Sleep Apnea
I had RNY on July 1st last year. Was diagnosed with sleep apnea in February of last year also. I'm a mouth breather so I can only wear the full face mask with my CPAP and after losing a lot of weight the masks no longer fit. To use the CPAP I Had to sleep on my side of stomach all night with pressure on the mask so it would seal. I discussed this with My PCM told me to use my fitbit to randomly track my sleep without and with the mask for several nights and compare. My sleep was more interrupted with the CPAP mask that didnt fit than without. Bye bye CPAP. I've not had a sleep study to confirm the apena is gone and at this point I think it would be a waste of money for the insurance company and I.
High Weight: 264, BMI 46.8, Surgery Date: July 1, 2014, weight 227, BMI 40.2
I don't think it's a good idea at all. That sort of call should be made by a trained professional, not by a patient eyeballing their own data. I've used sleep trackers on Jawbone and Pebble devices and they're not particularly accurate.
Sparklekitty / Julie / Nerdy Little Secret (#42)
Roller derby - cycling - triathlon
VSG 2013, RNY conversion 2019 due to GERD. Trendweight here!
on 1/16/15 11:31 pm
You allowed a Fitbit to determine the seriousness of your Apnea and your doctor agreed? Apnea can be very dangerous just like obesity. You go through major surgey to save your life and allow Fitbit to diagnose your Apnea. I don't get it.
"The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue." --- Dorothy Parker
"You may not like what I say or how I say it, but it may be just exactly what you need to hear." ---Kathryn White
on 1/16/15 11:20 pm
I have Sleep Apnea but it's not weight related. I lost my weight and still wear my machine. I don't know why people hate the machines so much. I sleep like a baby with it. I use the nose pillows. My husband sleeps good hearing the low sound that comes from it. It has saved my life and I don't leave my home without it.
"The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue." --- Dorothy Parker
"You may not like what I say or how I say it, but it may be just exactly what you need to hear." ---Kathryn White
Hey Chili--I am right there with you. Lost almost all my weight and I have to wear mine too, and I really do sleep better and more fully with it. I tried going without it during the hottest months of summer and had a reading done on the card as well as a home oximeter test one night. Turns out, I have pulmonary hypertension and without the CPAP, my oxygen levels get scarily low.
Couldn't have diagnosed THAT myself....nor does my FitBit, MD. PhD 
......
H/W: 312 S/W: 280 C/W: 196 Surgery date: 3/18/2014
The fitbit measures how much you toss and turn -- movement. It stands to reason the mask might alter your movements. If you stop breathing while sleeping, you won't move at all! Score one for the fitbit!
Ditch the CPAP machine if you want to, that's your choice. But please, don't pretend that the fitbit can take the place of a medical diagnosis.
6'3" tall, male.
Highest weight was 475. RNY on 08/21/12. Current weight: 198.
M1 -24; M2 -21; M3 -19; M4 -21; M5 -13; M6 -21; M7 -10; M8 -16; M9 -10; M10 -8; M11 -6; M12 -5.
My sleep doctor told me that his training was that sleep apnea causes weight gain, not always the other way around. He said that weight loss may improve the obstructive apnea, but more so in men than in women. He said that the fatigue from apnea drives people to eat more high carb things, and even more, the stress hormones from poor sleep affect a person's metabolism.
Once I lose all this excess weight, it would be great not to use the CPAP, but I am not counting on that, especially since I have significant central apnea. If, possibly, decades of undiagnosed apnea helped cause my weight problems, then to keep the weight off, I have to manage the apnea, which i may have with me forever.
