Can CPAP cause unusually high blood pressure?

[ChicagoGranny]

blueiris

Good post. Thank you.

[nicholasjh1]

In any case, another possible cause and what did raise my bloodpressure initially, is that with my severe apnea I was getting up several times a night to pee, this is called Nocturia and in apnea sufferers is usually caused by heart issues, , when I started CPAP usage my Nocturia immediately stopped. This caused a natural increase in blood pressure since my natural night mechnism of the anti-diuretic hormome vasopressin was now working correctly! And as you know diuretics are a normal treatment for high blood pressure! Eventually my body sorted itself out... In the meantime I drank a lot of green tea during the first part of the day to help lower my blood pressure. (tea is a natural diuretic.)

I bolded the part that I'm responding to. I'm pretty new to xPAP and all things apnea related, and so I've been doing a whole lot of reading lately. One of the symptoms that points to sleep apnea is that the person gets up during the night to pee. Perhaps this is also a clue to heart issues, I don't know, but apnea in and of itself causes nocturia. Apnea suferrers become awake enough to sense bladder fullness, which is something they'd normally sleep through. Just sayin'. Interesting idea to use the green tea.

Sorry, I didn't mean to alarm anyone... Not heart "issues" per say, but the Sleep apnea causes lower oxy levels and a greater C02 load which leads to more stress on the heart (like heart usage when you're awake vs, your heart being able to rest) long story short the heart connection is more related to abnormal heart usage for sleeping... not that there is necessarily damage... which according to what I read is what causes the nocturia (the abnormal heart usage)... but yes, it's directly related to the apnea.

[Goofproof]

In any case, another possible cause and what did raise my bloodpressure initially, is that with my severe apnea I was getting up several times a night to pee, this is called Nocturia and in apnea sufferers is usually caused by heart issues, , when I started CPAP usage my Nocturia immediately stopped. This caused a natural increase in blood pressure since my natural night mechnism of the anti-diuretic hormome vasopressin was now working correctly! And as you know diuretics are a normal treatment for high blood pressure! Eventually my body sorted itself out... In the meantime I drank a lot of green tea during the first part of the day to help lower my blood pressure. (tea is a natural diuretic.)

I bolded the part that I'm responding to. I'm pretty new to xPAP and all things apnea related, and so I've been doing a whole lot of reading lately. One of the symptoms that points to sleep apnea is that the person gets up during the night to pee. Perhaps this is also a clue to heart issues, I don't know, but apnea in and of itself causes nocturia. Apnea suferrers become awake enough to sense bladder fullness, which is something they'd normally sleep through. Just sayin'. Interesting idea to use the green tea.

Sorry, I didn't mean to alarm anyone... Not heart "issues" per say, but the Sleep apnea causes lower oxy levels and a greater C02 load which leads to more stress on the heart (like heart usage when you're awake vs, your heart being able to rest) long story short the heart connection is more related to abnormal heart usage for sleeping... not that there is necessarily damage... which according to what I read is what causes the nocturia (the abnormal heart usage)... but yes, it's directly related to the apnea.

NOT so, it's the release of excessive amounts of Adrenaline, to restart your body to breath or function.(Fight or Flight) Your body needs to get rid of the by-products of Adrenaline being over used, clean up on aisle. Jim

If your heart is resting, you are dead.

[Pugsy]

Actually the nocturia that is associated with sleep apnea is from a stress hormone called ANP Atrial natriuretic peptide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrial_na ... ic_peptide
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1439228
http://doctorstevenpark.com/too-many-ba ... ctor-first

The short version is that when we have an apnea event the heart gets stressed and secretes the stress hormone ANP into the blood stream and then it goes to the kidneys and the kidneys go into overdrive as a response to the stress hormone and when kidneys work hard...urine gets produced.
I used to wake 3 to 5 times a night with a painfully full bladder pre cpap therapy. My nocturia went totally away pretty much immediately once I got my pressure optimized.

Now of course there are other potential reasons for nocturia but sleep apnea related is quite common.

[Pugsy]

do hypops count in that or just full apneas

They are part of the AHI so to me they count. They make up part of the criteria for the diagnosis.
Now as to how much stress the hyponea might actually be putting on the heart to cause it to secrete the ANP is probably going to be more related to how many hyponeas within a close proximity time wise and how long they might last.
Hyponeas are just less of a reduction than full grown apneas but it can be a fine line which in reality doesn't make that much difference in real life repercussions.
We all know that an obstructive apnea is a flow reduction of at least 80% that lasts at least 10 seconds.
Hyponeas are flow reductions that can be from 40% to the 79%. If it hit 80% it would get an OA flag.

Now if we think about it...if you have a hyponea that is a 75% reduction in flow...it's going to be almost as stressful on the body as that 80% OA. I doubt if the heart or body is going to really care that it is 5% less. It's still going to be harmful.
Hyponeas count...they are important and that's why they are part of the AHI diagnostic criteria.
Which is why I don't go with the "it's only hyponeas and they don't matter much" mentality. They matter.
Now maybe a 40% reduction that barely lasts 10 seconds isn't as scary...but if you have a bunch of them back to back it can be ugly and cause stress or sleep disturbance.

[LibtardsUnite!]

I have pulmonary hypertension and it is NOT measured with a cuff on the arm. Actually you dont even know u have it--unless u have an cardiac echogram and its seen there. I think your problem may be anxiety over all of this. If it persists see your doc. for sure. I assume you have BP kit at home? This whole thing is driving me nuts. I lay awake for hours.

wrong again
you are batting 0 for all your posts

you do measure it on the arm
you determine the cause with other tests

in this case it is likely stress
in your case lack of understanding

YOU "F"ing MORON. You are going to cause somebody to have a serious problem with your inaccurate, stupid advice. If you don't know what you are talking about then shut the f*ck up! Better yet, go away!!

