Using Acetazolamide to treat sleep apnea above 5000 feet

[Chapalauser]

My sleep doc has prescribed the above drug as I was having trouble lowering my AHI below 15 made up mainly of centrals with my aircurve 10. I spend the winter at 5000 feet in Mexico. Has anyone had experience with this drug in conjunction with sleep apnea. It is commonly used for altitude sickness

[zonker]

My sleep doc has prescribed the above drug as I was having trouble lowering my AHI below 15 made up mainly of centrals with my aircurve 10. I spend the winter at 5000 feet in Mexico. Has anyone had experience with this drug in conjunction with sleep apnea. It is commonly used for altitude sickness

good luck to you. i've had no experience with this drug. but i started my cpap journey at sea level. remained there one year. then moved to flagstaff at 7000 ft. never had any trouble getting my ahi down, at least not due to any centrals.

have you given any thought to getting the free software, sleepyhead? you could track your own therapy. better still, you could post the resulting charts here for folks to see and give you advice.

see the links at the bottom of my post.

good luck!

[Jas_williams]

My sleep doc has prescribed the above drug as I was having trouble lowering my AHI below 15 made up mainly of centrals with my aircurve 10. I spend the winter at 5000 feet in Mexico. Has anyone had experience with this drug in conjunction with sleep apnea. It is commonly used for altitude sickness

Using an ASV to treat your centrals would be better than additional drugs ? Have you had a sleep study at altitude ?

[raisedfist]

Doesn't that drug basically cause you to increase your ventilation, by increasing the amount of bicarbonate in the urine, and thus blow off more carbon dioxide? I would think that is the opposite of what you want.

I could be completely wrong of course.

[SewTired]

I was on Acetazolomide for a different reason. No effect on sleep apnea, but I haven't been at altitude. I was on a very high dosage. Note - side effects are a problem. Again, I was on a high dosage, but I developed neuropathy in my feet and ringing in my ears. After the 3rd round, this became permanent. Because it changes the fluid level in your brain, it can also cause mood problems and even depression. Just take a look at all the side effects so that you are aware. Also, if you are on aspirin therapy, you need to stop it.

[brookfox]

My doctor routinely prescribes it to his patients even at sea level. I take 125mg every night to try to even out my breathing and reduce micorarousals due to my ASV machine changing the amount of PS so often, my AHI has always been less than 1 with or without acetazolamide. Can't say I've felt any subjective benefit and will probably discontinue at some point.

[SDBud]

My sleep doc has prescribed the above drug as I was having trouble lowering my AHI below 15 made up mainly of centrals with my aircurve 10.

That is a diuretic to get rid of excess water in the body (and used for a few other things), but there is NO evidence that it is of any help with sleep apnea.

[colomom]

I have no first hand experience with Acetazolamide, but I do know that it is not uncommon for doctors to use to it treat central apnea’s at elevation.
My family lives in Colorado at 7000 feet, my mother and son both have sleep apnea. Altitude has a huge impact on my son’s AHI numbers and doesn’t seem to affect my mom in the slightest, some people are more effected by elevation than others.

You’re best bet is if possible find a doctor who lives and practices at elevation to treat your sleep apnea. A doctor who lives and practices at low elevation likely does not have the clinical experience needed to treat you. A sleep study at elevation would be great, but if that isn’t possible at least try to get some overnight oximetry at elevation. I also suggest you discuss the possibility of adding a little O2 to your CPAP while sleeping at elevation with your doctor.

[ChicagoGranny]

My sleep doc has prescribed the above drug as I was having trouble lowering my AHI below 15 made up mainly of centrals with my aircurve 10. I spend the winter at 5000 feet in Mexico. Has anyone had experience with this drug in conjunction with sleep apnea. It is commonly used for altitude sickness

This small study found,

All six patients (on acetazolamide therapy) had significant improvement, demonstrating a 69% reduction in total apneas. Five of the six patients reported better-quality sleep and decreased daytime hypersomnolence. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6812522

It's a bit confusing about whether you are using the drug at 5000 feet during the winter or now at a lower elevation?? Can you expound on that?

