How long until changes in blood tests or medications?

[NorthernGuy]

I am just curious of people's experiences (or lack of) with noticing differences in blood test parameters (or medication dosages) how long after starting XPAP.

Things such as reduction in blood pressure meds., lowered blood sugar, A1C, lowered LDL (or raised HDL), etc. Or no change?

I here of all of these fantastic anecdotal stories, but still haven't heard anyone say for example "After X months of XPAP treatment, I have to lower my insulin dose X units" or "After X months of XPAP treatment my LDL level unexpectedly went down 30 points."

For me the better sleep is worth it, but wondering if anyone see great tangible test results. I get blood test/physicals yearly and don't have any serious problems, but would like to be surprised by improvement in some numbers.

[cliftonio]

Dropped over 25 pounds + regular exercise + cpap use over a year and BP down to normal 120/80 (was 140/100) and colesterol down to normal. No meds, doc suggested loosing weight and then a sleep study vs meds.

I think diet and exercise was 70%, the cpap just allowed me to sleep better so I would be rested enough to want to exercise.

My GP suggested lack of sleep can mess up your metabolism and make it harder to loose weight.

[SaldusMiegas]

Hi NorthernGuy,

I have seen no drop in blood pressure, in fact mine has gotten higher although I don't suspect CPAP therapy has made it worse. But it hasn't made it any better either.

There were some tangible benefits that I can tell you about:

1. immediate: daily alertness from waking until bed time without crashing and without naps or wishing I could take one. Save a bundle on 5-hour and mountain dew 'code red' kinds of drinks I no longer need to stay alert. Now instead of struggling to stay awake in some meetings, my mind is multi-tasking, but it's a better struggle.

2. first few weeks: gradual lifting of what I will call "head fog" .. clear headed, easier to focus and make decisions, awareness of how impaired I used to be and then comes dealing with the consequences of decisions (or lack of decisions) I made (didn't make) when my head was foggy for lack of sleep

3. about two months: one day it occurred to me that I no longer woke up at night to pee. Always thought this was due to getting older, and it was once or twice a night and several nights a week. I mentioned it on the forum and found out that it is a side effect of sleep apnea called nocturia. It's not that your body wakes you up because you have to go (as I thought), but rather your apnea wakes you up and then that's what you do when you wake up so you think it was what woke you up.

4. about two months: I noticed I had less acid reflux than normal. Used to be if I missed an omeperazole or nexium for two days I would suffer from reflux. Now if I miss a day or two I have increased indigestion. But since I began CPAP therapy I have not had another serious reflux episode, the kind where hot lava coming up your esophagus wakes you from a sound sleep and requires an hour sitting up in the middle of the night, slowly sipping milk and coughing up phlegm, from acid that burns like hell and went down the wind pipes. Very happy to see this go away with CPAP therapy.

4. about three months: I noticed I was dreaming again which I didn't remember doing for a long time.

5. about five months: I became more aware of the effects of some foods and alcohol on quality of sleep. Never thought about it before, but now good sleep is precious and I notice when my sleep quality drops. Have a glass of wine or beer or a drink, maybe fall asleep faster. Go to bed with a buzz and won't sleep as well as without any alcohol.

6. some people have reported a heightened sense of smell upon awakening when first removing the mask. I have noticed this occasionally but not routinely.

The above are all anecdotal, no labs to confirm them, though I have provided numbers where I can think of them. But some are really nice benefits of CPAP therapy, and a few were completely unexpected.

We discuss this kind of thing from time to time, and I am always interested to hear what others have to say as well. Some of these kinds of things you won't notice until someone else points it out. Then you have a eureka moment and it's obvious that some chronic malady you were living with is now gone at some point since you began CPAP therapy.

Saldus Miegas

[Cbarrios]

Hi NorthernGuy,

I have seen no drop in blood pressure, in fact mine has gotten higher although I don't suspect CPAP therapy has made it worse. But it hasn't made it any better either.

There were some tangible benefits that I can tell you about:

1. immediate: daily alertness from waking until bed time without crashing and without naps or wishing I could take one. Save a bundle on 5-hour and mountain dew 'code red' kinds of drinks I no longer need to stay alert. Now instead of struggling to stay awake in some meetings, my mind is multi-tasking, but it's a better struggle.

2. first few weeks: gradual lifting of what I will call "head fog" .. clear headed, easier to focus and make decisions, awareness of how impaired I used to be and then comes dealing with the consequences of decisions (or lack of decisions) I made (didn't make) when my head was foggy for lack of sleep

3. about two months: one day it occurred to me that I no longer woke up at night to pee. Always thought this was due to getting older, and it was once or twice a night and several nights a week. I mentioned it on the forum and found out that it is a side effect of sleep apnea called nocturia. It's not that your body wakes you up because you have to go (as I thought), but rather your apnea wakes you up and then that's what you do when you wake up so you think it was what woke you up.

