Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder that can potentially be dangerous if left untreated. Having a high BMI can often be the cause of this disorder. Dr. Choi explains how weight loss surgery affects sleep apnea and its chances of being cured after surgery.
Why Sleep Apnea Feels Like a Prison
Sleep apnea isn’t just about snoring or a disrupted sleep cycle. It’s more like a nightly confinement. Every time you lay down, it’s there. That pause in breathing, that gasp for air. It’s the thing that slowly chips away at your energy, mental health, and relationships. Maybe your partner has even gently nudged you awake during the night, concerned about your health, or just frustrated with the symphony of snores and mechanical hums.
When Dr. Choi speaks about sleep apnea, he frames it in daily life. It is more than just a “mechanical” condition. Sleep apnea is an uninvited guest that lingers in your bedroom each night, stealing your quality of life. For many, the cause of this condition is heavily related to obesity.
High BMI… It’s like a toxic relationship you can’t seem to shake off even if you want to. But here is the thing: what if there was a method to finally end this cycle of suffering? It exists, and it is called weight loss surgery.
Your Cardiovascular System
The heart, poor thing, just wants to rest. It beats faithfully, day in and day out, but sleep apnea pushes it into overdrive. When you stop breathing, oxygen levels in your blood plummet. The heart reacts by pumping faster and harder to compensate, like a runner sprinting uphill with no end in sight. Over time, this extra work can lead to high blood pressure, and an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and even heart failure.
The Brain: The Silent Sufferer
The brain is another victim, constantly being jarred awake, over and over again. Even if you don’t remember these awakenings, your brain does. It becomes deprived of the deep, restorative stages of sleep, those stages where memories are consolidated, where learning happens, and where your emotional and mental health is nurtured. Sleep apnea throws your brain into a chaotic state, leaving it starved for rest.
Did you know that sleep apnea has been linked to cognitive decline and memory problems? People with this condition often describe a fog, a sense of always feeling slightly detached from reality.
The Weight-Sleep Apnea Connection
Excess weight, particularly that around the neck, can obstruct the airways, making it harder for you to breathe while sleeping. It feels like having a heavy pillow pressed against your throat but from the inside. And every night, your body fights against this, gasping for air, waking you up just enough to disrupt your sleep. This is a cycle you may not remember about the next day, but it’s there.
According to Dr. Choi, around 70% of people with sleep apnea are also obese. When you carry around some extra pounds, especially in the neck and chest area, it places pressure on the airway. That pressure is what causes the airway to collapse during sleep, leading to those pauses in breathing. The CPAP machine helps by keeping the airway open, but it’s not a cure, it’s a band-aid.
Metabolism: Why do you Gain Weight Due to Sleep Apnea
You might think you’re sleeping, but your body is in a constant state of stress. An increase in cortisol levels can contribute to unwanted weight gain. There’s a vicious cycle here: weight gain can exacerbate sleep apnea, and sleep apnea can make it harder to lose weight. It’s a loop that many find difficult to break out of.
Sleep apnea disrupts the hormones that control hunger and satiety. Leptin, the hormone that tells your brain you’re full, decreases, while ghrelin, the hormone that makes you hungry, increases. The result? You eat more, crave more, and your body holds onto fat as if preparing for a famine.
Weight Loss Surgery
Weight loss surgery, or bariatric surgery, offers a way out. It reshapes the body from the inside, altering not just the size of the stomach, but the way your entire digestive system functions. Imagine waking up one day to find your voracious, malicious appetite diminished, and your body responding to food in a way that, at first, seems foreign, but soon reveals itself as an exhilarating, organic experience.
There are a lot of types of weight loss surgery, each with its unique technique and procedure, but all share the common goal of helping patients shed significant pounds off their bodies. The famous gastric bypass, for instance, is a procedure that not only reduces the size of the stomach but also reroutes the small intestine, leading to less absorption of calories.
The sleeve gastrectomy, on the other hand, removes almost the entirety of the stomach, leaving behind a thin, sleeve-like structure. It’s a more straightforward approach, like trimming away the excess fabric from a dress to create a slimmer silhouette. And then there’s the adjustable gastric banding where a band is placed around the upper part of the stomach, creating a small pouch that severely limits food intake.
These surgeries promise dramatic weight loss, but the question remains: Will losing weight alone be enough to beat sleep apnea?
Does Weight Loss Surgery Cure Sleep Apnea?
Not everyone who undergoes weight loss surgery will find themselves free from sleep apnea. But for some, the surgery works wonders. They shed pounds, and with it, the weight in their airways is finally lifted. Suddenly, they can breathe freely at night like any other normal person, sleep peacefully, and leave the CPAP machine gathering dust in the closet. These are the people who tell their friends, with a sly smile, how surgery changed everything for them. “Did you hear? She had the surgery, and now she sleeps like a baby. No more machine!”, whispers circulate through the dinner parties, with guests marveling at the incredible transformation.”
But for others, the reality is different. Despite the weight loss, sleep apnea lingers. The snoring may soften, and the apnea episodes may decrease, but the CPAP machine remains a fixture in their nightly routine. Why? Because sleep apnea is a complex condition.
