Fixed CPAP Danger!!!

[Goofproof]

This is why it's so important to get a machine and software that reports on how your treatment is doing. It wasn't your CPAP making your health worse, it was the lack of knowledge of your treatment that was doing it. The APAP helped your problem but with the software it could do even more.

[Guest]

Congratulations, stogie, on doing so many good things for your health and sharing information resources with us.

[mefifi]

Sorry can't log in

Me too stogie I had exactly the same experience as you for nearly two years. I felt so ill that i truly thought I was going to die.

Docs did not have the manpower to do anything to help me. So I was pretty much left on my own to just put up with it and struggle on with life, as best I could.

Without the medical support that i needed, as I saw it, I had two choices:

1) Roll over and die quietly, not make a fuss, but definitively not make a mess on the carpet!

2) Take drastic action and DEAL WITH IT!

I opted for the second choice.

I was also very lucky that by sheer chance I stumbled onto this site . I recon it helped save my life.

I am now able to monitor my condition and am no longer at the mercy of docs, politics and whether the doc has time to see me, which often in the past just did not happen, as he did not have the time or if he did, he was just downright ineffective, in treating the symptoms, I was presenting.

He did not realise for two years that the pressure on my fixed cpap machine was way too low!

Stogie a great piece of info.

People now have a choice, to monitor their condition or just chance it and trust 'the powers that be' and hope, unlike Stogie and I, that they are one of the lucky ones.

[Jere]

Good to see that you took an active role in your treatment and you are getting what you need.

I, for one, am on a fixed CPAP machine and very happy. I don't think that a fixed CPAP is inherently dangerous or even bad. It is more a question of getting the right treatment for your particular situation. So, for all those fixed-CPAPers out there, don't toss those machines (but maintain a diligent watch on how you are doing).

[Flower51Terry]

Hi Stogie...want to share with you what worked to normalize my bp. I've been hypertensive and on meds for at least 27 yrs. Yes my apap helped somewhat but what has really worked and to me is miraculous is the impact my eating choices have had on my bp.

I prayed for years that God would either heal me or show me what to do so I could get off the expensive meds and avoid the side effects of those meds. He did. This is what He led me to do: Every day, and also a glass if I notice my bp going up, juice cabbage/carrot/celery and garlic followed by a good sized glass of water. Drink enough water through the day and eat mostly low carb veggies along with fish and other animal protein sources and raw nuts/seeds and a minimal amount of fresh fruit (avoiding the concentrated sugary ones). NO SALT, NO NITRATES, NO DAIRY, NO STARCH (ie potatoes/corn), NO GRAIN (not even brown rice or oatmeal), NO SUGAR, NO "FRANKENFOOD" Thats it. The one bit of wiggle room I have is peanut butter with my apples which doesn't seem to raise my bp. Tough to do since my family of men loves pizza, pasta, baked potatos etc...but they don't have my body, and this is what my body needs to thrive.

With the apap and "hunter gatherer's approach" to low carbing I was able to cut my meds in half, then with this new approach of eliminating salt, etc...
I've been able to be free of the meds completely! To me it is worth the sacrifice but everyone needs to make their own choice. Am I perfect? NO but I am more and more realizing that God has given me this particular body to teach me self control in a very basic way and obedience to Him...
If I go off plan even a little my bp spikes very quickly again....it was up to 180/110 a week ago because I ate things I shouldn't have when I ate pizza and English muffins and baked potatoes all in one week's time...not more than a "normal" person would eat, but just things I can't tolerate....
So my body is very sensitive to what I put in it and it really is a matter of life or death for me to eat this way. My bp now is 124/76....much better after an entire week of eating whats good for me and I expect it will return to 117/64 where it was before I ate the food I shouldn't have, as long as I am faithful to this plan. You mentioned potassium, etc....I'm sure the juicing and heavy emphasis on veggies has helped me in that area. I have some calcium/D and magnesium that I have not been taking consistently....I really don't like swallowing capsules but for the sake of protecting these postmenopausal bones I prob should! Interesting letter thanks for sharing it with us! Terry

[FlowerTerry51]

What does the author of the book you recommended say is the best amount of calcium/mag to take? I've read differing opinions. Some recommend 1 to 1 ratio.....some 2/1....Being postmenopausal it was recommended I have 1500mgs of calcium but your body can only absorb 500 at a time if what I've read is to be believed. Do you take Calcium w/D?

[Yoga]

FlowerTerry 51,

See http://www.cc.nih.gov/ccc/supplements

I was taking naproxen for pain which made my blood pressure go up. I read "Blood Pressure for Dummies" by an endocronologist. He said that the only NSAID one should take if high blood pressure is a problem is Sulindac.

