Blood sugar higher since starting cpap.

[Arlene1963]

Janknitz, I think that is a vital question. I asked Elyemaz earlier about sleep quality on CPAP versus before CPAP. If sleep is worse it is a definite issue re blood glucose.

Elyemaz, I hope you come back and answer the questions asked here because that will help folk help you.

[palerider]

Should I go off CPAP for a few days just to check if I'm on the right track? I will keep using it, just an experiment.

No

[Wulfman...]

From day o e, my BG has been 20 to 30 points higher than ever before. I'm sure my Dr won't believe me. Is there any research I can show her that this is not all in my head? I'm tempted to stop using the CPAP! Please let me know if you have experienced the same. I'm very worried. Thank you.

How long have you been using CPAP therapy?
Why are you "sure" your doctor won't believe you?
What meds are you on? Metformin? Insulin? Anything?

As has been stated, don't stop using your CPAP!!!


Den

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I haven't had any aerophagia to deal with, but did see my glucose levels rise from the "pre-D" levels in 2005 to "scary" in 2007, even though I had read that CPAP therapy was supposed to help normalize glucose.
As we've discussed many times, there's a definite link between OSA and Diabetes, but I've been mystified why the levels increased AFTER starting therapy. Diet, exercise and weight loss seem to be the best weapons to deal with it, though.

Den

WOW! I don't remember posting that (years ago), but I'm impressed that you found it.
I don't recall (or care to dig out my documentation) what my numbers were back then, but I was not on any meds at that time either. Just diet and exercise.
You notice that I didn't make any claims or remarks to the OP that CPAP always helps lower glucose numbers.......
This therapy affects each of us differently.
I also caution people to take advice from the medical profession with a grain of salt.
Back in 2013, an endocrinologist switched me from Lantus to Levemir. It was a total failure......I might as well have been injecting water. After about nine months of that, I asked my PCP to write me another prescription for Lantus and my numbers dropped dramatically. Again, not everything or every medication works the same for everybody.
Also, oddly enough, in the last year I've had some sporadic issues with aerophagia.


Den

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[ChicagoGranny]

I'm impressed that you found it.

Even a blind pig occasionally finds an acorn.

[palerider]

I'm impressed that you found it.

Even a blind pig occasionally finds an acorn.

Don't they usually do that by smell?

[Uff Da]

I'm a type 1 diabetic and found no difference whatsoever in blood glucose levels after starting APAP. That doesn't mean it couldn't happen for other people, but I'd be very suspicious that it might be something else started at about the same time. The one thing that did send my BG up enough to require considerably more insulin was taking niacin. It took me months before I figured out what it was that I'd started about the same time as the BG increase. Then when I dropped the niacin, the BG went back to previous levels so the connection became apparent. Statins often do the same thing.

[Wulfman...]

I'm impressed that you found it.

Even a blind pig occasionally finds an acorn.

In Europe they use pigs to find truffles. Pigs have keen senses and are very intelligent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truffle

"Both the female pig's natural truffle-seeking, as well as her usual intent to eat the truffle, are due to a compound within the truffle similar to androstenol, the sex pheromone of boar saliva, to which the sow is keenly attracted."


Den

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[chunkyfrog]

I'm impressed that you found it.

Even a blind pig occasionally finds an acorn.

In Europe they use pigs to find truffles. Pigs have keen senses and are very intelligent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truffle

"Both the female pig's natural truffle-seeking, as well as her usual intent to eat the truffle, are due to a compound within the truffle similar to androstenol, the sex pheromone of boar saliva, to which the sow is keenly attracted."


Den

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Makes you think twice about spending extra money on fungus.

[nicholasjh1]

Well, My dad had diabetes and whenever he came to denver his Blood glucose would dive. He'd have to cut his Insulin in half. and that's with constantly going out to eat. It stands to reason that if you stop all night exercise of adrenalin burst and suffocating, plus no longer needing to repair all the brain cells damaged by suffocation, and not having to store extra energy in the body to facilitate the survival adrenalin bursts, that you'd stop using as much of the sugar. ... so No I think that would be infallibly stupid to stop CPAP. Eat less before bed, add some exercise, and suck it up so you won't die like my dad did to years of untreated Apnea. Also since you're no longer getting your nightly exercise it might be wise to add some cardio during the day. after taking magnesium I ended up having incredible endurance... possibly from the years of untreated apnea... For god sakes I'd been training every night...