[chunkyfrog]

Apparently this post was deleted--since it was not spam, I am quoting it. We don't have to agree in order to respect each other.

I had this reaction. Scared the crap out of me and i couldn't find information ANYWHERE except here!
Alarmingly high blood pressure (almost hospitalisation level), asthma like feeling when breathing during the day, pain between my shoulder blades and water retention (gained 5kg in a week!) was scary and i practically ran to the Dr. Dr upped my medication and sent me for blood tests an echocardiogram.
Luckily for me, heart scan and blood tests gave me the all clear. Routinely checking my blood pressure at home after the change in medication showed improvement and as time goes on and I get more and more used to the machine, I've found that my lungs have adjusted (no more asthma like feeling), pain between my shoulder blades is gone (no more anxiety or sore muscles), my body has adjusted to using the bathroom during the day instead of 3 - 4 times a night and most importantly bp is actually closer to normal than it's been in a long long time - it's usually 130/90 with medication, now it's dropping into high 120/high 80s.
Dr's... at least in my experience... tend to discount anxiety in a lot of situations. I wouldn't be surprised if you're in a similar situation to me.

Please see your dr regardless, they'll probably increase your medication for a short time while your body adjusts to the stress of using the machine. CPAP won't 'fix' your hypertension, but it may make it a little better.

[scottyrc1]

I have been on CPAP for about a month so far. I noticed after the first day my blood pressure shot up to 170 over 110. My doctor increased my Motropolol to four pills a day from 3. I also take one losartan pill daily. Both are blood pressure medications.

I just went to the doctor today and my blood pressure is at 170 over 130. She is puzzled and referring me to a Kidney specialist. She is also adding another Blood Pressure pill to my prescription to help bring the blood pressure down. The confusing thing for me is that this crazy increase in blood pressure was caused by introducing CPAP and I thought that was supposed to decrease BP.

I am going to try and adjust the pressure settings from 5-18 to 8-18 based on feedback from this article to see if that helps.

Also, I had to keep adjusting mask because it was sliding up and I was able to breathe in easily. I have to move the mask down and then I could breather ok. I losened the mask last night and it worked much better. Not sure if this could be casuing the high blood pressure. My doctor doesn't thinks so.



Any other Ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.?

[ChicagoGranny]

The confusing thing for me is that this crazy increase in blood pressure was caused by introducing CPAP

You know the two events were correlated. But, how do you know one caused the other?

I am going to try and adjust the pressure settings from 5-18 to 8-18 based on feedback from this article to see if that helps.

Which article are you referring to?

Please fill out your equipment profile - https://www.cpaptalk.com/ucp.php?i=prof ... pment_info

Are you tracking your AHI and mask leak level? What are you seeing?

[Wulfman...]

I have been on CPAP for about a month so far. I noticed after the first day my blood pressure shot up to 170 over 110. My doctor increased my Motropolol to four pills a day from 3. I also take one losartan pill daily. Both are blood pressure medications.

I just went to the doctor today and my blood pressure is at 170 over 130. She is puzzled and referring me to a Kidney specialist. She is also adding another Blood Pressure pill to my prescription to help bring the blood pressure down. The confusing thing for me is that this crazy increase in blood pressure was caused by introducing CPAP and I thought that was supposed to decrease BP.

I am going to try and adjust the pressure settings from 5-18 to 8-18 based on feedback from this article to see if that helps.

Also, I had to keep adjusting mask because it was sliding up and I was able to breathe in easily. I have to move the mask down and then I could breather ok. I losened the mask last night and it worked much better. Not sure if this could be casuing the high blood pressure. My doctor doesn't thinks so.



Any other Ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.?

You might want to experiment with STOPPING Metoprolol. My wife was taking it a few years ago and her blood pressure was going astronomical and was very erratic........then she stopped taking it and her BP dropped to "normal". And, she was only taking ONE 50 MG pill.

Just some words of advice from someone who has seen the adverse effects.

(and, my wife is not a CPAP user)


Den

.

[austinyue]

I am a brand new CPAP user and have noted that on the day after I sleep using the machine, my blood pressure is alarmingly high. I take high blood pressure medication and take my blood pressure at home every day. I let a few days go after using it for the first time and experiencing the spike in blood pressure and my blood pressure went back to normal. Used the CPAP machine the last two nights and on both days following use, my blood pressure was extremely high.

I don't think this is a coincidence but have never heard that CPAP use can increase blood pressure. Has anyone heard anything similar or have any information on this?

hello,Neelie,how about your recently BP ?

[jimbud]

hello,Neelie,how about your recently BP ?

Neelie is lost in the mists of time.
Nevermore.

So was this thread.
Better off dead.

Start a new thread.
For your questions ahead.
JPB

[chunkyfrog]

Guest poster--back when that was allowed.
No way to know of an outcome.
We hope it was positive.

[zonker]

oh my god!

a zombie thread with both amess and alphabet boy.

makes me appreciate the current state of affairs here.

yikes!

[multicast]

I have been on CPAP for about a month so far. I noticed after the first day my blood pressure shot up to 170 over 110. My doctor increased my Motropolol to four pills a day from 3. I also take one losartan pill daily. Both are blood pressure medications.

Had usually 170/100 and even more in the evening before my therapy, started a year ago. I could have taken Losartan like jellybeans, the just didn't work. Then, during in about half a year of therapy, blood pressure dropped significantly to 105/65. Now I'm quite stable at around 120/70.

I take Losartan 100 and HCT 25 once a day; the nightly bathroom visits reduced to one, if any. It seems that apnoea *hinders* in a way the effect of the pills. So hopefully it's just a matter of time that your pressure decreases.

Just my $0.02,

Mike