Study Shows CPAP May Improve Diabetes

The ole blower strike again, for the good!! Here is the link. http://my.webmd.com/content/article/101/106179.htm

Wow... I've seen several reports from individuals on this and other sleep forums that indicate that their blood sugar levels have risen after starting CPAP. Mine seems to correlate that way and I don't much like it.

Sugar buzzed in Seattle.

This is encouraging to know.
I had been told, prior to sleep apnea diagnosis, that I was borderline with diabetes. I had assumed it was all due to the unexplained weight gain then. Whatever, this is nice news. I haven't been checked since starting sleep apnea treatment, so I wonder if there's been any improvement.

Thanks for the information.

If anybody wants to really dig in, cpapnews is running the webmd and another articles discussing the study.

http://www.cpapnews.com/?p=41

I may not know much but I do know diabetes and sleep apnea regarding my own experiences. I always quantify my response as my personal observations ONLY, (lest I also get accused of being a doctor, which again, I am not).

Anyhew....I am a type 2, insulin diabetic 11 yrs. Last 3 on insulin, numbers were elevating. I was supplementing long acting insulin with short acting insulin shots during one 24 hr period, & quite conceivably could be taking 4 shots daily. My HBA1C blood test--to measure glyc. hemoglobin has gone down to a lower normal #since on apap, prompting my doctor to ask, "what are you doing?" (this blood test is a 90 day backward lookee-- loo on where your glucose has really been) is becoming the standard that many docs (so I have been told) prefer to follow. Daily finger/monitor numbers are relevant to monitor of course, and one should always monitor several times a day. This is important not only for insulin diabetics, who could possibly have more hypo/hyper episodes during a 24-hr period, but daily monitoring is just as important for diabetics on oral meds and or diet control alone.

Anyway, I have been on apap for only 5 weeks. TELL ME WHY MY DAILY BLOOD SUGAR NUMBERS HAVE DROPPED 40-50 points, it is a wonderful side benefit of the apap. There is no other explanation My metabolism is slowly turning around, which I think, affects the insulin resistance hereto-fore causing the spikes and higher dailies/hb's numbers.

APAP for me, has helped my glucose monitoring numbers downward into a much more normal range, thereby reducing possible diabetic complications down the road.

I believe in the apap/cpap therapy, and its use has proven to me that consistent use of my apap will help to manage my diabete and insulin resistance issues.

In addition, the heaviness I felt in breathing (asthmatic too) has decreased.

So there's light at the end of the tunnel and I am proof. It is at times so mentally draining to have these metabolic disorders and now throw in a beastly nightly dance with the mask/hose, but we must do what we must do to remain and continue on course for better health.


IMHO of course!

MaskedMechanic wrote:The ole blower strike again, for the good!! Here is the link. http://my.webmd.com/content/article/101/106179.htm

Gailzee,

Isn't it nice when the treatment for one disorder actually helps the treatment for another. I am lucky to not have multiple medical issues, but my mother has a number of them including Diabetes. It seems every time she would change a med to try to improve one ailment it would cause problems with another. It has been a vicious circle for her.

The fact that untreated OSA negatively affects blood sugar, blood pressure and mental accuity all makes sense. It seems the studies are bearing that out.

I have to be the contrarian again I have been Type 2 diabetic for about six years but was able to control my fasting (pre-breakfast) glucose levels to around 90 - 110 mg/dl with diet, glucophage and glyburide, and had a HBA1C just over 6. I have kept daily graphs of blood sugar levels.

Then as soon as I started cpap last November things went crazy. The fasting levels have just gone wild - up and down - all over the place. The onset is absolutely coincident with cpap. I'm talking to my doc about it. Yesterday was the worst ever at 264, today was 170. I can't correlate it with anything in my diet, or my sleep.

It's actually got me a bit concerned. I've got to do something to get it back under control!!!

(I'm editing this Weds. morning) Down to 105 this morning, even though I was at a large catered reception/dinner last night. Not my normal low glycemic index meal. Beats me
derek

Derek, I know this might have absolutely nothing to do with your experience, but are you on an APAP or CPAP or other. Thinking this might have something to do with it. If a straight CPAP might be another cause for them to be discontinued by the doctors. Many of us have thought for a long time that a continuous pressure can't be good for you. Also what was your titrated pressure?

Janelle,
I was on cpap at 12 cm for a couple of months, until 2 1/2 weeks ago when I moved to my REMStar Auto with C-Flex (love it!). I typically have a 90 percentile pressure of about 10.5 cm and AHI around 0.5.
I discussed the fluctuations with the sleep doc, who consulted other docs at the center and said they had never heard of this before. She said maybe since my restless legs problems had been solved, I was getting less exercise during sleep Geez, I wasn't moving that much. It could be coincidence, I guess.

derek
... who needs to keep his mouth shut at night

HI Derek:
Have you added/changed diet, medications, anything different other than the cpap? Of course, anxiety issue on wearing the beast as I prefer to call it, also can elevate, even when we don't think we're anxious over it. I have to sit upright for awhile when I first go to bed, to get my breathing into a normal sound (for me). I am still ''fighting the feeling'' I get when I put on my nasal pillows, straps, chin strap, and then try to lie down and go to sleep. NOT.

Your newer number sounded much better. Also remember that diabetes is a quiet lurking problem, and numbers can go hay wire for inexplicable reasons.

Last wk or so mine have been higher, in the 130's, which for me, was still a BIG IMPROVEMENT over the 200+ range on daily checking.
Good to keep a chart on the diabetes numbers. There are just sometimes that the numbers do not ''match'' the situation.I've tried to figure out my spikes and drops, and never can. Unless we don't eat anything, that'd be the only real way to see a decrease in numbers, eh?

I think this is one of those mysteries, why an apap can or cannot aid in the diabetes.

Can you dare try to sleep without the machine, and test yourself maybe once during the night as well, also just before morning, to see if you're experiencing something called dawn phenomena? ( sound like I know something about this, because it happens to me). Numbers are steady overnight, then rise sharply early morning, then drop to a more normal range, shortly thereafter). This involves a lot of finger sticking unfortunately.

Diabetes is sure a hands on problem, as well as the apnea, huh?
Good luck and let me know how you are doing, ok?

derek wrote:I have to be the contrarian again I have been Type 2 diabetic for about six years but was able to control my fasting (pre-breakfast) glucose levels to around 90 - 110 mg/dl with diet, glucophage and glyburide, and had a HBA1C just over 6. I have kept daily graphs of blood sugar levels.

Then as soon as I started cpap last November things went crazy. The fasting levels have just gone wild - up and down - all over the place. The onset is absolutely coincident with cpap. I'm talking to my doc about it. Yesterday was the worst ever at 264, today was 170. I can't correlate it with anything in my diet, or my sleep.

It's actually got me a bit concerned. I've got to do something to get it back under control!!!

(I'm editing this Weds. morning) Down to 105 this morning, even though I was at a large catered reception/dinner last night. Not my normal low glycemic index meal. Beats me
derek

The interesting implication is, individuals WITH UNTREATED sleep apnea are at a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes (which I've heard described as the biggest undiagnosed health threat in this country).

I am looking forward to finally being able to lose weight on autocpap -- people with no sleep can't motabolize (sp?) food.

The blood sugar angle adds an interesting and important aspect to the equation...