RE: Is the cpap machine a life long thing?
It all depends on the source of the apnoea - for some, weight loss is sufficient to reduce the number of events and therefore the pressure, but that is actually rarer than you might believe. At the moment there is no "cure" for apnoea that is reliable and fully safe. CPAP remains the best therapeutic method that alleviates the bulk of the symptoms reliably when in use. CPAP neither strengthens nor weakens throat tissue, so worries about becoming dependant on it are baseless, but until something better comes along, and something will, eventually, I am afraid that you must consider the machine a life long companion, and with it, you will have a longer life.
Please DO lose weight, as that will have a direct effect on your life span and life quality, but to pin the hopes that weight loss alone (or in combination with playing the digeridoo) will mean you can get off the machine is rather living in Cloud Cuckoo Land.
RE: Is the cpap machine a life long thing?
Forever. Get comfortable with that fact of life.
RE: Is the cpap machine a life long thing?
Mark Risley is probably right along with all the others, however. The things I have found from
more than 7 or eight CPAP techs and Docs is this: If, while on CPAP therapy, you begin to
belch and always have a lot of air in your stomach, you probably need to reduce the pressure
on your machine. Now whether you can get off CPAP completely or not, by reducing the
pressure to zero, will be between you and your Doc. I have heard it can happen. I have
never seen it. I have been on CPAP since 2006 and expect it will always be with me.
Lee
RE: Is the cpap machine a life long thing?
(08-26-2013, 10:18 AM)Sevensox Wrote: Mark Risley is probably right along with all the others, however. The things I have found from
more than 7 or eight CPAP techs and Docs is this: If, while on CPAP therapy, you begin to
belch and always have a lot of air in your stomach, you probably need to reduce the pressure
on your machine. Now whether you can get off CPAP completely or not, by reducing the
pressure to zero, will be between you and your Doc. I have heard it can happen. I have
never seen it. I have been on CPAP since 2006 and expect it will always be with me.
Lee
Aerophagia (swallowing air causing belching and air in stomach) is a not-uncommon side-effect of CPAP therapy, particularly with higher pressures. Having to reduce the pressure because of it is not an indication that your OSA treatment pressure requirements have decreased, but rather that temporarily sacrificing "optimal" OSA treatment by lowering the pressure will allow you to acclimate and overcome the aerophagia. It does not mean that you are on the road to eliminating the requirement for CPAP therapy.
RE: Is the cpap machine a life long thing?
Many of my Mom's siblings have OSA and RLS. None of them are overweight. I am and have OSA and RLS, my son is 14 and just diagnosed, he is a beanpole. So maybe some folks get heavy enough that it causes OSA, but my Dr is convinced that the OSA caused my weight problem. I'm about 70 lbs overweight. I know that losing weight will make my numbers better but I will always need CPAP. So I would accept it as permanent but if at some point you don't qualify as having OSA anymore, then that's a happy surprise.
RE: Is the cpap machine a life long thing?
(09-09-2013, 09:58 PM)bunnyslippers Wrote: Many of my Mom's siblings have OSA and RLS. None of them are overweight. I am and have OSA and RLS, my son is 14 and just diagnosed, he is a beanpole. So maybe some folks get heavy enough that it causes OSA, but my Dr is convinced that the OSA caused my weight problem. I'm about 70 lbs overweight. I know that losing weight will make my numbers better but I will always need CPAP. So I would accept it as permanent but if at some point you don't qualify as having OSA anymore, then that's a happy surprise.
bunnyslippers, your right normally undiagnosed sleep apnea causes weight gain as people are too tired to exercise and eat the wrong foods with heaps of suger and then that makes the sleep apnea worse so it would therefore work the other way as well. Your numbers can improve with weight loss, exercise, etc but you can never cure it only treat it with a CPAP. The main reason we have sleep apnea is because of evolution, cave men and women had large jaws so their tongues would fit neatly in the mouths when they slept, as we evolved our jaws got smaller and that is why when we sleep they fall back and cover our throats and cause sleep apnea. This is also why animals never have sleep apnea their jaw structure is different to ours.
