Weight Reduction status ~ making a good progress!

Trend of my weight last 12 months

Background
As I posted a couple times, a doctor suspected "sleep apnea" and I had sleep study at home in April and the doctor concluded as "sleep apnea" in mid May.   Currently, I have been using CPAP machine for the treatment.  Also, one of reasons for sleep apnea is over weight, therefore, I am doing weight deduction now.

After age 40, I have been running a couple days a week.  However, I also ate too much and my weight is 165 ~ 180 lbs last ten years.  It was not too bad as long as I did regular exercise, however once I stopped regular running, I had some chest pain.  Finally I saw a doctor and found "sleep apnea".

Around last November to this February, there is a symptom for stress-fracture, I tended to take some rests and stopped running often, therefore, the weight trend was increasing.  This happened a couple times a yer and my weight was up and down frequently.

Serious weight reduction

Due to some relationship between exercise and the pain, I started weight reduction after I saw a doctor in March.  First thing I did was reduce the strength of exercise to lower the risk of injury to avoid to stop exercise so often.  Due to my age, it might be tough to continue some high intensity menu, I decided to change the direction of exercise.

The other thing was I tried to eat less especially carbohydrate foods such as rice and bread.  However it might be hard to continue very restricted diet for a long time, so that what I am doing is about 60~70% reduction.

I also take a walk during lunch time for 30 ~ 45 minutes around the office other than running.

I think it started working some time after May.  The weight reduction between March and May was probably due to resuming running.  Now, I am adopted and I can keep a good trend for my weight deduction.   It is close to 155 lbs now!

Impact to Sleep Apnea?

I think it depends on a type of sleep apnea.  In my case, it is obstructive sleep apnea and it might be a good chance to improve the symptom with weight reduction.  I can see some improvement before I started using CPAP a month ago.
Currently, I've been using CPAP and it is expected to get some improvement, however, a data detected by the CPAP machine shows it is also improved.

I will continue the weight reduction to target somewhere 135 lbs.

Here is the trend of an average weight for every week:

159.4lbs -> 158.3lbs -> 157.2lbs -> 156.7lbs

I can make a very good progress now!

(To be continue)

CPAP treatment ~ about 1 month

CPAP machine!

It's been a month since I started using CPAP during sleeping.  Initially, it was hard to get into sleep with the mask and hard to wear mask during sleeping.  I sometimes took the mask off during sleeping.   Now it is getting better.

SPO2 with CPAP

I continue to collect SPO2 data during sleeping, I still see SPO2 drop below 90% once or twice a night sometimes.  It is not everyday, however, it is still happening.  Before using CPAP machine, I tried a couple things to improve the symptom.  Some of them are probably helping to improve, but I still saw SPO2 drops a few times a night.

On the other hand, I do not have any symptoms I had before.  They are gone!  Even without CPAP, it was really improved.   However, I have been using CPAP machine for now.

Insurance coverage!

My insurance covers 90%  of cost using CPAP.  Originally, I was told that I had to buy the machine after a trial.  However, it is still renting it.  Based on the explanation, it will be rental base for a while and will switch to purchase it later.  So, the due for using CPAP is not much!  The initial cost is around USD $ 15 and monthly due is probably less than USD $10 for now.

However, I have to use it more than 4 hours a day and if it is less than 70% of total days, then the insurance company will stop covering it.   During summer, I probably go camping a couple times where I could not use it due to no power source.  Therefore, I have to use it as long as I stay home.  Also, it might be hard to do some other experiment without CPAP for now.  The CPAP machine keeps sending the data through a cellular network and doctors, insurance carrier will be able to check the usage daily !
 

Mask for CPAP

”Pillow" type mask

"Nasal" type mask

When I did a trial for CPAP, the device the hospital gave me is from "Res Med".  The product name is "AirSense 10" as I mentioned in the previous post.   For masks which is attached to the device and wear when I sleep, I could try two different types during the trial.  Actually, there are three types of mask I can pick.  (Two of three selections).    "Pillow", "Nasal" and "Full face".

See all type of masks in the vendor's web, Res Med

In my case I picked "Pillow" and "Nasal" since the area the mask covers are small.  I do not like big mask during sleeping.

For myself, the both types worked very well.  I guess "Nasal" type is probably much easy to fit without leaking air.  However, area it covers a little bigger than "Pillow" type and I had a bad experience when I had a congestion in my nose.  One of nights during the trial, I had a hard time to get into sleep with this mask and switched to "Pillow".

I guess it is a good and a bad.  It is sometimes getting loose or out of position during the sleeping.  Those cases were not working properly.  However, it is probably better to continue sleeping even if I have a bad congestion.  Also, it is probably much easy to get into sleep due to less covered area on the face.   So I picked "Pillow" type for long term use.

Overall, it works all right most of time including my actual treatment with CPAP after the trail.

In general, it is really a preference for each person.  One gentle man who got the same session for the trail prefer either "Nasal" or "Full face".  He did not like "Pillow" at all.  I think the key is reasonably comfortable with a mask.  Since people need to ware a mask for long term with a CPAP device.  Getting a better sleep is goal.

The trial system is working very well for me since I could try different type of masks during the trial and I could pick the best one for myself.  I think we could try all of them.  What I was told was just two types at the same time.  As long as I request to swap one of them to the other type, I could try all.  In my case, I was not comfortable with a full face mask and I did not pick it.

