CPAP AND PARKINSONS/DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION

[JPGRANGERS]

I HAVE PARKINSONS AND I AM ALWAYS TIRED. I HAD DBS SURGERY APPROXIMATELY ONE YEAR AGO.
I WAS ONCE DIAGNOSED WITH HYPOPNEA AND UNSUCCESSFULLY TRIED CPAP APPROXIMATELY SEVEN YEARS AGO.
I AM CURIOUS IF ANYBODY OUT THERE THAT USED CPAP HAD DECREASED SYMPTONS OF PARKINSONS?
I AM WILLING TO TRY ANOTHER CPAP MACHINE IF ANYBODY HAS ANY SUGGESTIONS OR INFORMATION ON THIS SUBJECT.

[chunkyfrog]

At the very least, you could end up with more energy.
That alone could help greatly with your general feeling of well-being,
even if there were no change in PD symptoms.
There have been discussions on this forum about PD and CPAP
I think NOT using the cpap while suffering from Parkinsons would be a very bad idea.
A sufficient supply of oxygen visits the brain first--right where the PD lies.
The brain, I would think. needs the oxygen even more than without the disease.
If the brain doc does not know about the apnea--make sure he does.
If it's been a while, you may need further evaluation.
Let us know how it goes.

[avi123]

May I suggest that you check it with your Neurologist who I am sure is VERY familiar with Sleep Disorders and CPAPs.

[Mary Z]

I don't have Parkinsons, but Benign Essential Tremor and had DBS surgery three years ago. I also get botox injections for a yes-yes head tremor. From what I understand from discussions with my neurologist CPAP will not help with either condition. That said, if you need CPAP it will certainly help with problems related with Sleep Disordered Breathing. Of interest to me- I leave my DBS on 24/7 and tried turning it off at night for a week to see if it would influence my AHI. In one week it didn't and turning it off and on is so unpleasant I didn't continue the experiment.
If you have symptoms of sleep apnea by all means have a sleep test, but as someone suggested a consultation with a neurologist (and many are also sleep specialists) is in order. I wish you the best of luck.

[JohnBFisher]

I do not have Parkinson's, but I do have a neurodegenerative disorder known as Sporadic SCA (Spinocerebellar Atrophy). Just as with Parkinson's, it often results in problems with sleep (both abnormal sleep architecture and both obstructive and central sleep apnea .. dependent upon the area of the brain that is impacted).

So, I can answer you .. based on my own experience .. that treating problems with sleep does improve my symptoms. If I sleep poorly, then my symptoms are more pronounced the following day. If I sleep well, my symptoms are less pronounced. The correlation is almost one to one. I say almost because there is some "lag" between a bad night of sleep and the impact on my body .. depending on my own "reserves". (It can take a few days to recover from a few really bad nights ... and likewise, one bad night may not erode my abilities .. it may take a few bad nights to severely impact me).

Of course, this is just my experience. You may want to read the following for more specific information:

http://www.parkinson.org/NationalParkin ... 628543.pdf
http://www.everydayhealth.com/parkinson ... sease.aspx
http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/content/35/3/220.full

Hope that helps!

[chunkyfrog]

I have noticed that my BET is worse if my blood sugar is high.
Just another thing to watch.

[AMUW]

Sleep Apnea and Parkinson's are both multi-disciplinary diseases, have in common the neural control of the respiratory motor system, voluntary or involuntary during sleep stages, with coupling to the cardio-pulmonary system.
You may have a better chance of cross-correlation, i.e. getting relevant comments, by searching or addressing the DBS Surgery forum
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/DBSsurgery/ ... unfortunately, unlike a phpBB, Yahoo Groups only allows single word searches. But I seem to remember a dozen such posts: PD DBS recipients talking about OSA + fatigue + effect of weight gain... also about the positive effect of getting more sleep than pre-DBS.