Increased fatigue and sleepiness on BIPap therapy.

[Alucard84]

I'm a 34 year old male. My AHI is usually 1 or below. No major leaks. History of high blood pressure and anxiety. Currently on two BP medicines. Amlodipine and Benzapril. I experience fatigue and brain fog after waking up and for several hours of the day. Could therapy be reducing my blood pressure so much that it is causing the morning fatigue. Readings in morning usually have the bottom number below 80.

[kteague]

Has your doctor reassessed your medication needs since getting settled in using CPAP? Sometimes with healthy sleep, reduction in stress hormones, and stable oxygen overnight the body is able to function more efficiently and doesn't need the same levels of medication as before. Talk to your doctor about monitoring your blood pressure overnight so you can know if your blood pressure is a factor or not. Maybe others here can tell you what you would need to be able to do it on your own. While you AHI sounds great, it wouldn't hurt to check your machine data (if it has any) to make sure large leaks aren't preventing your machine from being able to report events accurately.

[palerider]

I'm a 34 year old male. My AHI is usually 1 or below. No major leaks. History of high blood pressure and anxiety. Currently on two BP medicines. Amlodipine and Benzapril. I experience fatigue and brain fog after waking up and for several hours of the day. Could therapy be reducing my blood pressure so much that it is causing the morning fatigue. Readings in morning usually have the bottom number below 80.

The bottom number *should* be below 80. But, yes, controlling OSA can lower blood pressure.

I wouldn't think that normal blood pressure (under 120/80) would cause fatigue.

[Pugsy]

I don't know that a 120/80 BP can cause fatigue
but just look at what Amlodipine can cause in side effects
https://www.rxlist.com/consumer_amlodip ... dition.htm

and your other one
https://www.rxlist.com/lotensin-side-ef ... center.htm

And you didn't mention some of the other rather important stuff besides that AHI of 1.0...like how many hours of sleep are you getting and is that sleep fragmented much.

My sister complained of excessive fatigue...was tested for OSA and didn't have it.
But was on some sort of BP meds known to have fatigue as a side effect..she had a chat with her doctor and they switched her meds to something else and the excessive fatigue went away.

[palerider]

I don't know that a 120/80 BP can cause fatigue
but just look at what Amlodipine can cause in side effects
https://www.rxlist.com/consumer_amlodip ... dition.htm

and your other one
https://www.rxlist.com/lotensin-side-ef ... center.htm

Jeeze, gotta love some of these meds "you'll feel like hand hammered dog shit, and you my die, but your bp will be GREAT!"

[Pugsy]

Jeeze, gotta love some of these meds "you'll feel like hand hammered dog shit, and you my die, but your bp will be GREAT!"

Yep....classic example of damned if you do and maybe damned if you don't thing.

As to why he feels worse on cpap than before...dunno...I assume was on the meds before cpap so may or may not play a big part in the unwanted symptoms...or maybe the dosage changed. Lots of unknowns so can't be sure.
One needs to do the usual evaluations and questions about hours of sleep and fragmented sleep and other meds or other health issues and start ruling in or out other culprits that might be partly to blame for the unwanted symptoms.
Probably a combination of issues going on which is common and not all related to OSA which is fairly typical. Fix one issue but still have the other issues messing with how a person feels.