[Diagnosis] Hypothyroidism

[netsurfer]

My Dr. suggested that there was a link between Hypothyroidism and sleep disordered breathing including Cheyne Stokes. I did find a few references in the Medical literature...Google Scholar and Read Cube ..that did refer to the association.
Does anyone have any additional info about this? Hypothyroidism is linked to a bunch of things.....Hypertension, Afib, and sleep apnea.
Thansk

[PaulaO2]

I think it may be linked because of the obesity link. A slow thyroid tends to cause one to add on pounds. Extra pounds tends to contribute to Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

There's also the Metabolic Disorder that covers hypothyroid and pre-diabetes and several others. People with that probably also have OSA due to the weight. Or the OSA causes everything else. Chicken vs egg.

I haven't really looked into this. Something to do some night when I can't sleep.

[netsurfer]

I did find this article: Respiratory Manifestations of Hypothyroidism....a Systematic Review. DOI: 10.1089/thy.2015.0642
and
Thyroxine Replacement Therapy Reverses sleep disordered breathing in patients with primary Hypothyroidism.....Sleep Medicine 7(2006)55-61

Their conclusion was the evidence was sparse and this was a topic warranting more research.
Virtually all of my Apnea events are Central and not Obstructive so the Obese connection may not be the answer.
Thanks for the reply

[PaulaO2]

Hmm, interesting. I'll definitely need to research this then.

[PaulaO2]

Now this is an interesting article. It is about OSA but 3 patients' sleep disorder breathing was cured by treating their undiagnosed thyroid condition.
http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1....2.9802051

I found a LOT of articles that discuss that when a patient is diagnosed with either condition, they should be automatically tested for the other. Interesting!

[netsurfer]

I told my new GP that I had mostly Central events and that when they took place they were Cheyne Stokes. They have tapered of after 6 months on CPAP. NOw I hae them for 15 to 30 mins every 4 or 5 th day.
Neither my Pulmonologist or CArdiologist had and clue as to why they happened and were so infrequent. I was my GP who told me about the possible connection.

Here are some other articles.

Sleep Apnea and Hypothyroidism: Mechanisms and MAnagement
American Journal of MEdicine, December 1988 Vol 85

Central Sleep Apnea in Untreated Hypothyroidism: A rare association
http://www.thetrp.net Thyroid Research and Practice 2016
Pub by Wolters Kluwer-Medknow

Central Sleep Apnea in Hypothyroidism
AM REV RESPIR DIS 1983;127:504-507

Most of these articles have extensive Reference material reflecting the soruce materia used in the articles.

This is an interesting twist that I had not seen here.

[Beej]

One of the things which may happen during hypothyroidism is that mucin is deposited between the cells, making things much stiffer and more difficult to move.

[netsurfer]

This is probably more info than most people want to go thru but it is very comprehensive.




https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Msa...000000.pdf

[PsychoMike]

If you have hypothyroidism, you'd think that with synthetic replacement therapy your levels should be stable enough to avoid it causing an issue for breathing. My wife is hypo, but her levels test out very well on replacement tabs and she hasn't had any Cheyne-Stokes or other breathing issues. In her case, her docs figure it is a bit of extra weight plus genetics (she comes from a family that can wake the dead with their snoring) leading to her OSA, rather than anything to do with her thyroid.

[netsurfer]

I started Thyroxine treatment about 10 day ago. From what I understand ...at the lowest dosage ...it take awhile to get to theraputic levels. I see my GP again in late December with my latest TSH readings. Virtually all of my AHI events are Central and not Obstructive and Cheyne Stokes breathing. Between 10/7 and 11/2 there were only 4 days of CSR with 2 days at 3% and 2 days at 7%. I may have one Obstructive event every 5 or 6 days.
Thanks