I attended a web chat yesterday moderated by doctors who claimed to have seen blood glucose levels returned to normal when a diabetic patient who already had sleep apnea treated the sleep apnea with CPAP. thought this group would be interested in learning more.
I heard that getting a more restful sleep reduces insulin resistance. Maybe you’re on to something?
I do know that troubled sleep on a long-term basis leads to or at least worsens insulin resistance. For decades I did not sleep well, mostly for me because of sinus ickiness, and anxieties, but also snoring. I’ve had a c-pap for 3 years and the beautiful thing is it not only treats the snoring (meaning my husband sleeps better too) but it also chases away the sinus stuff. I can sleep like a baby even with a terrible cold or sinus infection! (I’m still sick and miserable the next day, but at least I sleep.) I call my c-pap my “magical sleep machine.”
But…at this point anyway, it doesn’t improve my blood sugars noticeably. I think if I’d been able to sleep like this years ago, though, it would have delayed or lessened my insulin resistance.
True that!
I have apnea and if I fall asleep without putting on my mask my BG is always much higher (80 to 90 with 120 and up without).
Never really thought about it until I read this and went back and checked.
I wouldn’t be surprised it this was true for some people. My sleep doctor told me that he has seen a definite correlation between diabetics and people with sleep apnea.
JNH,
Would you consider posting this result to the sleep apnea forum i’m running? http://www.sleepguide.com/forum
i think it would benefit a lot of the diabetics on my site to here this from you.
Mike
This is interesting. My onset of diabetes type 2 coincided with a diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnoea. I wonder if medical advice is skewed and other Doctors not aware of the connection. My GP upped the dosage of Metformin without reference to the CPAP machine, the setting for which might have been altered instead (?) You never know what the Practitioners are aware of and what they know nothing about! Something to do with increased oxygen in the blood-stream?
At my appointment with my endocrinologist, my doctor told me that I needed to go for a sleep study. I argued about it saying that everyone that I know that went for the study was told that they needed the CPAP machine. Is this coincidence or just the sign of the illness du jour. He assured me that he has sent patients for the testing that have not been given the machine. He said that determining whether I have sleep apnea and treating it is necessary to accurately assess my insulin needs. I think that the lack of sleep or poor sleeping effects the hormones that will then cause higher levels. So I am giving in to his wishes as I just started to use a pump and want to get it right
I think that poor sleep definetely is a downer for diabetes and may be even the cause in some cases. As far as sleeping with a CPAP machine you never know until uou try buy in my case it would be unlikely.
I had read that a high percentage of people with sleep apnea have T2…or was it that a high percentage of people with T2 have sleep apnea? I have T1 so didn’t remember the exact data…just the correlation. A friend has both and using the machine has not cured him of T2, but who knows how much worse his #'s would be if he wasn’t using it. Yes…it has been in the news a lot about lack of restful sleep and insulin resistance.
I can see empirically when I get a really poor nights sleep instead of just a poor one the BG control is much harder.
I have just returned from a visit to my Endocrinologist. He has suggested that I have a sleep study done as he suspects I have sleep apnea. I am Type 2, on an insulin pump, with an A1C of 6.4%. Can anyone explain a bit about a sleep study? I am claustrophobic and the thought of trying to sleep with a mask over my face really scares me.
Mayumi
Depends on where you are. Some places do use the mask even with the first test. That way if they find that you do have a problem they can adjust the pressure setting to determine how much pressure you need to stop the apneas.
i’ve been in for several sleep studies, and can tell you what to expect. feel free to private message, post to my wall, whatever… i’ll write back.
My father has sleep apnea and was miserable and ill prior to getting his bipap (cpap w/ o2 addition.) It has made him so much happier and able to enjoy life. Anyone who snores or has poor sleep should look into a sleep study.
And, it has been shown that lack of sleep does a lot of harm to the body I could see your body rhythms being disturbed to the point that it would throw off blood glucose levels.
absolutely. for anyone with any doubt about how much treating a sleep disorder can improve your life, check out this post on the sleep apnea forum about how CPAP treatment can improve one’s life
For me, when my primary doc referred me, the sleep study was covered. The CPap was partially covered, I had to pay a few hundred dollars for it, which was only a small portion of the actual cost. But worth it.