Bariatric Surgery Not A Cure For Sleep Apnea

October 18, 2012

It’s been taught that significant weight loss in morbidly obese people can cure sleep apnea. My experience with patients and this recent study from Australia shows that in many cases, you can lose a lot of weight, but your sleep apnea severity may not improve significantly. Just like any intervention for sleep apnea, you’ll see a wide range of responses. Some people are cured, some have no effect, but most are somewhere in the middle. I generally counsel my patients that you’ll likely go down one level in the severity of sleep apnea: If you start with mild sleep apnea, losing a lot of weight may get you down into the normal levels, and if you start at severe sleep apnea, that same weight loss may get you down to moderate levels.

Did you lose a lot of weight, and if so, how much did your sleep apnea improve?

Written by Steven Park · Filed Under Blog 
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4 Responses to “Bariatric Surgery Not A Cure For Sleep Apnea”

  1. J.P. on October 19th, 2012 11:01 pm

    I was talking to a woman recently who lost 100 lbs. due to bariatric surgery. She commented that her blood sugar numbers had not come down even though she was told they should, and she also commented she still had poor sleep.

    Maybe it would be a good idea that doctors suggest sleep studies before performing the surgery.

  2. Edwin on October 30th, 2012 10:56 pm

    Sleep Apnea is really troubling. Before you try anything to address Sleep Apnea it is best that you do your research to know the pros and cons. Try to check out http://howtosleeponyourback.com/ to find the latest news about Sleep Apnea.

  3. jp on January 26th, 2013 2:55 pm

    I lost 100+ lbs with bariatric surgery. For the first 1 and half post surgery i felt my sleep apnea was gone, after all my blood pressure dropped to normal my joints felt better and i was sleeping better and feeling great. But slowly i started to feel the effects of sleep apnea again, headaches in the morning unclear head and forgetfullness and not to forget unexplained hunger more than normal. I feel that i need to return to my gp and ask for another apnea study and to replace the CPAP machine i gave away because i thought it was gone forever. Not knocking bariatric surgery i would still do it all over again because the benefits of the weightloss have been enormous!! Just wish the sleep apnea would clear up come to think about it it was my gp and the diagnosing sleep Dr. that kept saying it would be greatly improved if i lost weight. Sleep apnea is what the Surgeons and insurance Co. call a co-morbidity, at least 3 of which qualifies one for bariatric surgery.

  4. Steven Park on January 26th, 2013 4:24 pm

    JP,

    Thanks for commenting. Your experience supports my assertion that in many cases, it’ OSA that can aggravate weight gain, rather than the other way around. This is why it’s important to address your narrowed upper airways, even if your scores on a sleep study may be low. Good luck.

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