CPAP Trial

ResMed AirSense(TM) 10 CPAP

CPAP Trial

In the United States, it is probably popular that people usually purchase CPAP device for the treatment with some insurance coverage.  As a part of process to purchase it with some insurance coverage, the doctor needs to write a prescription to proceed.  Due to this, it is usually required a trial to make sure it works and collect some data for prescription.

For trial, people need to make an appointment to rent a device for trial and instruction of CPAP device.   I made an appointment right after I picked CPAP option for my treatment.  However, I cannot get it right away and I had to wait more than 1 months for the trial.

Finally, I started the trial on June 20, 2018.

Wow!

Here is SPO2 trend with CPAP.

Without CPAP, SPO2 value dropped to near 90% a several times a night.  In this data, you may see a drip in the beginning, however, I had not slept at that time and it might be a false data.  After that, overall, it is much better than without CPAP.

So I do see CPAP helps to improve the symptom a lot.

The other note, I took CPAP mask off after 4am, since I started waking up in a short period after 3am.  The instruction was minimum 4 hours a night.  Therefore, I was not very comfortable and I decided to take it off for the next day.  Even though, I do not see SPO2 drop after that.....

(To be continue ....)

Sleeping position ~ a way to force sleeping on a side!!

Plastic balls in a waist bag

Looking for a better way to force sleeping on a side

It seems that it might help to improve symptoms of sleep apnea when I sleep on a side.  However it is not really easy and hard to insure I am in the position.   It is really hard to avoid moving during sleep and it sometimes I sleep on a side.  Then, the SPO2 value is dropped when I slept on a back.

If I do some internet search, some people mention holding a pillow helps to keep the position.  Also some other people say wearing backpack would help to keep the side position.   However holding a pillow does not help much for my case.  Also, I have some backpacks, but they are dirty since I have been using them outdoor and I do not want to use them in a bed.  But I do not want to buy a backpack just for this purpose.

Plastic balls

Then, an alternate idea is using a waist bag with plastic balls during sleeping.  Due to the balls in the back, it would be uncomfortable when I sleep on a back.  I though it might help to force sleeping on a back.

The result ....

The result was not bad.  I can see some improvement, reducing SPO2 drops during sleeping.  I collected data for a several days and I did see some difference with / without the balls.  There are a couple issues:

• The bag got loose during the sleeping and the back position was not on the back.  Then I can sleep on a back.
• It is not really comfortable.  Every time I was on a back position, I woke up and I could not sleep well since I woke up so often.  I may adopted when I continue to do...  But it was bad the next day during this experiment.

The conclusion is it might help, but it is not very comfortable to wear the waist bag during sleeping with the balls.  For long term, I may be able to adopted when I continue to do.  But just for a short term, it was not very comfortable and did not sleep well.  We might consider softer balls instead of the hard plastic balls

(To be continue ....)

Sleeping position

SPO2 trend during sleeping

(June 2 ~ June 3, 2018)

Sleeping position

I selected to use CPAP to improve the symptom of sleep apnea.  However I need to purchase CPAP and I need to have a trial for a several days before proceed with some insurance coverage in the United States.  For the trail, I needed to make an appointment with a sleep disorder center to rent a CPAP and getting some instruction.  It took more than a month from the day I made the reservation.

In a mean while, I was looking for ways to improve the symptom.  One of possible ways is sleeping position.   My case is a mild sleep apnea, it is OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea).  Therefore it might be a chance to improve to change the sleeping position.  According to the doctor, sleeping on the back would be worse and probably better to try sleeping on a side instead of the back.

It is not easy...., but try!

So, the first thing I tried is try sleeping on a side.  However, it was not really easy.   Only thing I could do was to try sleeping side intentionally.  But during the sleeping, my sleeping position would be changed.   However, I did see some difference if I tried.
Without "trying", SPO2 value dropped below 90% a few times during sleeping.  However, it may reduce the dropping if I try it.

I took data for a week, or 7 days and I did see some improvement from not trying.

It is probably worth to try sleeping on a side ......

(To be continue .....)

Example of Report file ~ SPO2 / Heart rate

Heart Rage (Pulse Rate) and SPO2 summary

Here is an example of the report file.   Once upload the data from the pulse oximeter, the site will generate a report file and the report can be downloaded in the application on a smart phone.  It can be sent via Email with a PDF file.
The report includes summary graph for heart rate (pulse rate, PR), statistics and detail information.

Statistics information for SPO2 and PR

This is a reference data for myself.  I just slept without any special treatments. It does not seem to be very bad, I only saw one big drop to SPO2=90% and a several small drops.  Depending of days, I might see a several big drops.  Therefore, just a data for a night won't be enough to conclude a treatment.  However if there is data for multiple days, we can see a similar trend and that would be probably enough to say the symptom is improved or not.

The problem is we cannot see a raw data which is raw data reading for each sampling.  I sometimes saw some false data which is some drops before getting into sleep.  Depending on contact between the sensor and finger, the reading might not be stable.  I saw this even I collect data in daytime.  If there is such false data, the statistics might be meaning less....  Ideally, it is better to access the raw data to exclude them to analyze the result.  Therefore the valid portion is really plots in the report.

I already collect some data and I will share them in the future posting!

(To be continue ...)