[nicholasjh1]

Higher blood sugar can be caused by cpap use. If you are sleeping more soundly, your body isn't working as hard to keep you alive. As a result, there may be less movement. This can result in a small increase in blood sugar. However, if the trend is 10% or more, then you may have to consider that you have another condition going on that just happens to coincide with starting cpap.

Oh, someone already said that nice version.

[nicholasjh1]

I'm a type 1 diabetic and found no difference whatsoever in blood glucose levels after starting APAP. That doesn't mean it couldn't happen for other people, but I'd be very suspicious that it might be something else started at about the same time. The one thing that did send my BG up enough to require considerably more insulin was taking niacin. It took me months before I figured out what it was that I'd started about the same time as the BG increase. Then when I dropped the niacin, the BG went back to previous levels so the connection became apparent. Statins often do the same thing.

To be frank, type 2 is a completely different animal... Well controlled Type 1 does not necessarily have any metabolic syndrome... and thus no insulin resistance... So while the consequences of poor insulin management can be much worse with type 1, overall type 1 is easier to control unless that type 1 specimen also develops metabolic syndrome (and insulin resistance)

[chunkyfrog]

I think the >10% trend should trigger a consultation.

[Elyemaz]

Thank you all for your comments. I've been on CPAP for 1.5 months. I will stay on it a little longer. Seeing new sleep apnea Dr that uses Mandibular Advancement Device. I will ask him if he has heard of high BG using CPAP. My PCP will flip out when she sees my A1c numbers since it will be definitely high. With no other reason for high numbers other than CPAP, hoping M.A.D. device will work. Those 3 lbs I lost are back! Sigh.

Happy to have found this site. Helps knowing I'm not alone.

[jnk...]

. . . With no other reason for high [BG] numbers other than CPAP . . .

I hope you are not under the impression that anyone on this board is supporting that supposition. It isn't that your BG went up because of CPAP. It is that your BG went up in spite of CPAP.

Just because two things happen around the same time doesn't mean one caused the other. So please don't blame your BG issues on CPAP. Breathing and sleeping do NOT cause diabetes.

CPAP is mechanical. It is air. Nothing more. So saying that CPAP caused your BG issues is like saying "I put a bandage on my cut and then my resting blood pressure went up for a month." Maybe that's true, but that is no basis for believing that one is directly related to the other.

Breathe and sleep. But also please use an effective approach for keeping your diabetes under control. Some of the posters in this thread are experts at both. Answer their questions directly and thoroughly and you will get great benefit.

But let me stress, again, that NOTHING said in this thread is a basis for your going to your doc and saying people over at CPAPtalk.com support the notion that CPAP causes troubles with BG, even if some of us have experienced similar coincidences of one health condition getting worse at the same time that we greatly improved another health condition.

[Janknitz]

To be frank, type 2 is a completely different animal... Well controlled Type 1 does not necessarily have any metabolic syndrome... and thus no insulin resistance... So while the consequences of poor insulin management can be much worse with type 1, overall type 1 is easier to control unless that type 1 specimen also develops metabolic syndrome (and insulin resistance)

Boy, until you've walked in another person's shoes . . .

Type 2 is a LIFESTYLE disease primarily, and lifestyle can reverse (not cure) it if implemented before it progresses to latter stages where the complications are severe and beta cells can no longer produce insulin. There's no reversing Type I, it's an autoimmune disease and even with the best lifestyle possible it will never be reversed (there is promising vaccine research, but it's not available yet). And many factors besides lifestyle can make Type I difficult to manage--imagine spiking a fever from a flu and having your blood glucose soar and need to triple your insulin dose. Have you looked at how much insulin and its analogs cost these days??? Do you understand how hard it is to calculate the precise insulin dose needed at any given time to avoid highs and lows? In no way is it easier to manage--if you think insulin makes it easier you need to do some more research about what taking exogenous insulin does to your body. Many people with Type I develop insulin resistance as a result of the long-term use of high doses of insulin, so they get the joy of dealing with symptoms of both types of diabetes. Overall Type I is NOT easier than Type 2 by any stretch of the imagination.