"You don't mention whether you have a humidifier on your CPAP machine. I think that would help a lot."
Sleep Apnoea Forum Bringing Help + Support to the Patient
Muscle Cramps Bladder, Gerd + Body Temperature
This is another post from Dr. Calilung (the dentist who is a fellow CPAP user and treats his mild sleep apnoea sufferer patients with mouth guards/mandibular devices). I've been talking to him on Facebook about why people get muscle cramps etc. He says:-
"Here is the flow of my thoughts on muscle cramping - not just in the calf and foot area but generalized muscle cramping, plus some other issues.
- Your brain detects low oxygen levels in the blood and the only friend it has to mitigate the problem is the heart. Just to make the math simple lets assume the oxygen level is around 50% (fatal in real life). The heart would have to pump twice as much blood to the brain in half the time to get the original 100% oxygen saturation.
- Pulse rate would rise and volume of blood flowing to the muscles would also rise as well. Muscles are very good at doing one thing- contracting. That's what muscles do! In effect, your muscles have just run a marathon at night when your oxygen levels go down and the pulse and blood flow goes up.
- Similar issues with other internal organs are affected as well as the hypothalamus.
- The kidneys have to filter more blood as a result and thus has to fill the bladder more often and therefore your frequent bathroom visits at night.
- The stomach as well suffers and the increased blood flow is confused as a signal for the stomach to do what it is supposed to do. Digest food using stomach acids---> then issues with acid reflux/GERD.
- The Hypothalamus controls temperature control and proteins in the blood and is one of the factors that tell it to either cool things down or warm things up. I suspect that the HOT and COLD sweats as night is a result of the increased pulse and blood flow
All these above...I suspect is from OSA . Proof? how many of you have decreased the number of bathroom visits since you are on your CPAP. No more GERD? and decreased muscle cramping? No more cold/hot night sweats? you get the picture. All the best of health to all"
You can find Dr. Calilung on his Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dental-Arts-of-Irvine/138692856317070
Views: 476
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Judith-Ann Wardlaw on
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I have had cramp in my legs for about 30 years. Since I have been using the CPAP not a single cramp except one night that I fell asleep without my machine turned on.
Thank you for this information it makes a lot of sense to me.
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Permalink Reply by Kath Hope on
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Me too Judith, and I used to have them when I was young too, which my Mum put down to being linked with growing pains. None for me since CPAP either.
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