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Hbob4

Hbob4
Joined Apr 2018
Hbob4
Joined Apr 2018

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea after doing a sleep study last night. I went for this sleep study on a whim. I've had a weight problem my whole life, but maybe it's gotten worse lately? Hard to say.

Anyway, they diagnosed me with sleep apnea and start talking about using a CPAP machine, which we all know will involve sleeping with a huge horrible mask on. No one's really given me a good reason why I actually want to do this, though. The clinician was very, well, clinical.

"You have sleep apnea. You should treat it by using a CPAP machine"
Why exactly?
"To treat your sleep apnea"
But why do I want to do that?
"Because we diagnosed you with sleep apnea"

They didn't make much of a value proposition for me. They seemed pretty disconnected.

Using the home sleep study was nightmarish. I hated having to sleep with something on my face, and it made it really difficult to sleep comfortably, turn around, roll over, etc. Not to mention my cats were trying to kill all the wires. If using a CPAP is even fractionally as bad as using the home sleep study machine, I can't imagine that it could possibly make my sleep more restful rather than less.

Furthermore, I don't feel like I'm particularly unrested during the day. It's hard for me to wake up in the morning, but who doesn't have trouble waking up? I yawn a lot, but I never feel hindered at work, and not to mention I'm practically the only software engineer in the world who gets by without drinking coffee. I take long naps on the weekend, but I've always done this ever since I was little. They can tell me I have some disorder, but frankly, I feel normal. I hate to use the S-word, but honestly this whole thing would seem kinda like a scam, if it weren't so well-accepted in the medical community.

I am however, interested in trying "treatment", even a CPAP, if it could make me lose weight, but I'm skeptical. I haven't seen convincing evidence of a causal relationship (as in that sleep apnea causes weight gain, not vice-versa) and I know very well that the science is out on most weight-gain causes. Do I eat more whole grains or less? Skim milk or whole? Everyone gives a different answer, so I'm very very skeptical of anything that is supposed to make me lose weight.

Does anyone have any advice on what I should do?