Alcohol: Before and after CPAP

I'm 38 years old. During my 20's I liked to have a social drinks on a regular basis. However I always seemed to have worse hang overs than most people. I always just though I was more sensitive or maybe had drank more. Once I hit my 30's the alcohol seemed to take a larger and larger tole on me. I cut back on my alcohol consumption since even a small amount would give me severe headaches and make it hard to sleep. Finally by about 5 years ago I gave it up completely. Even one drink at night would seem to keep me awake all night and I would feel terrible for days afterwards. This didn't seem normal to me but despite bringing it up with numerous doctors they didn't have an explanation for it.

Fast forward to this summer and I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and put on CPAP. Upon reading about apnea I leaned that sedatives, like alcohol, could make apnea worse during the night. I got wondering if this was the problem. I did some experiments and to my amazement I can drink again now! In fact the terrible headaches were gone!

I thought my drinking days where over, three cheers for CPAP

Anyone else experience this?

I have given up drinking more than a couple of drinks for a couple of reasons.
The first is that I usually am driving and the second is that I work every day except sunday and have to be up at six.
Usually three or four drinks on a work night would mean calling in sick the next day since I like to get paid thats not an option.

A couple of fridays ago a guy who works for me was playing in his band at a local club that I could walk to from my house on A friday night.
I figured what the heck walked down had a good time about 12 beers and walked home at 2am.
I was up at six made it to work(wasn't feeling great) but made it through the day.

Pre cpap adult beverages definitely made me snore louder than I normally would so your theory just might hold some water(or beer)

jskinner wrote: I thought my drinking days where over, three cheers for CPAP

Anyone else experience this?

I haven't drank anything since CPAP, but I think you've convinced me that tonight's the night to break out that bottle of Chivas that I've been saving...

jskinner,

My experience was a bit similar but I was finding that alcohol (wine & beer) were causing me 2 other issues

1 - Nose: one day the owner of our local supermarket was talking with me about why some beers seem to cause me headaches & sinus problems. It turns out that many modern beers & wines use So2 (sulphur dioxide) as a preservative & he suggested I try a brand known to be very low in SO2 & that certainly made a difference. He also pointed out certain other brands that he said would guarantee me problems & yes I already was avoiding them based on bad reactions

2 - GERD: At this same time, I could only really drink beer & wine if I took Gaviscon (antacid) before or during. Just prior to going on CPAP my doctor put me on GERD meds & that solved this problem.

CPAP: Upon going onto Cpap, I found that the occasional Friday/Saturday nigh dinner parties were no longer the prelude to a sore head if we had all enjoyed the wine more than usual. In fact on nights where a few more bottles of wine were passed around than is normal, I would bump up my cms by 1 & usually find I was barely affected then next day.

I have no doubt whatsoever that modern beers & wines with high concentrations of preservatives, are causing a lot of people a lot of trouble & that many not not even realise why.

DSM

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Haven't had a drink in 20 years but I think I'm going to Vader's house tonight! It is trick or treat season isn't it?

Anyone else experience this?

Pretty much the same here, jskinner.

Actually, I had the same experience. I can drink quite a bit of Vodka and Sprite, and feel fabulous the next day, ever since Xpap.
Not sure if this is a good thing.
Cheers!
Lee Ann

jum001 wrote:Haven't had a drink in 20 years but I think I'm going to Vader's house tonight! It is trick or treat season isn't it?

Sorry, but you're too late. I even invited the neighbors over, and a lovely time was had by all.
Tonight they want to know if I have any more....