.png
Hello Guest,
Welcome to Apnea Board !
2018 Resolution. 'Cure' myself of Sleep Apnea.
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01-06-2018, 03:09 PM
RE: 2018 Resolution. 'Cure' myself of Sleep Apnea.
Some data from last year.
From my first week. https://i.imgur.com/LdkpmsD.png https://i.imgur.com/5xYgmmH.png A month later. https://i.imgur.com/no9Yjoq.png Fairly current. https://i.imgur.com/Ws9CNjU.png 2017, the year I had sleep apnea. https://i.imgur.com/qqQpiFR.png
RE: 2018 Resolution. 'Cure' myself of Sleep Apnea.
(01-06-2018, 02:57 PM)Mogy Wrote: (1) I think the gsykes says my opinion well. "I mean, naturally, none of us are meant to sleep hooked up to a machine and wearing a mask. It's quite limiting and it can be difficult for your spouse to get used to as well." (1) The entire purpose of medicine, including the ancestral practice of eating certain leaves, bugs, and compounds, is to restore natural functioning and is relatively unnatural. Of course, nobody was meant to sleep with a machine or have invasive devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators implanted in our bodies --- but to condition your thinking on this basis is to rationalize a point of view and actions that may be contrary to the maintenance of your health. As for difficulty and your therapy's impact on others, that is simply the price you pay for intervention in nature. (2) Compliance and the degree to which it mitigates your health issues can rarely be determined from how you feel at the moment, or even generally. Many conditions are insidious, creep up over time, and go unrecognized until you experience a traumatic event or receive an unfavorable diagnosis. Pulmonary hypertension is both irreversible and ultimately fatal -- and could be a hidden, quiet consequence of sleep apnea. Using studies to illustrate your point of view is a fool's game. Mostly because most studies are garbage, confuse correlation with causation, have a small sample size which prevents decent statistical analysis due to independent variables and co-morbidities in the "population accessible to the researcher" which is conditioned by location, time, effort, and cost rather than obtaining a true research sample, or is the result of applying statistical tools to the data post facto. (3) Compliance is the key to all therapy and cannot be ignored as part of the discussion. (4) While alternative therapies can work, they are often used to avoid and rationalize the time, effort, costs, and unpleasant nature of more conventional treatment modalities. I think the best illustration of this can be found in the death of Apple's Steve Jobs. Here you have an intelligent man delaying conventional treatment in favor of diet and holistic cures -- until the cancer was so widely spread that there was no hope of a conventional cure or mitigation possible. Had he taken prompt action when first recommended, the chances are that he would still be with us. (5) I also find the story about the didgeridoo inspirational but learning the technique of circular breathing and being faithfully compliant makes this a niche complementary therapy rather than a primary treatment modality for moderate to severe OSA -- and its effect on CA's is not well studied. In many cases, it is hard to separate out the placebo effects or the fact that it might be simply strengthening the lungs or clearing mucus (like the "Lung Flute" for COPD patients.) Not to sound negative, but being proactive in your own health care is a great thing -- but only if it is based on the type of individual (and reliable) diagnosis, therapy, and monitoring that demands the acceptance of and compliance to recommended and proven technological therapies. Which is a long way of saying, stick with the CPAP and slowly improve your compliance rather than look for something that will justify lesser machine use. While it could be that you could drop below the suggested level of intervention (AHI < 5), remember this is a value used as a short-hand proxy for normal functioning by physicians and insurance companies and may not truly reflect what is going on in your heart, lungs, kidneys, or other systems. I wish you the best of luck on your journey to feeling great. P.S. Thanks for reminding me that I should not be overly critical of my equipment and internet connection when it slows down slightly to 25 mbs.
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius
01-06-2018, 03:47 PM
RE: 2018 Resolution. 'Cure' myself of Sleep Apnea.
