CPAPtalk.com

HI all,

I have been a member on this forum for over 5 years. 5 years ago, at the age of 30, I was diagnosed with idiopathic central sleep apnea after a sleep study, with an AHI of 35 and desaturation down into the low 80s. I have no known heart or brain issues, but was having issues where I'd wake up in terrible fear with a racing heart and short of breath. I began ASV treatment at 30 and have not missed a single night of therapy in the last 5+ years.

During this time, I've definitely had ups and downs. I'll go periods where I'll sleep great for a week or two, and then have a bad night where i'll still wake up out of breath despite the ASV. Generally my AHI has been between 1-3, so pretty decent.

I began a journey into low carb eating last year to lose a bit of weight. There is a low carb doctor who has many great YouTube videos by the name of Dr. Berg. One of his videos posted last year discussed the correlation between low levels of B1 Thiamin, and central sleep apnea. Thiamine is responsible for autonomic nervous system function, and certain lifestyle habits/diet can deplete it which can cause sleep disordered breathing as the brain is not getting the right signals to breath.

This video made sense to me and I thought i'd try supplementing B1 Thiamine. I bought a bottle of B1 100 MG on Amazon and took 1 pill a day. After a week, i noticed a DRAMATIC reduction in how often I experienced breathless awakenings during the night. I used to experience this probably once a week, and since I've been supplementing with Thiamine for the last 2 months, I have only had once instance of waking in panic. I am convinced that this improvement is due to my B1 supplementation and felt obligated to share my experience with this forum. I understand that many with CSA have heart issues as the root cause, so i can't guarantee this will help everyone, but I hope that someone who is going through what I went through might find this useful and ultimately therapeutically beneficial. Whether or not I can consider this a "cure" for my CSA, i want more time and another sleep study.

Here is a link to the original Youtube video that triggered me to supplement with B1. https://youtu.be/hJajkK2PuMg

Take a look at the information from Dr. Gominak. She has an interesting perspective on the various B vitamins.

I will add that I don't believe most people suffer sleep apnea from a lack of B vitamins. It can play a part but I know a lot of people that have sleep apnea that have normal blood glucose levels, normal insulin levels, and test normal for B1.

I'm interested in trying this. It probably doesn't matter, but which brand did you get?

Also, when do you take it, like how many hours before sleep?

Do you take a multivitamin or B-complex too?

I just have plane old OSA. But I take B1 for another reason and did
notice weeks I take it my AHI tends to be 10 to 20 % lower. It's not
a big deal and without looking at long term graphs I wouldn't have
noticed it.

Good to hear B1 worked for you!
It would seem that B1 deficiency severe enough to result in sleep apnea will probably result in other noticable neural problems.
Trialling B-Vitamins for anyone with medical issues is a good idea since they are cheap and problem-free. That said - set low expectations.

Dug into this a little further. It looks like thiamine has been shown -- in vitro, at least -- to inhibit carbonic anhydrase, similar to the prescription drug acetazolamide, a well-known respiratory stimulant and treatment medication for central apnea. This may be why the OP has seen results. I don't know of any in vivo studies.

Other OTC supplements that show similar properties in vitro are: resveratrol, curcumin, silymarin, quercetin, catechin (for example, EGCG).

Haven't tried any of these myself yet, but definitely worth a look.

Some sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22145674
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20674354
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22168126

Just a note to newbies and the uninitiated, this discussion is about Central Sleep Apnea. There is no evidence that it would apply to the predominant type of apnea - Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

I was diagnosed with CSA (central sleep apnea) with an AHI of 9 so I'm giving vitamin B1 before bed a try to see if my events go down at my next sleep study which is soon. My Resmed report is usually 0.0 AHI so the ASV machine is doing its job. So far I've had no negative effects and vitamin B1 is super cheap and I am sleeping somewhat better. My problem is early morning awakenings which I am not sure is due to apnea events or something else. I'm a mildly hypothyroid 53 yo male with a normal BMI on Synthroid with acute anxiety so there are other variables.