Is there a link between sleep apnea treatment and incontinence?

[DaveL]

Maybe I'm just getting old...74 now...

When I'm stressed problems start.

What regulates our breathing?

Does shallow breathing/interruptions contribute to incontinence?

[Sonidos]

My uncle told me he stopped having to wake up multiple times during the night to pee when he started using cpap, because a deeper/more sleep help the secretion of an enzyme or hormone that inhibit the drive to pee.

So one could make an educated guess about how sleep apnea facilitate incontinence through this kind of mechanism.
Although, how does things work with day-time incontinence, I dont know.

Quite interested tho, beacuse my dad have both a fgrowing incontinence problem, and an untreated apnea since many years, and I'm trying to make him change his mind about cpap, which he hated when he tried it

[Nightynite]

For me before cpap I would have a glass of water on the night stand and wake up and need to have a sip or two and also pee, this was because I was a mouth breather.

On cpap with the humidifier and now breathing through nose I don’t need the extra water for dry mouth, now I sleep through the night.

[Big Guy]

Been on CPAP now for well over two years. Still find the need to get up during the night to visit the bathroom. Not as much mind you as I used to, but I'm still far from being able to sleep thru the night. 

[Homerec130]

Not really incontinence but more nocturia. Here is an extract from an article on one of the other apnea boards that explains it -

"How does apnea cause nocturia? Umlauf explains that during episodes of sleep apnea, the soft structures in the throat relax and close off the airway, setting into motion a chain of physiological events. “Oxygen decreases, carbon dioxide increases, the blood become more acidic, the heart rate drops and blood vessels in the lung constrict,” says Umlauf. “The body is alerted that something is very wrong. The sleeper must wake enough to reopen the airway. By this time, the heart is racing and experiences a false signal of fluid overload. The heart excretes a hormone-like protein that tells the body to get rid of sodium and water, resulting in nocturia.”"

I found that once I was being treated for sleep apnea, my night time trips to the bathroom dropped drastically and I didn't have to get up every hour to pee.

BTW, it did a search on peeing and sleep apnea and the link to this article was the first one that popped up. I use DuckDuckGo for my search engine. Your results may vary. Other articles essentially say the same and I believe there have been posts here regarding it.

[sesheridan]

There’s an article associating pediatric apnea with nocturia, bed wetting, in children.  So yes.

[DaveL]

Thanks everyone. I have trouble during the day.
I fired my family doc years ago. He had me on water pills, and pills to prevent urgent urination....whatever it's called. Flowmax? Too many drugs. I stopped taking both.

I'm back on BP medication, but I've quit water pills.

[SarcasticDave94]

I've had more needed bathroom trips before PAP therapy than after. Going to the potty less or more... I'm supposing things do or don't affect the potty breaks and frequency counts, but ultimately the answer may be it just DEPENDS.

[DaveL]

Thanks Dave. I used to have to get up 3-5 times a night before cpap. That was 30 years ago.

But my issue is during the day. Stress seems to cause it. But sometimes I seem to slouch a lot. And sometimes I don't breath it seems This is coming back from dog walks. Trying to get back into the house.

[SarcasticDave94]

ah OK my bad, I had daytime bathroom needs when I was carrying a lot more weight than now. Not accusing you of the weight, but elder age might be reason.