Blood Pressure

Lots of BP drugs out there--lots of side effects.
Good to monitor & check with doctor on what changes to alert to.
If you're lucky, maybe you can eventually reduce the drug list--fingers crossed--(with doc's blessing, of course).
This sounds like a good thing. . .
I think one of mine is making my right ankle slightly swollen.
'Hey doc, when can I ditch this stuff?'

rosacer, et. al...................

I again suggest that there are TWO seperate reasons for your high blood pressure, only ONE of which is sleep apnea related. That is my understanding.

The reason that your blood pressure rises with sleep apnea, etc., is that blood oxygen saturation drops as a result of the affliction. Low blood oxygen saturation = high blood pressure. Period. End of story. Cure the sleep apnea or treat it so that your AHI = 0 and your high blood pressure from THAT PARTICULAR CAUSE ONLY is eliminated and it is FAST. Overnight virtually. Gone. Normal. Cured. The fact that you are taking medication to control blood pressure is like trying to stop a firehose with a thimble....

There must be another reason that you have high blood pressure that is unrelated to sleep apnea, etc., and curing the sleep apnea, etc., and getting your blood oxygen saturations back up into the mid nineties is going to help but is unlikely to cure THAT high blood pressure. THAT high blood pressure is going to be helped because your liver is working better (as are all of your other vital organs) now and as a result the efficacy of your BP medications and physiology in keeping BP down is going to improve somewhat.

Don't expect miracles. Most GP's have little or no idea as to the cause and effect of sleep apnea - if it cannot be cured with a pill, they will refer you to a specialist who has further knowledge in the area. And don't expect a whole lot from them as they are far too busy to spend valuable time with you beyond what is necessary to diagnose and attempt to treat your affliction.

You need to become your own advocate. Know the medications you are on and ask questions. Why am I on this medication? When will I come off this medication. What has caused this? How can I resolve this? If you are not asking these questions you are not ever going to know where you stand and what to do about it. It is that simple. Really. You MUST be your own advocate and ask questions. ASK QUESTIONS.

Good luck to you. It is an uphill battle but one that you MUST undertake. Your high blood pressure is very likely not entirely caused by sleep apnea. High blood pressure as a result of sleep apnea generally disappears once the sleep apnea, etc., is treated and it disappears overnight generally. It also generally makes its appearance during the time that your blood oxygen saturation is low, asides from the liver thing.

I could be wrong. I'm no doctor. But I can tell you that my BP skyrockets with low SaO2 but regardless, its general situation is to reside slightly on the high side and is well treated with medication on that end. The medication does very little or nothing to control the skyrocketing BP that is the immediate result of low SaO2. Why not suggest this to your MD and ask his opinion? Should be an eye opener.

rosacer wrote:I have a question:

Telle said she has moderated BP and she is taking medications for that. If the BP is controlled on this moment by the medications she is taking, how is she going to notice if the BP becomes normal as a result of the OSA treatment?

I agree she should measure her BP with a machine at home to ensure her pressure is controlled, but still how is she going to know if the xpap is controling the pression or the medication is doing it.

I'm in the same situation, but I think my BP is not improving with the xpap. I have been on a good OSA treatment for at least 5 months and I see no change on my BP, if I stop the calcium-channel-blockers my BP goes up. Somebody told me I would never be able to stop BP medications, is there a reason for that like an addictive think? Why not if the BP becomes normal? In that case is the BP going to be too low with the use of medication?

Again, monitor and record your blood pressure. Ask questions of your doctor and ask for a referral to a specialist if you are not happy with his/her answers. Understand that high blood pressure caused by OSA/etc., is going to be reduced by effective treatment of same. It will disappear almost overnight inversely proportional to your SaO2 I believe. The BP meds may have some small effect on it but generally, I believe, the OSA treatment is going to be 'the cure'. As to continued high blood pressure; there are numerous causes for high BP and sleep apnea and its affiliates are only one small (but major) contributor. It is all those OTHER causes that need to be addressed and MD's are generally hesitant to give patients bad news when a pill is so much easier to give. Arteriosclerosis is a great contributor as we grow older and our arteries get smaller.... like taking the water volume being put through a fire hose and putting it through a garden hose.... all of a sudden you have a pressure cleaner, right? Same deal with blood being put through smaller arterial channels. It flows, assuming a healthy heart, with greater pressure. And so on.

