quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
This leads me to wonder: How many of you who've joined the "CPAP club" first tried exercise?

I don't think any of us are under the illusion that the vast majority of obstructive sleep apnea cases are due to excess weight.

Did you read the cited articles?

Apparently "excessive weight" isn't the proximate cause of sleep apnea:

quote:

“The most compelling point of the research was that this 25% reduction was achieved without any reduction in body weight,” says study researcher Christopher Kline, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in the department of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Sleep Medicine.

(From the latter article.)

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
Problem is, while losing weight is an obvious goal, you're doing significant harm to your cardiovascular system over time by letting the OSA go untreated.

If exercise stops the problem, then it's no longer untreated, is it?

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
I agree - anyone using CPAP without trying to lose weight (assuming that's an issue) is merely putting a bandaid on the problem.

I'm not trying to judge anyone here. The question was born of simple curiosity.

Apparently I had sleep apnea. Apparently I no longer do. I assume exercise and diet is what cured me. I was simply curious if anybody who's resorted to CPAP tried the route I did? (Btw: I didn't go that route to address my [suspected] sleep apnea. I did it to get fit. The other was a happy side effect.)

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:


Apparently I had sleep apnea. Apparently I no longer do.

Just because you snored doesn't mean you had OSA. Were you tested to see if you were stopping breathing up to 60 times an hour like me?

Were you waking up choking, gasping for breath? Feeling like you were drowning? Heart racing like you had just run a few miles? That's how I felt and it's all gone now thanks to the CPAP.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Apparently I had sleep apnea. Apparently I no longer do.

Just because you snored doesn't mean you had OSA.

Which is why I amply qualified my statements. And, as I noted, it wasn't just snoring. My wife observed I'd occasionally stop breathing entirely during sleep. It was a frequent enough occurrence she brought it up as a concern.

From Sleep apnea: Symptoms & causes:

• Loud snoring - check, gone
  
• Episodes in which you stop breathing during sleep — which would be reported by another person - check, gone
  
• Gasping for air during sleep - not reported
  
• Awakening with a dry mouth - check, gone
  
• Morning headache - check - sometimes still do, but not nearly as often
  
• Difficulty staying asleep (insomnia) - check, mostly gone
  
• Excessive daytime sleepiness (hypersomnia) - no
  
• Difficulty paying attention while awake - no
  
• Irritability - check - and sometimes still am

So I had six of the nine symptoms listed. I now have only only two. The two remaining are substantially lessened, and may simply be old-ish age (I'm 71) and a natural tendency to be somewhat irritable when frustrated, coupled with being easily-frustrated. (My only character flaw )

Again: I'm not being judgmental or critical. I'm simply curious how many people use these things tried diet and exercise to possibly obviate the need for it?

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Again: I'm not being judgmental or critical. I'm simply curious how many people use these things tried diet and exercise to possibly obviate the need for it?

FWIW, Mrs.BurtonRW can't stand sitting still. I look forward to returning to real life after most vacations (with some exceptions) so I can relax. She walks me, largely against my will, on a daily basis. At least a mile and at a pace which gets me to aerobic. That's not a big deal. I can do 4-5 miles at that pace before I'm really beat. My point is, yeah, I get daily exercise after I'm done sitting at my desk for 8-9 hours.

-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
FWIW, Mrs.BurtonRW ... walks me, largely against my will, on a daily basis.

Good on her!

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
My point is, yeah, I get daily exercise after I'm done sitting at my desk for 8-9 hours.

Question: In that sitting at your desk for 8-9 hours: Do you make a point to get up and take at least a short stroll every hour or so? That has been shown to have a profound effect on health.

Also, something new I learned, recently, that doesn't even require getting up out of your chair and may even be more effective than walking: Soleus pushups

If you want to get your nerd on, you can get a lot of info from the machine and view it in Oscar found here:
http://www.apneaboard.com/foru...ysis-Reporter--25239

There's way more info stored than shown on the machine or in the Resmed app...

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Question: In that sitting at your desk for 8-9 hours: Do you make a point to get up and take at least a short stroll every hour or so? That has been shown to have a profound effect on health.

Yeah - gotta recycle the coffee on a regular basis and if I don't get up and move every now and then, I just get all stiff.

I'm also full of "nervous" energy. My feet and/or legs are in nearly constant motion.

-Rob

Thanks OP for starting this thread. After several sleep studies it looks like I will be joining the CPAP club. I’m a very lite sleeper not sure how I will do with a mask.

quote:

Originally posted by Slowlane:
Thanks OP for starting this thread. After several sleep studies it looks like I will be joining the CPAP club. I’m a very lite sleeper not sure how I will do with a mask.

As long as you go in with open expectations and don't over think the process it's a fairly easy transistion.

Fit of the mask is key, you need to be sure what you get works with the way you sleep. I toss a bit and sleep on my side, so a nasal pillows setup with the hose going up over my head works best as I can tuck it behind a pillow and it doesn't shift or get in the way like one where the hose would go down over my chest.

HRK

Thanks for that advice. Because of a very active early years I now have hip and lower back issues making it difficult to stay still.

I was diagnosed with Central Sleep Apnea - After a sleep study prompted from a testing by my Dentist.

CSA is a form of sleep apnea that is less common and less studied than OSA. Whereas OSA results from a blockage of the upper airway, CSA occurs when the brain fails to send appropriate signals to the breathing muscles to stimulate a regular breathing pattern.

I've been on a CPAP for 12 years and it works for me. I even have episodes watching TV in the evening while semi comatose.