A MUST READ..BP corrected

I always had low blood pressure but it had slowly increased over the last year. I was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea and was put on a CPAP. I have lost about 30 pounds, seem to be getting my metabolic issues back in line but most importantly my BP has gone back to its "normal" levels of 110/70. I have terrible sinuses and can tell when I am going to have a "bad episode."

Anyways, wanted to confirm that in my experience the sleep apnea did elevate my BP and it was lowered again with CPAP therapy.

LOL

Just wanted to throw my .02 in here about meds for BP. I was told by my doc that the best
medication for BP is an ACE inhibitor like Lisinipril which is a generic for Zestril.
Beta blockers he told me actually weaken the heart to make it less efficient.
Lisinipril makes it work more efficiently. That's what I was told anyway.
However he also said that in using Lisinipril the mineral copper (I believe...it's been awhile)
would tend to be somewhat deficient.....so I take supplements........FWIW

Luke

Good for you Rosemary....I'm glad to see positive results, I feel it will encourage others to hang in there and fight.

[quote="needingu2"]...sleeping 8-10 hrs feel rested. Also another sign that things are getting back to normal, I have been having vivid dreams which I had not had for years....So WEAR THAT MASK AS DIRECTED. Start dreaming...BP down..I don't see a down side. My very best friend is now the mask...
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Me too! Still got a ways to go yet, but so much better. Dreams...before CPAP, I forgot I used to have vivid dreams. Now wake up after 8 hrs without an alarm -- can't remember ever waking up wthout an alarm!

Nasal CPAP since 8/20/07. First 4 night using CPA was pure hell becasue every time the full pressure kicked on, I woke up; by 4th day, my brain figured it out...either that or my increased exhaustion did the trick *G*! Exhaustion mostly gone within 3 wks, then just really, really tired. Mood and stress tolerance continue to improve since then. Then, 9 mos after starting...finally...energy level, mood, etcetera, more like pre-apnea (late ’90s onset I'm guessing based on exhaustion).

BP was 210/85 with edema in ankles and lungs (no wonder I wasn’t breathing ‘right’), take Maxzide (12.5 mgms/day of the 37.5 formulation) & 50 mgms Cozaar/day in divided doses (tried Lisinopril and ended up coughing for wks). BP consistently dropped, slowly, but consistently. Can’t keep potassium in system so drink 6 ozs low-sodium V8 daily; more if I sweat profusely or start getting twitchy. Make own sugar-free cocoa using Ghiradelli grd cocoa, hot water, hvy cream. Eat as many berries as possible without shooting up my glucose (now diabetic, Maxzide probably hastened this *sigh* but I was headed there anyway). Was drinking 1 oz POM juice until diabetes diagnosis (studies show it reduces systolic pressure as does the Proline-Lysine combo). I eat low cab with 8-12 servings of veggies/day; lost 37 #s so far, got a lot more to go (could not lose until after 9 months on CPAP, my thyroid system is OK). Blood glucose was in the 300s, now 120s-130s (just above normal). Diagnosed diabetic last July, now taking 1500 mgs Metformin ER/day plus Januvia 100 mgms/day. Take 600 mgms magnesium citrate/day in divided doses, Proline-Lysine 500 mgm combo 1 pill/day, 50 mgms CoQ10/day, 1 Coromega fish oil packette/day, 160 mgms DHA/day, 1000 IU vit D over-the-counter/day (was on 50,000 IU /wk for 8 wks as my levels were so low), and Bioascorbate 500 mgm/2-3 times day. Eat garlic, ginger, turmeric for their anti-inflammatory effect. Edema mostly gone unless my glucose shoots up & I get dehydrated…I am so very tired of carrying water with me everywhere and always checking for bathrooms. This will be one behavior I’ll be thrilled to see gone.

Re-reading Eades original book over the weekend, I think my BP (now typically 130/70) may be hyper-sensitivity to the pro-inflammatory AA (investigating what helps reduce hyper-sensitivity to AA) as it can’t be high insulin anymore (too few carbs to stimulate a spike). When my glucose is closer to normal, I sleep more deeply and wake up more refreshed so that is not strictly apnea modulated…at least in my case.

CPAP therapy works if ya got apnea. Takes time as my cardiologist keeps insisting; he and pulmonologist think all -- isolated systolic hypertension, apnea, diabetes -- will disappear when I lose enough. It’s my incentive to keep getting on the exercise bike and take the drugs whose side-effects are major-league aggravating. Heart is healthy tho pressure is a slightly high, however, cardiologist says many of his apnea patients show the same effect. He’ll do another, third, echo in a yr or so…earlier if I lose enough to get pressure down & start fighting the CPAP. Will try halving Cozaar after losing another 15 #s and see what happens. Cortisol is slightly elevated throughout day, likely due to my wt. Getting a CRP done with my next blood work and see if I need to up my anti-inflammatory ‘stuff.’

ResMed S8 (ramp 8 to 11) with heated humidifier, Respironics ComfortLite (still have troubled getting the pillows clean as I have horrible allergies & can't use Afrin now to keep the nasal crud at bay). AHIs were 60+ as I didn't have a single minute during the Sleep Study without hynpopneas that desaturated my O2 levels. 2 hrs sleep with nCPAP and I felt better than I had in a decade..made a believer outta me.

lYNp

Thanks for telling your story. I like to see where we improve from all the trouble we go to to combat this thing called apnea
. The world has changed so much in my lifetime, perhaps the treatment will be less intrusive someday. Just thankful for what we know now and to think a very few years ago it was not heard of and can you imagine the people who suffered after all the damage was done to their bodies.