Anyone Else Need to Lower Your Blood Pressure Meds?
Hello folks. Well, it's been a whole year since I started CPAP. As an aside, I thank this awesome board for getting me through those first hard months! It's all good now!
Over the past 12 months my sleep Apnea has been treated plus I lost 40 lbs (not magically...it took discipline  )
Recently my beta blocker was adjusted down to the lowest dose because my heart rate got too low. But now my BP is regularly running on the low side and my doc might just let me go off it.
Anyone else get to lower or go completely off their BP meds after your apnea was treated? Beta blockers add to fatigue so it would be nice to not have to take them.
Thanks!
RE: Anyone Else Need to Lower Your Blood Pressure Meds?
I've heard waiting room stories about incredible drops in bp after starting cpap. mine, otoh, went up, requiring another visit to the doc to add 2nd bp rx. I suspect anxiety about unsatisfactory cpap results and over associated continuation of dis- or in-abilities more than cpap itself (i.e., stress from all the chores and projects I haven't kept up with). I'll bet I'd have better results if I dropped 40# like you. any advice on how to do that? like everyone else, I prefer magic but understand discipline is necessary. I'd expect substantial weight loss to improve bp and allow lower pressure with cpap.
05-23-2019, 07:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-23-2019, 07:32 PM by SarcasticDave94.
Edit Reason: PS added
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RE: Anyone Else Need to Lower Your Blood Pressure Meds?
I cannot state my removal from blood pressure reducing meds was directly due to xPAP treatment, but I was 100% removed from all 3 BP related meds the last week of this past February. I had very low BP at that time that prompted the attending physician to take the BP removal action. The BP measured in-hospital after an ER transfer to an observation wing room was at 90/40.
PS a bariatric sleeve surgery assisted in my dropping 100 lb in a year during 2016-17, going from 300 down to current 199...lower weight meant an influence of approximately halving my AHI score...
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
RE: Anyone Else Need to Lower Your Blood Pressure Meds?
@sheepless Gosh, so sorry you haven’t had a good experience with your CPAP.
As for weight loss I was extremely motivated due to getting a pulmonary hypertension diagnosis. Scared the daylights out of me and weight loss and apnea treatment were things that might help (which they did).
No special diet, I’m just counting calories, and making healthier food choices. I use a free app called Lose It which makes it easy to keep track. You can even scan bar codes. I still need to lose 20 more but have stalled out. Keeping it off is always the hardest part!
@SarcasticDave94 Congratulations on that huge weight loss! That’s quite an achievement. Glad to hear you don’t need the BP meds any longer. Maybe the combination of both made the difference. My BP isn’t that low but it is low - problem is it fluctuates a lot between normal and low, but occasionally ore hypertension.
Thank you.
05-24-2019, 08:41 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-24-2019, 08:44 AM by SarcasticDave94.
Edit Reason: PS Added
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RE: Anyone Else Need to Lower Your Blood Pressure Meds?
It is possible that xPAP can influence one’s need for BP modifiers, but for myself I’m not certain it did. Either way, it’s not that big of a deal to me. Unmodified, my BP is around 138/80. Modified or not, my heart rate is almost always elevated, beating at 80 to 100 plus. It’s been like that for several years.
To successful PAPing
PS There is evidence of higher BP in my past, indicated by thicker heart walls according to one cardiologist.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
RE: Anyone Else Need to Lower Your Blood Pressure Meds?
The only reason I am using CPAP is because of high blood pressure. I don't have any of the 'syndrome' symptoms such as falling asleep during the day so the GPs just kept prescribing more and more pills making me feel pretty awful. It took a (private) visit to a cardiologist to figure it all out, who referred me to a sleep consultant. As soon as I had my machine my BP fell from 165/105 to 130/85 literally overnight.
I'm still taking some medication, but my BP is now around 120/76 which is considered normal here (in the UK). When I eventually manage to lose a significant amount of weight I hope to reduce or even come off the pills one day.
So yes, according to my cardiologist there is a direct causational link between Apnea and blood pressure, so a reduction in medication is to be expected in some people.
RE: Anyone Else Need to Lower Your Blood Pressure Meds?
"The only reason I am using CPAP is because of high blood pressure." - BenB
probably what you meant, but to clarify: bp was your most apparent symptom but apnea is apparently the reason you're bp was elevated and apnea is the reason you're now using cpap. it's terrific cpap has the desired effect on bp (I'm envious). but don't lose sight of the many other negative effects of apnea, even if, in your case, they're not obvious. hopefully with cpap you'll keep them at bay.
"@sheepless Gosh, so sorry you haven’t had a good experience with your CPAP."- Suzi
sorry, this is off topic, but I didn't want to leave the wrong impression. I was referring to the (not so distant) past. it's taken a long time (I might have said 3 years but I think it's closer to 2.5) but over the last few months I've been noticing a big if slow & incremental improvement in physical and mental capabilities. after all, 50 or 60 years of untreated apnea must have taken a toll that takes time to overcome. the moral of that story is don't give up!
RE: Anyone Else Need to Lower Your Blood Pressure Meds?
I don’t take any BP meds but my BP was rising ans starting to become an issue as soon as I got my CPAP machine my BP dropped back down to normal levels it was getting to the point where meds would be required
RE: Anyone Else Need to Lower Your Blood Pressure Meds?
(05-23-2019, 05:33 PM)sheepless Wrote: I prefer magic but understand discipline is necessary.
Rather than discipline, think of it as mindfulness. That helps me.
My blood pressure was borderline high and with CPAP therapy it dropped to well within normal. But a few years later I had to go on medication to treat it. We're all getting older!
Sleepster
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
RE: Anyone Else Need to Lower Your Blood Pressure Meds?
yes, Sleepster, we're all getting older. I used to be amused by older generations' inability to keep up with popular culture and of course, umm, here I am. like 'game of thrones' (among many other things) I see 'mindfulness' half a dozen times a day in 'news' feeds and I don't have much more than a clue about either one. gotta keep up or be left behind but honestly I'm not sure it matters to me anymore. something else I'm beginning to understand about older folks I knew in generations preceding mine. this all sounds more morose than I intended but it is what it is, as they say.
sorry for the off topic tangent Suzi. cpap may not have dropped my bp (yet!) but I'm optimistic about the return of some of that youthful vitality as sleep continues to become less exhausting and more restorative.
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