Diabetes [Caused by Sleep Apnea?]

[zeeser]

Can sleep apnea cause diabetes ?

[Dog Slobber]

There is a correlation between OSA and being overweight.
There is a correlation between Type 2 Diabetes and being overweight.

I would guess there is also correlation between OSA and Type 2 Diabetes.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/type-2-di...onnection/

Though, I would not use the term cause for any of the above.

[mesenteria]

...some gain weight once they start PAP therapy!!  So, if they're circling the drain when they start PAP, they'll be sucked down it if they continue to gain weight with the therapy.   

Apnea puts stress on the 'system'.  A body under chronic stress has elevated levels of cortisol and diminished levels of Interleukin II.  This means diminished capacity and stamina, increased heart and liver disease, higher incidence of cancers, greater susceptibility to Herpes lesions, flue, and to colds, but also diminished ability to ward off, or to contend with, pneumonia and TB as but a few examples.

So, keep weight under strict control, get rest, use the PAP device as prescribed (and tweaked) to get that rest, and get out for modest aerobic exercise at least three times each week.  You won't live to 100 in all likelihood, but you'll go a long way with a much better experience if you can do all those three.

[zeeser]

Thanks for both of your thoughtful replies. I used the word cause because my understanding is as follows: when you stop breathing your body issues a lot of adrenaline which causes a huge increase in glucose which COULD eventually lead to diabetes.

[horsepower]

Nothing "Causes" diabetes. You are either born with the genetics to have it or not. There are certain things that will either suppress it or exacerbate it.  Especially type 2 diabetes... Eating sugary foods all the time will not give you diabetes if you do not have it... However, if you have it, and never eat sugary foods, you may never even know you have it... However, if you do have it, and eat sugar all the time, you will most likely have problems with it.

Type 1 diabetes is a different bird altogether... Usually if you have it at birth, you will always struggle with it.

[Mosquitobait]

Nothing "Causes" diabetes. You are either born with the genetics to have it or not.

This is not universally true, but this is a cpap board and I don't have access to the medical data.  Just know that you CAN develop diabetes even if you don't have the genes for it, but it is less likely that will happen. I only found out about that in the last year or so when I was diagnosed with type 1.5 (similar to type 1).

Ok, let's assume that you have the genes for diabetes. Cpap is not going to cause diabetes.  It is the other way around, in general, that diabetes causes an increased incidence of sleep apnea.  However, you can still get sleep apnea before you have diabetes having nothing to do with developing diabetes.

This study was published 9 years ago that looks at this issue.
http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/1/10

[zeeser]

Thank you for you thoughtful reply but I have my own theories here. You can start out perfectly healthy then years of undiagnosed OSA can overwhelm your pancreas leading to escalated blood glucose levels and diabetes. I think that is what happened to me. Foregoing humbly submitted for you consideration. Tom

[mesenteria]

Thanks for both of your thoughtful replies. I used the word cause because my understanding is as follows: when you stop breathing your body issues a lot of adrenaline which causes a huge increase in glucose which COULD eventually lead to diabetes.

Stress management was one of my professional areas of study and teaching prior to my retirement.  Stress causes the fight-or-flight response which is essentially nothing more than a big dollop of adrenalin being pumped into the blood by the adrenal glands.  Adrenalin is great when one really needs to flee...or to fight.  But it's meant only as a short-term, temporary, and brutish solution to an acute problem.  People with stressful lives live with somewhat elevated levels of adrenalin production, which also leads to chronically high serum cortisol, one of the by-products of adrenalin production.  Cortisol is a steroid.  


Glucose is NOT suddenly produced during a stress response because the body cannot produce it. Glucose comes solely from ingestion; from food and drink. 

Our bodies STORE glucose, or any excess, as glycogen...or as fat.  Glycogen is what your muscles use for energy.  

You can keep levels of glucose in the blood, but it signifies a poor response to insulin, that being the regulator of blood glucose levels.  If you have ready amounts of glucose in your blood past a certain level, it is at least a harbinger of diabetes...or it means you already have diabetes.

[Stemwinder]

I spend a lot of time as a site administrator on a diabetes forum, I am there every day, I can say that the true answer to this question is it depends on who you ask. 

As has been mentioned there are two types of diabetes, Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks its own pancreas, for Type 1 apnea definitely plays no role. No one know what causes this autoimmune attack but apnea it not the cause. 

I have never heard it said that apnea causes Type 2 diabetes or vice versa but I have been told by my own doctors that they exacerbate each other, they are both made worse by the same conditions and body types.  Even with that said not all people with type 2 are over weight and I will be willing to bet that with a show of hands we will find apnea sufferers on this site that are of normal bmi.  

My answer to this question is that no it does not but if you wish to improve both conditions work on what makes them worse.

[mesenteria]

...hence the term 'co-morbidity.'