Sleep Apnea and Alcoholic beverage Consumptions

My husband has found that one drink a few hours before bed won't affect his AHI, but two or more OR drinking right before going to bed will take his AHI from 1ish to 2.5-3ish. I'm sure people are different. I tracked his with the journal section of Sleepyhead to find the correlation.

Between diagnosis and beginning treatment, he did not have any.

Don't think I don't know where this thread is goin'... I want everybody to line up against the wall, hands on the the wall and spread em'. Is there anything that will stick, poke or cut me? mmm?

You folks are getting radical. I find myself sayin' this more and more...

Sheriff

2 beers every Thursday on Pizza night has not affected my AHI at all.

As a very light drinker, and maybe once a month, I would still never move to a dry state!

I am a very light drinker. I track my data with SleepyHead and keep notes in the software. I do notice that when I drink an ounce of wine or a bottle of beer with dinner, my AHI is higher; every time.

So... I am limiting my consumption of alcohol.

Phil_in_CA wrote:I am a very light drinker. I track my data with SleepyHead and keep notes in the software. I do notice that when I drink an ounce of wine or a bottle of beer with dinner, my AHI is higher; every time.

So... I am limiting my consumption of alcohol.

Why limit your drinking? As I see it, you are making a good case for drinking at breakfast...

Super easy question: Everybody is different.

Some can handle a few drinks (or a lot of drinks) and others get their metabolism and sleep therapy all messed up. Age, blood chemistry, medical issues, diet, exercise habits, daily meds??? Who knows what causes the vastly different reactions?

To me "drunk" feels "sick".

I usually have a couple of drinks in the evening, done a couple of hours or more before I go to bed, and doesn't seem to affect my AHI one way or the other. I guess that it is pretty individual, you need to find out for yourself (if you care *smile*).

So what is the consensus to this OP? That there is no one-size-fit-all approach when it comes determining whether alcohol affects one's sleep Apnea or not. Correct?

mcpascaln wrote:So what is the consensus to this OP? That there is no one-size-fit-all approach when it comes determining whether alcohol affects one's sleep Apnea or not. Correct?

IMO, After following this thread and reading through it again I would have to say you are correct. There is no one-size-fits-all. Just like most of the things that we need to do and the equipment that we need to use to treat our Sleep Apnea.

I know alcohol would affect my husband's apnea cause I could hear it (more than two glasses of wine) - Snoring was worse and I would hear him breathe out but not inhale. It wasnt until he had a minor stroke that the neurologist was able to convince him to get a cpap. He asked the neurologist (at my proding) how many drinks he could have. The neurologist said one for your brain. Then he asked the cardiologist how many he could have and he said two for your heart. The pulmonologist said NONE. So he figures one for your brain plus two for your heart and none for breathing equals three. The more he drank, the worse it was.

My BF says if you consume alcohol earlier in the day, it will be wore off by the time you go to bed so drink withlunch if you must drink.

This was interesting

http://sleepdisorders.about.com/od/caus ... -Apnea.htm

My breathing is definitely worse with alcohol. My AHI goes up.

I've been looking at this for a while. and found that 1 1/2 glasses of PInot Noir improves, yes improves SAO2 levels. I think it''s the riboflavonoids(or whatever).
Early on the advice was that alcohol is bad. It is a CNS and Respirtory depressant

But as you can tell from the other posts, it's not always bad for everyone. And if you believe the "statistics" (Oh, this is going downhill), "moderate" alcohol use "is associated with" (Ahem) longer life. So, the health folk are just having a fit over whether to advise people to drink alcohol.

Clearly an untreated apneic should not drink alcohol. The problem is that people generally don't know they are apneic. So, whereas they shouldn't, and everyone advises them not to,...they do.

But if a person is successfully on CPAP, the machine probably adjusts for whatever extra depressant effecty that moderate alcohol use might have. 1-2 drinks a day of riboflavonoids is probably good for you.
However, If you are so drunk that you puke in your mask (or put it on upside down), this is a problem.

I see you folks are tossin' around the alcohol effects on cpap, and I will say that everyone is different. I have refrained (as I do from a lot of posts) from making these remarks in this thread. I must say that alcohol is a big player influences the people I deal with on a daily basis. It ruins so many people's lives. Here comes the "only a few" or "I can handle it" or "we aren't talking about alcohol abuse" remarks. I'll never forget when I took my first sleep study, the technician kept asking me if I had any alcohol that day. I got a little frustrated at the question and asked him why he kept asking me that. He told me that I wouldn't believe how many people show up for a sleep test either drunk or have had a few. He made the statement as to why they cannot go one night without a drink! You don't know how many times I've seen so many family break ups and people ruining their lives and I've wished there was no alcohol. Only points to ponder and I'm sure I'll get the "I'm not like them", or "I can handle my alcohol" or "Its legal, so by goodness, I'm gonna' do it". That's ok... trust me... I hear it every day... after I've seen what it can do to so many lives, families and innocent people. Just sayin...

Sheriff

What is alcohol? It is a DRUG. Every drug has a side effect or interaction so you better do your homework. On a statin? What does the insert say about drinking alcohol with it? Taking ibuprofen? Have heartburn? The alcohol industry would have you believe that wine is a health food. Just remember when quoted the French paradox that while alcohol might help with heart disease, the French have higher rates of liver disease and esophageal cancer. Pick you disease.