[stogie]

Dear Flower51Terry, I have usually read it is best to get a Cal./Mag. 2:1 ratio. Although in Dr. Julian Whitaker's book Reversing Hypertension he suggests 1000mg. of both calcium and magnesium. He doubles up on the magnesium because he believes it is important for the heart, blood pressure and nervous system. I have always taken no more than 1000mg. calcium and 400mg. magnesium. I have read that calcium citrate is supposed to be the most absorbable form of calcium. Magnesium oxide is the most common form of magnesium but it is not the most absorbable form. I was researching magnesium on the internet and found some info by a Dr. Stoll who is supposed to be a doctor who is supposed to know a lot about magnesium. (Try doing a search for Dr. Stoll and his message boards.) If I remember correctly he claimed that the most absorbable forms of magnesium were magnesium orotate or glycinate or aspartate. He recommended the glycinate. The orotate is more expensive and small dose sized. I got the glycinate through The Vitamin Shoppe. I went to a local doctor about 2 years ago who is kind of like Dr. Whitaker (into vitamins) and my blood test showed my magnesium was really low even though I had been taking the glycinate for some time??? I have switched to Nature's Way Cal./Mag./Vit. D complex and also NW's Mag. Complex for additional Mag. which is Mag. oxide and aspartate to try that. (Scientists have recently discovered that Vitamin D is very important for blood pressure control and preventing certain cancers---the drug companies are trying to copy how it works. Doctors now recommend 800iu's/day. It is also necessary for your body to use calcium. Also check out info on vit. K at http://www.lef.org) Better yet, and this may interest you also, I believe it may be the best to take the Nature's Way Cal./ Mag./ Vit. D complex (available from Swanson vitamins @ discount) and make up additional calcium and magnesium from the diet. I know this because several years back my wife had some scar tissue removed from a prior injury to her ankle. The doctors had tested it and they said it was cancerous. They removed more surrounding tissue to be safe. This scared my wife and I and after reading about Dr. Lorraine Day (http://www.drday.com) and her cancer recovery with carrot juice and barley juice powder I bought a Norwalk juicer and barley juice powder. The juicer came with several books by Dr. Norman Walker the father of juicing who lived to be @ 120 years old. The Norwalk juicer is based on his design. My wife and I over the last 5 years have juiced on and off,usually twice a week, to produce about 20 pints of carrot juice per week. They took another sample of the tissue from her leg and did not find any signs of cancer after we had been juicing for a while! I don't know if there was cancer and it went away or they misread the first sample! According to Dr. Norman Walker, the minerals in supplements are inorganic and the minerals found in fresh vegetable juice are organic and are best used by the body. "One pint of carrot juice, daily, has more constructive body value than 25 pounds of calcium tablets". This is from his book "Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices" which I highly recommend reading. He also tells about how his mother had broken her leg in a very bad accident and he treated her with carrot and greens juice and even though it was a really bad break the other doctors were amazed at how fast and well her leg tissue and bones had healed! Raw spinach is loaded with calcium and magnesium. The Norwalk juicer is the top of the line juicer (@ $2500.00) which works on a 2 step process: low speed grinding and pressing/filtering which produces the best quality juice with all enzymes intact. However, recently a company called Greenstar came out with a juicer that basically works on the same principles for @ 1/10th the price (@ $240.00). It is called the Solostar II. It has an auger system that grinds at low RPM as to not build up heat or static electricity that damage enzymes and has a tapered auger that squeezes out the most juice (even for greens). I bought one of these juicers as well for shorter juicing sessions with easy clean up. I highly recommend this juicer! After reading Dr. Fuhrman's book Eat to Live which I also highly recommend and discovering another website http://www.hacres.com which describes a vegetarian diet, I was totally impressed by how Dr. Fuhrman treats over 5,000 patients a year and can cure his patients of high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes (type 2) just by diet, exercise, and lifestyle. According to Dr. Fuhrman, the salad is the most important dish of the meal! Also check out the BarleyMax powder on the hacres.com site. I take this and it is rich in magnesium and other enzymes. Also in Dr. Whitaker's book Reversing Hypertension, he tells about how a university researcher's father found that his blood pressure went to normal if he ate or juiced 4 stalks of celery a day! According to Dr. Richard Moore in The High Blood Pressure Solution only 1% of vegetarians get high blood pressure over their whole lives where 1 in 4 Americans has high blood pressure when they are younger and virtually every American will get high blood pressure when they get older! Be sure and check out: http://www.hacres.com, http://www.alphaomegafood.com, http://www.drfuhrman.com, http://www.notmilk.com, http://www.madcowboy.com, the book Juicing For Life, and the book The China Study by Dr. Campbell (PHD) who did the recent largest nutritional study ever and even though he grew up on a farm as a meat eater he became a vegetarian after the study was complete! Hope this helps, I have been doing a lot of reading! Stogie

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): clean

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): clean

[stogie]

