New drug

My local cardiologist started me on a new drug due to SOB and other heart releated issues. Does anyone know if HCTZ, hydrochlorothiazide, has any impact on sleep apnea? I can't really find anything and figured that someone here would know the answer. Of course, it might make me get up more during the night to go to the bathroom but I'm taking it in the morning so hopefully that will not be the case.

TIA for any insight.

I am no physician, but as a paramedic, I know that HCTZ is usually prescribed for hypertension (high blood pressure) and is a diuretic. That means that it will pull fluid from the vascular space (arteries, veins, heart) and can result in more frequent urination (from the diuresis). I am guessing that the only impact you may see with this drug (as regards to OSA treatment or xpap) is perhaps more of an occasional visit to the toilet in your sleep, and probably not in any major way (depends on the dosage, time of day taken, etc). One good thing is that using your xpap therapy helps to stave off high blood pressure, and even some breathing problems like CHF. As a matter of fact, the main effective treatment for CHF in the field is CPAP application, to drive those fluids out of the lungs. Best wishes on your treatment.

I've been taking HCTZ for a few years now and don't know if it has a direct impact on OSA, but I doubt it. As for getting up at night, since starting BiPAP in October, I haven't been to the bathroom at night even once! I take my HCTZ in the morning, so by night, the urge isn't as great anymore...

tvmangum wrote:My local cardiologist started me on a new drug due to SOB and other heart releated issues. Does anyone know if HCTZ, hydrochlorothiazide, has any impact on sleep apnea? I can't really find anything and figured that someone here would know the answer. Of course, it might make me get up more during the night to go to the bathroom but I'm taking it in the morning so hopefully that will not be the case.

TIA for any insight.

Hi, tvm. I'm on HCTZ (along with Atenolol for BP) and take it the morning. Haven't noticed any effect from it on my sleep. I usually make one trip to the bathroom at night, sometimes none. (Pre-therapy, I was going 3-4 times a night.)

This is a very common prescription for hypertension as mentioned... and is a diuretic. So, it could affect you in the need to urinate more frequently, but I think that your body typically gets used to that and you go back to normal after a while on it. I was on this for a while, but it lowered my potassium levels so much that they could not get it to normal levels even with 4 big horse pills of potassium a day, so they took me off of it. I'm sure they'll be monitoring your potassium once you're on it--everyone's body reacts differently to meds.

I am on it too. I take it at night. The idea of taking a diuretic before a 45 - 60 min bus/subway commute is not good.
Also when I first took it in the am it made me nauseous. Morning sickness and the need to pee does not appeal to me.

It hasn't made any effect on my sleep.

I take Maxzide which is a combo diuretic. I take it when I eat b'fast. In my case, it washes out potassium along with other minerals so I have to drink low-sodum V8 & eat lots of parsley (both loaded with potassium). Also gotta take supps of magnesium, eat several ozs of cheese/day, and take horse-sized multiples to replace what it washes out . However, that said, it works!

I take Diovan HCT for hypertension, which is a combo drug that includes HCTZ. It does make you pee more in general, but I never ever wake up at night. You should be fine on it, but you do need to watch your potassium levels. Luckily, the other drug in my combo actually spares potassium so it kind of balances that out. Still, I eat potassium-rich foods, take a multivitamin and a magnesium supplement.

Because HCTZ removes fluids from your tissues, theoretically, it may actually help your therapy slightly by shrinking flab in the throat. But perhaps this is being offset by the flab being firmer.

I took HCTZ for a few years, and it is very effective (and safe). However, it interacts with allopurinol (for gout), which made me prone to a lot more gout-like pain than I should have had. Blood pressure has been much harder to control without it. Luckily, CPAP plus weight loss should finally solve this problem. My long term hope is that I will be able to discontinue everything i take except allopurinol (and I have already been able to reduce the dose by 50 percent, even with a meat-rich diet).