I like colomon's suggestion to find a doctor who lives and practices at a high elevation if not impractical for you.

[zonker]

My family lives in Colorado at 7000 feet, my mother and son both have sleep apnea. Altitude has a huge impact on my son’s AHI numbers and doesn’t seem to affect my mom in the slightest, some people are more effected by elevation than others.

thank you for that. i had no idea that elevation affected different folks, uh, differently. i had just assumed we all reacted in the same way.

themoreyouknow.jpeg

[Chapalauser]

My sleep doc has prescribed the above drug as I was having trouble lowering my AHI below 15 made up mainly of centrals with my aircurve 10. I spend the winter at 5000 feet in Mexico. Has anyone had experience with this drug in conjunction with sleep apnea. It is commonly used for altitude sickness

This small study found,

All six patients (on acetazolamide therapy) had significant improvement, demonstrating a 69% reduction in total apneas. Five of the six patients reported better-quality sleep and decreased daytime hypersomnolence. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6812522

It's a bit confusing about whether you are using the drug at 5000 feet during the winter or now at a lower elevation?? Can you expound on that?

I like colomon's suggestion to find a doctor who lives and practices at a high elevation if not impractical for you.

I am currently at 5000 feet and go to 500 feet on Sunday for 6 months. I have just completed 1 week on acet, 125 mg 2 times a day.My Ahi for the week was 7 vs around 18 previously. Felt a little dizzy at times forthe first day or two but feel fine now. My sleep doc hasnt told me to take acet at 500 feet. I am90% plus centrals so I think I should be on a asv machine but for some reason my doc hasnt gone this route. My heart is strong. Thankyou for your comments.

[Chapalauser]

I was on Acetazolomide for a different reason. No effect on sleep apnea, but I haven't been at altitude. I was on a very high dosage. Note - side effects are a problem. Again, I was on a high dosage, but I developed neuropathy in my feet and ringing in my ears. After the 3rd round, this became permanent. Because it changes the fluid level in your brain, it can also cause mood problems and even depression. Just take a look at all the side effects so that you are aware. Also, if you are on aspirin therapy, you need to stop it.

I do take 81mg aspirin. Do you have any medical articles that describe this interaction?

[ChicagoGranny]

I do take 81mg aspirin.

Please see this thread - viewtopic.php?f=1&t=175439

[SewTired]

I do take 81mg aspirin. Do you have any medical articles that describe this interaction?

Have nothing on it. It's a black box warning from the FDA that my GP discovered. The neurologist confirmed it, but I don't remember if I was told why. It was more important that I take the azetazolomide, so I quit the aspirin and took something else for arthritis flairups until I was off the medication.

[ChicagoGranny]

I was on Acetazolomide for a different reason. No effect on sleep apnea, but I haven't been at altitude. I was on a very high dosage. Note - side effects are a problem. Again, I was on a high dosage, but I developed neuropathy in my feet and ringing in my ears. After the 3rd round, this became permanent. Because it changes the fluid level in your brain, it can also cause mood problems and even depression. Just take a look at all the side effects so that you are aware. Also, if you are on aspirin therapy, you need to stop it.

I do take 81mg aspirin. Do you have any medical articles that describe this interaction?

---------------------------------------------->

Thus, the acidosis caused by carbonic
anhydrase inhibitors (acetazolomide in this case) may increase the
likelihood and severity of salicylate toxicity in patients taking salicylates, and conversely, the acidosis caused by salicylates
may increase the likelihood and severity
of the acidotic symptom complex4
in patients taking carbonic anhydrase inhibitors. We describe herein two patients in
whom the combination of carbonic anhydrase inhibitor therapy of glaucoma and
aspirin therapy of chronic arthritis was
almost disastrous.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/sdfe/pdf/ ... t-page-pdf