Blood Pressure

[Telle]

If a person's high blood pressure happens to be caused by their sleep apnea, how long would they need to be using their CPAP effectively before seeing a lowering of the blood pressure?

I have moderately high blood pressure, and it is well controlled with medication. Both my primary physician and the sleep doctor said that treating my apnea could lead to reducing or eliminating my need for medication. I've been on the machine a week, and I'm not scheduled for another blood pressure check until my physical in February. I'm thinking that if treating my apnea brings me back to the "normal" range, my meds could then push it down into "low" territory.. and I probably don't want to be walking around with low blood pressure for an extended period of time. So how long should be on the CPAP at night before scheduling another blood pressure check?

[Emilia]

Have you considered purchasing a bp monitor for at home use? I have one that is very accurate...when I bought it, I had a RN friend come over and we tested it against her manual cuff/stethoscope and found it to be on the money. I use it at least once a week to monitor my borderline hypertension. I only take HCTZ @ 25 mg. (a diruetic), but my goal is to come off that once I am adjusted to cpap and can take some weight off. Having the home bp monitor really helps. My primary doc had me keep a bp journal for a while using my home monitor, too. They can be purchased in any pharmacy or big box store like WalMart for about $50-$75.

Here is a link to one similar to mine on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006 ... B00006WNPW

[Janknitz]

Yes, I second the suggestion about getting a home monitor. Mine has come down nicely since starting on CPAP--I can't tell you exactly how long it took because I wasn't paying that much attention (I should have been), but it is now in the low to normal range--down from boderline high to high.

[tattooyu]

I agree. Get a home monitor. I use the one below and that site is where I purchased it. Personally, I like the traditional aneroid meter (glass dial), because I trust my ears more than a sensor. It's not hard to do once you learn, and it has the stethoscope built in. If you know someone in the medical field, have them show you how to do it, or bring it to your doctor and have them or the physician's assistant show you how to use it.

http://www.quickmedical.com/LifeSource/UA100.html

[babon87]

I am new to CPAP (about three weeks) and have the same problem , high blood pressure .
I use a high tech BP machine that records it and downloads it to a computer to analyze
with a software to see any pattern , as a matter of fact it was my software that caught my OSA because I found out that I was consistently waking up with very high pressure and it would go away as the rest of the day progressed , the doctors didn’t know anything about OSA and his solution was to increase my medication to control my pressure which was ineffective , I had to insist to have a sleep study done to confirm my belief. If someone has OSA no amount of medication will control the pressure , one needs to control the OSA to bring the pressure to normal.
In my third week I am noticing that my B/P is gradually coming to normal and so is my life , thanks to all the folks that contribute in this forum!!
If you are not computer savvy get something simple and keep record .

p.s. I use the following machine : Microlife BP3MC1-PC

[Telle]

Ok, so it sounds like getting a home blood pressure monitor is the way to go. Now the issue is that I know I need to use the large cuff at the doctor's office.. so I'll have to find a home one that comes with a large cuff. Hopefully that's easy to do

[Emilia]

The Omron brand has a large cuff.... you may need to purchase that separately, though.

[Emilia]

Here is one w/ large cuff: http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HEM-712CLC- ... pd_sbs_k_2

[elena88]

I did not know I had high blood pressure when I ended up in the docs office,

I was given several bp meds, but I didnt take them because I had just gotten diagnosed with osa..

I figured that was the root of my problem.

it was.. bp went back to normal... I think it took a couple months.

I only have high bp now when I wake up from sleeping, then it goes back to normal after awhile..

[lbw]

I would definitely get a home BP machine. I have high blood pressure as well. For the first month on CPAP my BP dropped to 90. You definitely should monitor it at home. Would suggest it even for those not on CPAP with a history of CPAP.

[elena88]

here is one more choice..
I got this one.. it detects irregular heart beats too... which is great, so I can see when I have them..

http://www.amazon.com/Microlife-Automat ... B001ECQ46C

[torontoCPAPguy]

With all due respect, there is high blood pressure caused by OSA/etc. and there is high blood pressure caused by OTHER factors. The high blood pressure that you are seeing as a result of OSA/etc. should be IMMEDIATELY eliminated with proper XPAP treatment where your blood oxygen saturation is maintained above 90% or higher for the night while you are sleeping. The low SaO2 causes BP to skyrocket in the body's attempt to get as much oxygen circulating to the extremities as possible while taking care of the vital organs and trying to keep everything working just tickedy-boo.