Good luck.

BTW, I purchased a used Accutor 4 on eBay for about $125 a couple of years ago... it has a cuff, digital readout, records, etc. Dead accurate and automatic... you can set it to take your BP every 5 min or every 5 hours. I think what it is going to show you is that your BP skyrockets when your SaO2 drops but that the baseline is still marginally high due to other causes as I mentioned. My guess only. My situation too. Much time spent on research, study and equipment. Your first chore is to get the OSA/etc. under good control with an AHI under 1.0 (good target) and hypopneas or desaturations down to normal. Then what you are dealing with is residual high blood pressure that pills are going to help. It is not a simple issue.

torontoCPAPguy.. I believe I was very careful with my language to not imply that I was expecting with 100% certainty that CPAP would bring my blood pressure down. I know full well that my sleep apnea MAY be a cause, but there may be other causes as well.

What I wanted to know was IF the apnea was the primary cause, how long would it take before it would have a significant affect on my blood pressure. I believe in responses people said that they saw a change within a few weeks to a couple of months. This doesn't match up well with your response of "immediately". Do you happen to have any links to any medical studies or other documentation that back up your claim?

I need to know what time frame to expect because IF my sleep apnea is the root cause of my increased blood pressure, then when/if it comes back down to the normal range, continuing to be on meds that lower my blood pressure could push me into the low range. As it is I've been on CPAP for a little over a week and I noticed twice yesterday when I stood up I immediately got very dizzy. This could by a symptom of low blood pressure, or could just be a fluke. But if it is a symptom of low blood pressure, I don't want to be waiting until my physical in February to find out for sure.

Telle wrote:As it is I've been on CPAP for a little over a week and I noticed twice yesterday when I stood up I immediately got very dizzy. This could by a symptom of low blood pressure, or could just be a fluke. But if it is a symptom of low blood pressure, I don't want to be waiting until my physical in February to find out for sure.

I can't wait for that to happen, as I have had "creeping numbers" for the past year and take a mild diuretic for it. How about calling your doc's office and asking for a BP check? Yes, there is a charge but it can be done by a nurse or assisant and you don't need to see the doc. The dizziness could be low blood pressure, a fluke, or something else....no sense waiting until February.

L

I can't comment on a lot of the above, but I can share my experience.

My sleep study was recommended by my cardiologist after after 2 months on three (3) combines BP meds and increases of dosages did not make by BP go down (was regularly 160/100).

Less than 3 weeks after I started VPAP, I was at the doctors, and my BP was down to 110/60, I now only take 2 BP meds (At the lowest dose) now it runs regularly 120/70, I was told if it stays down for another couple months, I can try dropping one of the other meds and see how it goes.

Been on VPAP for 60 days, lost 10 lbs, no other changes.

Geoff

Telle, If you purchase a B/P cuff/machine and monitor your B/P and see that it is dropping then you would want to contact your MD to see if medication changes would be appropriate. This would then give you an idea that your hypertension may be caused by OSA. I don't think you can put a time frame number on how long it would take for your B/P to come down. You have to consider if your treatment is effective or does it need some tweaking so that it is effective and then when you feel treatment is controlling your apnea is it lowering your bloodpressure. Everyone is different as to how long this may take. Good Luck!

rosie

I have High blood pressure and have been using cpap for 6 weeks. I noticed my blood pressure dropping after about a month( even after crackin' the coconuts of lawbreakers!). Give it a chance. Before long your blood pressure will start down.

Sheriff Buford

I went back thru my records, and my bp went down much faster than I thought..

it wasnt a couple months, it was more like a few weeks..


Mine was obviously caused by osa, as I never took the bp drugs the doc gave me, because I thought she was an idiot,
now I know she is an idiot. (long story)




If I did take them, I dont know what might have happened, I might have ended up with very low bp...