Sleep Apnea - CPAP's affect on weight loss.
 

Hi all. Been a while. I think some of you will remember me, most probably won't. I check in from time to time and have a journal here.

I'll try to keep this short but i've seen me post in the past :lol:

Last year I had my aha moment and switched to low carb. Last year I lost 70lbs, from 320 to 250. It was a great year. As you can see from my stats, however, I am still at 250. I'm eating very clean, most of my friends and co-workers make comments about how restrictive I am with what I eat, my parents call my resolve to this diet "sickening" because they've always tried LC, had great results and then skipped out at the first plateau (this has happened for years) and, maybe the best part is I almost always get to pick the restaurant when I eat out with someone because they know i'm "picky."

I've been trying to figure out why my weight loss stalled so decisively in 2016. I was losing weight consistently through 2015. Heck, the week of Christmas I ate only meat for a week and lost 1-2 lbs per day. But January 1st 2016 happened and my scale needle has been frozen at 250 for most of a year.

Last week my friend had a sleep study done and was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. He mentioned that he was looking forward to dreaming again. And the accompanying weight loss that usually occurs. (My CPAP salesman told me that once he sets someone up he often sees them come back in a year having dropped close to 100lbs. I thought "that won't be me, i'm not that lucky" and it wasn't, but I was close :) )But his comment sparked my memory.

I was also diagnosed. Mine was early in 2015. I got a CPAP machine and started using it consistently. At the end of 2015 I decided that I had lost 70lbs and probably didn't need it anymore. So I stopped using it altogether.

When I used the CPAP I was dreaming like a madman. Now, I can't remember the last dream i've had.

Last week I decided to put this theory to the test and started using my machine again. This morning my scale was down to 246. I'm not ready to make any predictions yet but i'm curious... what do you think about this?

P.S. I ran across this article while I was searching and thought it was interesting - http://www.yourlunghealth.org/headlines/2011/12/cpap/

My husband has severe sleep apnea, too. Your experience sounds about right; sleep is essential to proper body function and if you aren't getting it, your body can't function. Once you are sleeping again your body can go back to being a normal body.

Weight loss by itself does not (always) cure sleep apnea. Please get a new sleep study before you try to stop using the machine again.

When I went on CPAP I was not on a WL program but maintenance. After 3 months I went back to the doc for check up and had had a signifigant loss. He said as sleep improved so did hormones and it was a very normal response for most on CPAP.

It seems you may still need it. When I lost all my weight I tried to sleep without cpap and found myself snoring and waking up all night. You might be able to lower the pressure.

There's a lot of benefits to good sleep. I notice my skin isn't dry when I sleep well, and I don't fall asleep when I'm driving!

A lot of studies tie your hormones into the sleep cycle as well, so it might benefit your weight-loss program.

If you can get another sleep study that would tell you whats what.

Some people report spontaneous weight loss after going on CPAP. Unfortunately I haven't been one of them (I must be a particularly intransigent glutton and sloth).

But other than that disappointment, CPAP has been a miracle for me:

1. My GERD has been completely cured.

2. A chronic cough that I thought was asthma, but now realize it was probably caused by the GERD, has gone away.

3. I'm no longer falling asleep at the job, or at the wheel.

4. I actually look forward to sleeping now that I'm able to get good sleep.

5. Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms improved a lot.

Apparently I had sleep apnea for many years without even realizing it or knowing what it was, and I was so miserable because of it. And getting on CPAP has at least motivated me and given me the energy to try Low Carb again and working out again.

If you snore and suffer from daytime sleepiness please get yourself tested for sleep apnea.

According to Dr. Dale Bredesen, in his 2017 book The End of Alzheimer's: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline, sleep Apnea is one of the items / risk factors addressed in his ReCODE (reverse cognitive decline) program to treat / prevent cognitive decline. My wife always tells me I snore. I need to get checked for this.