It will get better with weight loss. My pulmonary doctor said eventually I will not need mine. It takes a little getting use to, but you will sleep better and wake up feeling better.

I still use mine even tho I don't have to! Love it
I took my test years ago and stopped breathing like 150 times in an hours. Once was 45 seconds. The man giving the test said he almost freaked out,
The wife used to poke me and wake me up often when I stopped breathing.
I think you will like the CPAP. I needed it so bad there was no break in time! I learned to use the ramp up feature that allows you a few minutes to get to sleep before it goes full bore. Bt it is ok with or without that feature.
My doc says I can use it if I want to but probably don't need it.

I had a sleep study done about 8 years ago and I ended up needing a cpap. I hated that thing, still do. I think I only used it like twice. I couldnt sleep with it. I cant sleep period. But anyways, I lost some weight on my own and then 3 years ago I had another study done and it was determined I no longer had sleep apnea. So, yes, I believe that most sleep apnea will resolve itself with weight loss. Good luck.

Oh my....I had the same exact thing happen to me earlier this year. I got the stupid CPAP but was not wearing it everyday and so when I went in for pre-op testing and they told me to bring a printout from my sleep dr and the memory card from the machine, well they canceled my surgery for 30 days :( so I started using it everyday and had my surgery on 10/09/13. Listen to your dr, if he tells you that you must wear it then do so.....I still hate it and my sleep dr said I have to wait for six months to get a new sleep test to see if the weight loss has helped it go away. Good Luck.

I've used a cpap for 4-1/2 years now. My sleep doctor told me to come see him when I was down around 200 pounds. So I'm thinking it's about time to get things setup. I don't think I snore anymore (need to tape that with my phone to see). If I slept without my cpap I used to wake myself up with a snort, like gasping for air. Now, though, I don't do that, but I do wake up feeling a bit like I'm being strangled. It's weird. I will be interested to see what happens with the sleep study.

There's a support website that helped me alot when I first started. It's cpaptalk.com. Lots of good support and advice there. I got a pillow, some padding for my straps and a liner for my mask that have made the whole experience so much more comfortable and easier to live with.

I also have mild to moderate sleep apnea, I did have to go back for the second sleep study using a cpap. They do that if they didn't have to put you on one during the night. From what I hear it should get better after surgery. I stopped breathing 13 times per hour and that tripled during rem sleep. I have to admit I love my cpap.

I had Sleep Apnea to the point where I had the surgery 13 years ago where they remove your uvila and annoids and other stuff i can't spell. It went away for ahlie, but as I gained weight it came back or it probably never left. After losing about 50 lbs I stopped snoring and was getting great rest at night. One night it freaked my kid out because he woke me up and asked if I was ok LOL. I said yes why and he said because I can't hear you snoring from my room. That was too funny. The more you lose and more active you become the better I think it will get. Of course I am not a doctor and have no real proof of this, its just my experience.

Sorry not much help but I do have mild sleep apnea. I just have to use oxygen (through a cannula) at night rather than the CPAP. Not sure if that is something they would consider based on your specific results but wouldn't hurt to ask?

Tonya
RNY 11/19/2013

I have moderate sleep apnea. I hate using the Cpap machine. I've tried 3 different masks and take them all off in my sleep.

Mine.... drum roll, 87 events per hour! Which means I quit breathing that many times per hour!

That was several years ago... and once I got thru thru the adjustment period, it was amazing how good i felt! We don't realize how not sleeping well effects our daily life till we sleep well!

I am right now trying to get my CPAP turned down (long crazy doctor shuffle story!) because I've lost so much now it is blowing too strong and causing my pouch to hurt due to the extra air. Plus now I drag butt all day because I am not getting a good nights sleep as I have only been able to wear it for a couple hours. Now doc took me off it all together till I can get the pressuer adjusted so my pouch will quit hurting....

Anyways... much changes after wt loss... for some, no more cpap... :)

I know, everyone has said a lot already but here I am anyway. First of all, sleep apnea is LIFE-THREATENING! People tend to talk about it like it's just a nuisance but it is a very scary thing. I knew a man who DIED of it...in his 30's. leaving his wife and two young daughters alone in the world. A friend is a doctor who specializes in sleep disorders, and he says we treat it far too lightly given how dangerous it is. He says he regularly sees people who are at risk for immediate cardiac arrest just because of their sleep apnea...and they never knew it until they had that sleep study. Yikes!

Yes, I have it too...and will be going for a re-eval soon due to the weight loss. I hated my CPAP at first but I wore it, couldn't stop thinking about the guy who died. Just like this surgery, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to make the changes in your health happen...none of it is going to happen if you don't do your part. So do it for your health, and if the weight loss is enough to make you not need the help of a CPAP, count it a blessing. But for your own well-being, get the thing and then discipline yourself to use it. The weirdness, the feeling that you are being worked like a bellows all night, the "smothered" feeling you may get from wearing the mask...they eventually go away, but they are just the same as battling head hunger. You just have to be tough and determined to do what you have to do to live your healhiest life. And then maybe one day you can do without it...but until a doctor tells you that you don't need it any more, wear that turkey with PRIDE that you are taking care of yourself the best you can!

I had my surgery and still use the "nose pillows" but I'm hoping once I'm at my goal weight I won't need them anymore. I tried the masks as they really bothered me so I tried just the nose pillows and it's soooo much better. My surgeon also wouldn't do the surgery without me using the cpap. The apnea often goes away with the weight loss... Best of luck to you!!

I used a CPAP for 3 years or so. I threw it away 4 months after my RNY.

JJ

I use my CPap every night and have learned to actually like it. I had my sleep test as a pre-op and found out I had "severe" apnea. I stopped breathing 74 times and hour and actually was awake and repositioning more time then I was actually in REM sleep (they though if I could have stayed sleeping the frequency would have been more than doubled). My oxygen level ranged from 60-75% during most of the night before they applied CPap. It was amazing how well rested I felt after 3 hours on the mask the night of the test from 2 hours of pure REM sleep.

I am hoping to retest after getting close to my goal weight but the doctor told me she though I have some component of central apnea as well that will always require CPap to overcome even after the extra weight is gone. Apparently the central apnea is way more common than people realized and is missed unless the person is overweight and gets tested because of the additional obstructive apnea events.

With all due respect to JJ, I wouldn't just "throw it away" without being retested to ensure that the patient is no longer having apneas. As Ruby said, it is deadly if not treated.