Some people have naturally narrow airways, or they might have other anatomical quirks that contribute to their sleep apnea. Even after shedding the extra pounds, their airways might still collapse during sleep, causing that dreaded apnea to persist.
The Marriage Factor: How Weight Loss Surgery Can Save Relationships
When we think about sleep apnea, the first thing that usually comes to mind is your health, your breathing, your heart, and your overall well-being. But what about the person next to you? The one who lies awake, staring at the ceiling, night after night, listening to your labored breaths? Sleep apnea has a way of sneaking into your relationship, too.
And that’s where weight loss surgery steps in, but not always in the way you might think. Let’s take a journey into the bedroom. Hmm, not exactly like that, well… maybe just a hint of that. We will talk about how sleep apnea and weight loss surgery play out in the intimate, often hidden corners of a marriage.
The Heavy Breather and The Sleepless Partner
Picture this: you’re nestled into bed, your partner beside you, but instead of sweet whispers, the room is filled with snoring. Not just any snoring, earthquake-level rumbling that could shake the pictures off the walls. This is your life now, night after night. They love you, of course, they do, but love, sadly, is not medicine for exhaustion.
This is the reality many couples face when sleep apnea is involved.
The CPAP machine, with its humming presence and tubes that twist like vines across the sheets, is a constant reminder that sleep apnea has become more than a health condition.
Why Treating Sleep Apnea is Urgent
Knowing all of this, it becomes clear that sleep apnea is more than just a nuisance. Left untreated, it can lead to a range of health issues that extend far beyond snoring. This is why seeking treatment is so important, and yet, so many people delay getting help.
Why? Perhaps it’s the stigma attached to wearing a CPAP mask, such a bulky, unsexy device that feels more like an intrusion than a solution. But let’s flip the narrative. Wouldn’t it be more empowering to think of that mask as a protective shield, a tool that ensures your heart, brain, and body get the rest they so desperately need?
Career Impact
You wake up groggy, your head pounding from a lack of oxygen, and somehow, you drag yourself to work. Maybe you make it on time, but you’re hardly at your best. Your focus drifts, your memory feels like a sieve, and those energy drinks aren’t cutting it anymore. Tasks that once took an hour now seem to stretch on forever, and the mistakes, oh, the mistakes start piling up.
For many people, the symptoms of sleep apnea directly translate into career setbacks. Missed deadlines, poor performance in meetings, and irritability with colleagues are the everyday consequences of a condition that happens behind closed eyelids.
Sleep Apnea Isn’t Cheap
Now, let’s talk money. Sleep apnea doesn’t just cost you in terms of lost productivity, it also has a direct financial impact. First, there’s the cost of ongoing treatments. CPAP machines, doctor’s visits, sleep studies, none of these are cheap.
Even with insurance, you’re likely to find yourself shelling out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars each year to manage your condition.
And what if you don’t treat it? Choosing to do nothing can come with an even steeper price tag. Untreated sleep apnea is linked to serious health issues like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, all of which come with hefty price tags.
Hospital bills, medications, and missed work due to illness, are a financial snowball that can quickly turn into an avalanche.
Post-Surgery Magic
Dr. Choi often hears from patients who, after weight loss surgery, describe feeling closer to their partners than they have in years.
One woman even confided that she and her husband had started having “sleepover dates” again, something they hadn’t done since their early marriage days.
“It’s like we’re newlyweds,” she giggled to Dr. Choi, her eyes sparkling with amusement and joy.
After years of feeling dulled by exhaustion and shying away, people who have recovered from sleep apnea find themselves reawakened. Dr. Choi’s patients are living proof of this transformation. They come to her feeling defeated, their lives dulled by exhaustion and frustration. But after surgery, they emerge renewed, their inner light rekindled.
Dr. Choi’s Approach to Bariatric Surgery
Dr. Choi understands this all too well. He knows that bariatric surgery is not just about reducing excess weight. It’s about reclaiming your life, one breath at a time. His approach is meticulous and compassionate. He takes into account not just the physical but the emotional and psychological toll that obesity and sleep apnea take on her patients. Never, not for one second, think about it as just surgery, it’s a path to freedom.
Dr. Choi’s expertise lies in understanding the intimate relationship between weight and breathing, between your body’s heaviness and your mind’s lightness. Dr. Choi’s patients often describe the experience as liberating. Bariatric surgery isn’t a decision made lightly, and Dr. Choi ensures that her patients are fully prepared for the journey ahead.
What to Expect From Dr. Choi
The process begins long before you’re on the operating table. Dr. Choi conducts a thorough assessment to determine whether you’re a good candidate for surgery. This involves evaluating your medical history, current health status, and, importantly, psychological readiness for the changes ahead.
Once the surgery is complete, the real work begins. Patients need to adhere to a strict postoperative diet and lifestyle changes to ensure the surgery’s success. Dr. Choi’s team provides ongoing support, including nutrition counseling and psychological support. If you have any other questions about our procedures, don’t hesitate to contact us or check our FAQ so you are more informed before being a guest in Cr.Choi’s clinic.
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