4. about two months: I noticed I had less acid reflux than normal. Used to be if I missed an omeperazole or nexium for two days I would suffer from reflux. Now if I miss a day or two I have increased indigestion. But since I began CPAP therapy I have not had another serious reflux episode, the kind where hot lava coming up your esophagus wakes you from a sound sleep and requires an hour sitting up in the middle of the night, slowly sipping milk and coughing up phlegm, from acid that burns like hell and went down the wind pipes. Very happy to see this go away with CPAP therapy.

4. about three months: I noticed I was dreaming again which I didn't remember doing for a long time.

5. about five months: I became more aware of the effects of some foods and alcohol on quality of sleep. Never thought about it before, but now good sleep is precious and I notice when my sleep quality drops. Have a glass of wine or beer or a drink, maybe fall asleep faster. Go to bed with a buzz and won't sleep as well as without any alcohol.

6. some people have reported a heightened sense of smell upon awakening when first removing the mask. I have noticed this occasionally but not routinely.

The above are all anecdotal, no labs to confirm them, though I have provided numbers where I can think of them. But some are really nice benefits of CPAP therapy, and a few were completely unexpected.

We discuss this kind of thing from time to time, and I am always interested to hear what others have to say as well. Some of these kinds of things you won't notice until someone else points it out. Then you have a eureka moment and it's obvious that some chronic malady you were living with is now gone at some point since you began CPAP therapy.

Saldus Miegas

WoW! that is encouraging. I suffer from the exact same things.

[cands]

I have been on CPAP for 12 weeks.

After 5 or 6 weeks I noticed by blood pressure was lower. (I test it once or twice a day).

After 7 weeks, in consultation with my GP, I halved my blood pressure medication. Last week I was able to cease BP meds.

My blood pressure without CPAP + Blood pressure meds was 160/110 with those high readings first thing in the morning.

My blood pressure now with CPAP and no meds ranges between 120/70 and 100/60.

Generally, I feel much better:
No forced naps in the middle of the afternoon.
No bathroom breaks overnight (previously 3 minimum)
My mental acuity has improved dramatically.
I am enjoying life much more and am much less grumpy.

I am 100% compliant. I have had only 1.5 hours sleep-time without the mask during that time, and that was during an overnight power failure. My pre treatment AHI was 58.9 with 60% oxygen levels.

Good luck with your treatment.

[Rcgop]

Ditto northernguy

[Roy289]

A very interesting question..

I was trying to lose weight (Diabetic type II) and was using Loseit software to track daily weight etc. I noticed very nice weight loss progression from Nov until early May. My weight started increasing from the first week on APAP. Not sure if this was a side affect of better sleep.

As part of my diabetic management my Dr has blood work taken monthly. I will ask for a summary which may give some real evidence of link to effectiveness of APAP treatment.

[0rangebear]

I here of all of these fantastic anecdotal stories, but still haven't heard anyone say for example "After X months of XPAP treatment, I have to lower my insulin dose X units" or "After X months of XPAP treatment my LDL level unexpectedly went down 30 points."

Here you go

After 4 month of treatment I started seeing lower blood sugar readings in the morning. I have reduce my insulin does by 20 units a day. The lower levels have been stable for 5 months; except for a period when I went without the mask for 4 nights. On the fourth night my insulin needs when back up. After resuming therapy it went back down. My A1C; after 9 months of therapy, is also lower than it has been in 20 years.


I addition my CBC has always been high on WBC and RDW and low on MCHC my sodium has also always been below normal. Not one of the script my doctor wrote ever brought them in.

On my last blood test after 9 months of therapy they were all in the normal range.

who'd'a' thunk

[Dawei]

In my experience, apnea treatment has had no effect on my bp or lipids, nor do I recall reading that XPAP does or should change these numbers. Don't have a sugar problem, so I cannot report on diabetes changes.
David

[Dawei]

Well, now I've got to disagree with what I just wrote. After googling the questions from NorthernGuy of xPAP effects on bp, I came across a Swiss study from last year on WebMd in which CPAP was shown to lower bp! And that was just the first such result that I found when searching that question. The report indicated that the more hours on CAPAP, the greater the bp benefit. Don't recall if NorthernGuy's question of how long it takes to first see results was addressed in that report.
When I looked for evidence of CPAP's effect on lipid levels, I found a report from a study that concluded that there was no connection found.
While eating humble pie for my first posting, I began thinking about the fact that my doc and I tried an experiment of reducing my bp med to see what my numbers would look like. The easiest way to try this was to cut the 100mg tablets in half. I did so and a couple months later, my doc confirmed that my bp was just as good as it had been earlier on twice the dosage! Neither she nor I had considered CPAP as being connected with the results of the "experiment." It hadn't crossed my mind.
Again, I'm unable to provide an estimate of how long it takes for the bp benefit to first appear. Sorry about that, but you will hopefully see an improvement in you bp, NorthernGuy.
David