CPAP and Thyroid?

Has anyone ever heard of CPAP or should I say the pressure of it affecting your thyroid?

Can you be more specific? Do you mean having trouble with the pressure because of an inward goiter or enlarged thyroid gland?

No, I still suffer from dizziness so to speak. (feels like a really bad hangover) and have been putting weight on like gang busters no matter how little I seem to eat, since I started cpap 9 months ago. (somewhere in the 60-70 lbs. range) It all started when I started cpap, and after taking to a few people, they thought maybe the pressure could have thrown my thyroid off. I don't know squat about the thyroid, but I hear it could be the problem. Anyone ever heard of such a thing?

The easiest way to tell if your thyroid is not functioning properly is to have
some blood work done. The standard test is to look at Thyroid Stimulating Hormone or TSH levels. TSH is produced by the pituitary gland. Which in turn signals the thyroid to produce two hormones (T3 & T4) these are carried via the bloodstream throughout your body. A normal thyroid should have a level of between 5 - 0.5 [although some endocronoligists are starting to rethink this and believe that a range of 3 - 0.5 is a more accurate measure of "normal"].

If your levels are higher than 5 than you are considered HYPOthyroid, that is your thyroid is not producing enough of T3 and T4, these are the hormones released by the thyroid that affect just about every phsiological process that goes on in your body including metabolism. If your levels are low then you are considered to be in the HYPERthyroid camp and your thyroid is producing too much T3 and T4. This is how goiters are formed.

I am not a doctor but I do not believe cpap pressure can make you hypothyroid, you are gaining weight, but a lot of people with OSA also have thyroid issues. My advice is to talk to your doctor.

I have seen a fair number of posts from people who gained weight after starting CPAP, and I have a theory (naturally) about this:

When your body has been deprived of oxygen during sleep for years and years, your metabolism slows way down. For some people, this also depresses their appetite. When you get back to getting a normal level of oxygen during the night, your metabolism revs back up, and for some people, so does their appetite. The good news is, eventually the two things level off and your weight will settle in at a number that is normal for you.

If you've had a depressed metabolism and depressed appetite for years, that number is likely to be higher than your former average weight. There is a vast range of weights that is healthy for different people, and my feeling is that the weight my body goes to when I'm eating in a sane manner is my best/healthiest weight. It's higher than the charts say it should be, but I think my body knows better than the charts.

Also, I have read that basal metabolism takes as long to reset itself as it has been being messed with, so if you've had apnea for five years, your metabolism may not be back to normal for five years.

Min

I have read of a seeming relationship between sleep apnea and thyroid issues, but am not aware of cpap "causing" the thyroid to malfunction. An enlarged tongue is listed as a symptom of hypothyroid, so it would seem logical to me that could be a factor in sleep apnea. Also, if there is an enlargement of the thyroid gland, that could crowd the throat.

I was one who gained weight with my sleep disorders and was always hungry day and night. Only with somewhat adequate good sleep have I lost my preoccupation with food and been able to make any progress in losing.

From everything I've read on here, the weight loss or gain experience has run the gamut. As for me, along with thyroid studies, if I start gaining again I think I'll need to check the effectiveness of my cpap and limb movement treatments.