Effects on blood pressure?

[Slumbernaut]

First of all, thanks to all of you guys. I'm brand new at this (6th night tonight) and this site is great. What effects have any of you seen on your blood pressure and how quickly did they take place. A lot to ask for in less than one week I know, but my BP is really high and I'm in the midst of trying different drugs to control it and learning how to use my new night time gear all at once. I'm using a REMstar Auto A-flex w/ quattro FFM. So far so good. I'm sure I'll ask many questions that all the newbies ask. Thanks again to all for this wealth of knowledge.

[dsm]

First of all, thanks to all of you guys. I'm brand new at this (6th night tonight) and this site is great. What effects have any of you seen on your blood pressure and how quickly did they take place. A lot to ask for in less than one week I know, but my BP is really high and I'm in the midst of trying different drugs to control it and learning how to use my new night time gear all at once. I'm using a REMstar Auto A-flex w/ quattro FFM. So far so good. I'm sure I'll ask many questions that all the newbies ask. Thanks again to all for this wealth of knowledge.

Slumbernaut,

Welcome to the forum & the discussions

I am no medical person but am thinking re blood pressure, there are so many factors that influence it.
Some advanced cpap machines certainly help people with heart issues & help normalize respiration &
circulation which in turn helps normalize blood oxygen saturation.

In regard to high blood pressure, I imagine that learning to relax with the therapy will help enormously
and obviously your Dr will be advising you on any medication to help with high BP if it is an ongoing
problem.

Am sure we have many folk here in exactly the same situation.

Good luck

DSM

[jmelby]

It has taken me about 3 months of CPAP before starting to see my blood pressure decrease. Mind you, it is fairly well-controlled with medication and was averaging around 130/90 before CPAP, and now about 3.5 months later is averaging 120/80--but that has only happened over the past few weeks. So, I don't think you should expect an immediate effect, but I am hopeful with my current results.

[tillymarigold]

After 4 months on CPAP, my BP went from 130/90 to 110/80. Not gradually--I mean I woke up one day and it was lower.

I actually had to start adding salt into my diet because I started blacking out at work from low blood pressure.

[jnk]

My understanding is that blood pressure can improve a bit in as little as three days, or it may not be affected at all. Many factors involved. The changes in eating habits and lifestyle that CPAP allows many of us can be the biggest factor over time, I believe.

[fidelfs]

I have been fat all my life but I have never had problems with blood pressure, triglycerides, bad cholesterol, etc.
My blood pressure has been pretty stable to 130/85. I began CPAP on 12/2009 and I went to the doctor in 1/2010 and last month and my pressure has been in average 112/75 ~ 118/80.

For me CPAP has worked fast with the blood pressure.

[montana user]

My bp was running 200/102 at times and I would get dizzy. I was put on meds and I told the doctor I had a sleep study coming up and I was 98% positive my high bp was from apnea. I had all the signs and symptoms for a long time, and working in the sleep lab just enforced my thoughts. Once I started CPAP the doctor slowly took me off the meds to see if CPAP did indeed correct it. In 2 months I was off my meds and My BP tonight is 122/78!

But as others have said, there could be other reasons behind the BP. Bad heart, bad diet, etc. So i hope you have a success story like mine and others!! keep us informed how your doing with it!!

[Gerald]

What caused me to begin CPAP therapy was BP like Montana's. I was waking up in the middle of the night with systolic over 200....and I knew I was headed for a stroke if I didn't get help quickly.

CPAP has brought my BP under control.

I sugget that you purchase a recording Oximeter so that you can monitor your O2 levels while you're asleep. Keep the O2 saturation levels at 93% or better all night....and watch your BP drop in a few weeks. I can highly recommend the SPO-7500 from turnermedical.com

If your CPAP machine is one that can be used with software, get a card reader, obtain the necessary software.....and carefully monitor yourself. Work toward the goal of an average AHI of 2.5 or less....along with 93% blood O2 saturation levels....and I'll bet that you'll conquer the BP problem quickly.