Your high blood pressure may have nothing whatever to do with your OSA/etc. There are a plethora of causes for high blood pressure and it is far too complex for me to undertake an explanation. Suffice it to say that even a wee bit of excess salt in the body can crank it up. This is an entirely seperate issue completely and needs to be addressed as such.

How do I know? I have marginally high blood pressure ALL THE TIME for the past 30 years and have been taking a small amount of medication and diuretic to deal with that. On the other hand... I can tell you that when my SaO2 desaturates my BP skyrockets. So much so in the hospital last summer that they did not expect me to survive. THAT is under control now that my OSA is under control.

Suffice it to say... you need to have a serious talk with your doctor.

[Emilia]

@Torontoguy... your point if well taken and correct. The OP did say high bp caused by OSA in her opening sentence. And since she said it would be a long time before seeing her doctor for a checkup and seeing any results, I began the cascade of posts on monitoring her bp from home. Certainly, that is being just as pro-active as monitoring one's cpap therapy or O2 or blood sugar! You are 100% correct that any high bp should be addressed by one's doctor as it can have deleterious results on so many aspects of one's health.

[torontoCPAPguy]

Oh migosh... sorry, my remarks were not aimed at your comments at all. In fact, your suggestion of monitoring one's own vital signs is an outstanding one and you are preaching here to one of the believers! I monitor everything I can and walk into a doctor's office prepared with data if possible and educated on how things work to the best of my ability so that I don't just say "yep, thanks for the pills doc". I ask questions and expect answers these days and when done with respect one gets answers.

No, what I was saying was that there are TWO seperate and distinct issues with regards to blood pressure here in all possibility and at the very least one wants to see a GP and get some serious insight into what is going on. I was trying to relate the situation to MY situation, where I have/had extremely high blood pressure at times caused by poor lung function (as a result of H1N1/pneumonia/life support) and resultant SaO2 desaturations partially resulting from OSA and partially resulting from lung damage. It is likely that I will have to sleep for the rest of my life with APAP and infused oxygen... at least that is where I am sitting from the data I have assembled. That will hopefully take me to a level 95% SaO2 all night.... my magic bullet. It will permit me to remain in REM sleep which I desperately need and it will at the same time reduce my wild fluctuations in blood pressure during the night. I am thinking that the high BP might carry over into the daytime but sort of doubt it as it seems to be inversely proportional to SaO2... causing the autonomic nervous system to bang my head and holler "wake up... breathe deeply... we have a problem here Houston!" and resulting in awakenings (albeit not full awakenings), loss of L4 and REM sleep (feel like crap and a full day of work bags me for two days after). That's my OSA/hypopnea/oxygen deficiency issue at night... during the day when I am moving around my SaO2 can get all the way up to 100% at times! Generally in the low to mid 90% range though.

Prior to my exciting adventure with H1N1, acute killer pneumonia (I was gone twice), life support for three weeks (almost a month) with suctioning of the lungs to try and save my life.... my lung capacity is 70% at absolute best. That's fine during the day, but at night... with hypopneas... it's a disaster. Anyway, prior to the adventure I still had moderately high blood pressure that was under control with medication and diet (NO SALT!).

So, that is why I was saying sit down and speak to your MD... don't sit and listen! Speak up! And if the MD doesn't like it... time for a change.

[rosacer]

I have a question:

Telle said she has moderated BP and she is taking medications for that. If the BP is controlled on this moment by the medications she is taking, how is she going to notice if the BP becomes normal as a result of the OSA treatment?

I agree she should measure her BP with a machine at home to ensure her pressure is controlled, but still how is she going to know if the xpap is controling the pression or the medication is doing it.

I'm in the same situation, but I think my BP is not improving with the xpap. I have been on a good OSA treatment for at least 5 months and I see no change on my BP, if I stop the calcium-channel-blockers my BP goes up. Somebody told me I would never be able to stop BP medications, is there a reason for that like an addictive think? Why not if the BP becomes normal? In that case is the BP going to be too low with the use of medication?