Dear Flower51Terry, your high blood pressure juice drink sounds very interesting. I was just recently going to try juicing some carrot and celery juice with my smaller juicer. Instead of the cabbage I wonder if spinach would be even better because it is loaded with calcium and magnesium. I have read celery has an active ingredient "3nb" for short that lowers blood pressure. (Check out: http://www.doctormurray.com/articles/celery.htm ) Also I believe I have read by a Dr. Sinatra (drsinatra.com ) that garlic works similarly in lowering blood pressure to an ARB (angiotensin II receptor blocker) one of the newest BP meds with the fewest side effects. Magnesium has been called the natural beta blocker. Water is supposed to work as a natural diuretic according to Dr. Whitaker if you drink a lot! Also if you like cilantro check out this interesting article:
http://www.teeccino.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?ArticleID=5 . Thank you very much for the info.! I want to get off all the meds too! Stogie

[neversleeps]

The topic title, Fixed CPAP Danger!!!, is misleading. If you don't monitor your results and make the appropriate adjustments for ANY health treatment (whether it be CPAP therapy, BP medication, insulin, etc.), you are not going to realize the maximum benefit. CPAP therapy is about as benign as you can get. Conversely, poorly washed fruits and vegetables can be very dangerous. Not to mention the risk involved every time you plug in a juicer.

[dsm]

I agee with Neversleeps - title is a tad misleading.

But the info has been very interesting & thanks.

Cheers

DSM

[stogie]

Dear neversleeps, in my case my original doctor didn't have enough sense to question whether my pressure was adequate from the sleep study and put me on more and more drugs. I know now he could have simply had me use an oximeter or rental autocpap to verify it. My second doctor is currently one of the two main doctors in charge of the new the new local sleep clinic!!! When I saw my CO2 levels were elevated on a blood test a red flag went up right away for me but I wasn't aware of the oximeter or APAP rentals available. In hind sight I probably should have checked with the local DME tech right away and not trusted the doctors. With CPAP there is a specific min. pressure value to keep you airway open. Ideally when they do your sleep study they have you sleep on your back so that they can get the worst case obstructive apnea and adjust the pressure accordingly. But if you gain weight or sleep in a position that is even more obstructive or take sleeping pills,drink, etc. you may require a pressure that is even higher to keep your airway open. Either your airway is open or it isn't. If it is not properly open your blood pressure may be highly elevated in the morning but lower as the day goes on so that you are not aware of it. Over time with the sustained blood pressure there may be damage done to your heart (enlarged heart--left ventricular hypertrophy), heart valves, eyes (glaucoma), arteries, and virtually every other organ in your body as well as a greatly increased risk of stroke and heart attack. Also the side effects form the blood pressure drugs are comparable to a mugging! I got my doctor to reduce the dose of the beta blocker when I found an article in the Life Extension Foundation magazine (http://lef.org/) warning that doctors routinely overdose their patients on drugs because the recommended doses by the drug companies are about twice what they should be. They not only overdose younger people but children and older adults as well. One dose fits all mentality just so they can peddle more drugs. Check out: http://www.doctoryourself.com/deathmed.html . My doctor kept asking if I was wearing my mask which I always did, but what she should have done is checked my oxygen sat. levels or retested me with the APAP. An APAP is inherently the safest because it automatically adjusts to your pressure requirements. This would protect you against your doctor's incompetence and may save your life! Not being fully treated for a long period of time is very dangerous and I believe I didn't have a heart attack or stroke mainly because of my severe dietary changes and the supplements I have been taking! I bet this happens more than people know and is especially dangerous when you think you are being adequately treated when in reality you are not! APAP with software monitoring is definitely the safest way to go. If I would have known about the oximeter and rental APAPs sooner I would have demanded them and could have short-circuited my doctor's incompetence! Stogie

[Darth Vader Look]

Okay, death by CPAP, not happening but death by doctor much more likely. Unfortunately everyone makes mistakes, some resulting in death. Stogie it's good that you decided to take a more proactive approach to your treatment. It saved your life.

[stogie]

How Effective Was Your Initial Titration?
Provider Adjusted - I feel great; don't know my AHI.
7% [ 2 ]
Provider Adjusted - I don't think it's right; don't know AHI.
15% [ 4 ]
Provider Adjusted - I readjusted, or now use APAP.
38% [ 10 ]
Provider gave me APAP - Still at initial setting
3% [ 1 ]
Provider gave me APAP - I readjusted it
34% [ 9 ]

Total Votes : 26

The poll results so far indicate that the sleep labs are doing a really poor job with only about 10% of people satisfied with original titration! (Still at initial setting w/ APAP---3% plus Provider-adjusted CPAP- I feel great, don't know my AHI---7%).

[Finnsleeper]

They tried out his high potassium diet in Finland and HAVE LOWERED THE DEATH RATE FROM HEART ATTACK AND STROKE BY 60% IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY OF FINLAND!!!

Hey I'm from Finland but have never heard of this study or lowered death rate

Maybe you meant Sweden or someplace else?