Gerald

[TSSleepy]

My baseline BP has been around 165/100 for most of my adult life. With occasional alarming spikes much higher. I hate taking drugs, so I let it run unchecked (except for a brief and unsuccessful case of lysinopril coughing side effect).

CPAP took care of the spikes pretty well, and slowly started to bring down the baseline. I was averaging around 145/90 a few months after starting CPAP.

But it took going to a low carb diet and starting to exercise and lose weight to bring my BP down to around 122/80 that it averages now (almost 1 year on CPAP).

[Guest]

What caused me to begin CPAP therapy was BP like Montana's. I was waking up in the middle of the night with systolic over 200....and I knew I was headed for a stroke if I didn't get help quickly.

CPAP has brought my BP under control.

I sugget that you purchase a recording Oximeter so that you can monitor your O2 levels while you're asleep. Keep the O2 saturation levels at 93% or better all night....and watch your BP drop in a few weeks. I can highly recommend the SPO-7500 from turnermedical. com

If your CPAP machine is one that can be used with software, get a card reader, obtain the necessary software.....and carefully monitor yourself. Work toward the goal of an average AHI of 2.5 or less....along with 93% blood O2 saturation levels....and I'll bet that you'll conquer the BP problem quickly.

Gerald

My husband has a RemStar M and it does have a card in it. Are you saying we could purchase a card reader and see the results ourselves? He is currently taking Lisinopril (20 mg) and Norvasc (10 mg) for high BP. When he first started CPAP, his BP was running about 108/70, and he was getting dizzy from it being so much lower. The dr. lowered his meds and then it shot back up (200+/100+) so now he's back on the meds. It would be great to see what's really going on at night with his O2 levels.

[Gerald]

Guest....

Your husband needs (3) tools:

A battery powered BP checker
An Oximeter with Software
Software with card reader that'll work with his CPAP machine

Please register with the forum.......and carefully fill out the equipment profile....so that we all know what CPAP equipment he is using.

There are many kind and knowledgable people on this forum who are glad to help.

[pb5927317]

First of all, thanks to all of you guys. I'm brand new at this (6th night tonight) and this site is great. What effects have any of you seen on your blood pressure and how quickly did they take place. A lot to ask for in less than one week I know, but my BP is really high and I'm in the midst of trying different drugs to control it and learning how to use my new night time gear all at once. I'm using a REMstar Auto A-flex w/ quattro FFM. So far so good. I'm sure I'll ask many questions that all the newbies ask. Thanks again to all for this wealth of knowledge.

In the mornings my BP was as much as 150/90, then 130/90 by the afternoon.

After my titration, that morning my BP was like 117/70.

In the morning, I am ranging anywhere from 115-125/65-80.

Seems like I have to be on the for 4 hrs for that effect.

At night, I am running around 130/80 now. Not perfect yet, but if I dropped caffeine, I bet would be.

[Slumbernaut]

Thanks guys, some encouraging stories are nice. My BP has been 170/105+ and sometimes way ++. Going through different meds with my doctor. On a very high dose of Bystolic for several weeks...no improvement, so my patience with drugs is growing thin. The APAP therapy seems to be going well for my 1st week on it. AHI started at 11.5 and was 6.7 this morning. This number has gone down each night, still learning what all this data means. I'm sure I'll want to go the software route soon.

[spanz]

In general, when you have apneas your body reacts poorly, and the heart rate rises, rising the blood pressure. One side effect of this is having to urinate during the night--the higher blood pressure pushes more water thru the kidneys.

So, by corollary, using your cpap should lower your blood pressure...at least for the 8 hours you are asleep.

[Hooray for CPAP]

My blood pressure when meaured with the cuff was always fine (aroudn 125/90), however my specialist had me do an echo after I was diagnosed with sleep apnea.

I had serious pulmonary hypertension.

I'm now one month after starting CPAP and subsequent echo shows the pulmonary hypertension is gone! Somewhat of a relief.