Hi SarcasticDave94,
I appreciate the very well thought out post. Usually I find that we are not in agreement that much. I must admit I didn't know much of your background with sleep apnea, except that you had surgery and halved your AHI. A very good result. So, although I am hoping that weight loss will help me, I am not putting all my faith that weight loss alone will cure my sleep apnea. I am counting on weight loss, exercise, and last but not least, throat exercises. This may be a bit out there but the throat exercise thing is what I am most excited about. In the study AHI was reduced by an average of 39%. HalfAsleep says "And stretching them all around and making them additive as though the sum of all experimental successes will give you a cure. It won’t." At this point we don't know what is the outcome of using the 3 alternative therapies together. There have been no studies. I have not read about anyone who has done it. Maybe the experimental successes aren't additive, maybe they are synergenic. Good luck with your therapy.
01-06-2018, 03:47 PM
RE: 2018 Resolution. 'Cure' myself of Sleep Apnea.
I'd bump the max pressure to 9 cm.
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Organize your Sleepyhead Charts Posting Charts Beginner's Guide to SleepyHead Mask Primer Advisory Members serve as an "Advisory Committee" to help shape Apnea Board's rules & policies. Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
01-06-2018, 03:54 PM
RE: 2018 Resolution. 'Cure' myself of Sleep Apnea.
01-06-2018, 03:58 PM
RE: 2018 Resolution. 'Cure' myself of Sleep Apnea.
(01-06-2018, 03:47 PM)Walla Walla Wrote: I'd bump the max pressure to 9 cm. Thanks Walla Walla. Not going to happen. There is only one direction the pressures are going to go for the near furture, and that is down. I see that my machine wants to go higher. I don't believe in the pushing pressure to achieve minimal gains. Thanks again.
01-06-2018, 04:34 PM
RE: 2018 Resolution. 'Cure' myself of Sleep Apnea.
(01-06-2018, 03:58 PM)Mogy Wrote:(01-06-2018, 03:47 PM)Walla Walla Wrote: I'd bump the max pressure to 9 cm. Somebody better tell your machine that. Clearly it doesn't agree.
Download SleepyHead
Organize your Sleepyhead Charts Posting Charts Beginner's Guide to SleepyHead Mask Primer Advisory Members serve as an "Advisory Committee" to help shape Apnea Board's rules & policies. Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
01-06-2018, 04:49 PM
RE: 2018 Resolution. 'Cure' myself of Sleep Apnea.
I say.. I am guilty of knowing for years that I have needed a CPAP, even before I put on much of the weight I am currently carrying. I know it has made it worse, but sadly, some people with OSA will have it regardless of weight. I started this year, and while I would love to think I could eventually quit it (with medicine though, who knows where we will be in 20 years if my body doesn't fail). But I am ready for the long run, and as others have said.. I would rather breath than stroke out (hell, I am already scared my body is too far gone at even my age......).
Being more blunt, I put myself in line by remembering when I whine and gnash my teeth about having to deal with this, I could have far worse problems (like fibro) where the poor people have a solidly limited lifespan. Remembering this, I consider myself solidly blessed that my condition has a cheap, manageable treatment, and to just stick with it in the long run.
RE: 2018 Resolution. 'Cure' myself of Sleep Apnea.
Mogy, I sincerely hope that you can reverse your OSA through weight loss, exercise and throat exercises.
I lost a lot of weight between my initial diagnosis and now ... at diagnosis my BMI was 24.9 and now it is around 21 or maybe 22 after the Christmas festivities! Unfortunately for me, I still need to use CPAP. I believe I have hereditary physical features that predispose me to sleep apnea, I have a scalloped tongue and have had it for most of my adult life as I recall. But I do believe that weight loss and exercise are vital for overall good health and so I wish you all the best.
01-06-2018, 05:56 PM
RE: 2018 Resolution. 'Cure' myself of Sleep Apnea.
Mogy,
You're welcome on that. I think it's a good thing you are planning and enacting things to correct your health issues. Since it is your health, you can handle it however, and I'm not here to convince or shame you into doing otherwise. I did my actions for the exact same reasons, and it did help in the end. Weight loss and the exercises cannot be harmful as I see it. A sincere best wishes on future successes.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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