Comment

Comment by r36464 on February 8, 2009 at 12:39pm

So...what came first, the chicken or the egg. Getting a restful sllep is intensely important. The body physiology demands a recjuvenating period. I have both Type 2 diabetes, diagnosed 1 yr ago and severe sleep apnea diagnosed 6 yrs ago. Since the type 2 diagnosis, I have lost 50lbs, dropped 1 neck size and eat better and exercise more frequently. I used not not be able to sleep at all without my cpap and now I am able to fall asleep sitting up without immediately snoring. I have not been retested but I am sure I will not have as severe a case of sleep apnea.

I think one must be very careful to even hint that Type 2 diabetes causes obstructive sleep apnea. Type 2 diabetes can be prevented in many cases. To the person with pre-diabetes heed the warnings now. Exercise, lose weight, eat better. Do this to affect the diabetes and as a potential result you may lessen the severity of the sllep apnea.

Comment by Claude on February 8, 2009 at 12:09pm

All I know is that my blood glucose numbers dropped substantially and stabilized somewhat after starting the cpap quite a few years ago. I notice a big difference if I have a bad night on cpap with my numbers for the next few days.

Comment by Daniel on February 8, 2009 at 11:26am

A statement made in the original post takes a huge leap that is not part of the scientific studies.

"Essentially, Sleep Apnea causes... the development of insulin resistance" (please forgive my edit - it's not meant to twist words, but to clarify the causality statement).

It is completely unknown if sleep apnea causes diabetes, or if diabetes causes sleep apnea. Obviously, not everyone who has one has the other. These and other studies have shown a correlation, but never any causality. The same is true of hypertension. At best, scientific studies have shown a link between the two, and animal studies suggest that sleep apnea can cause hypertension, no scientist will ever state that sleep apnea causes hypertension in humans. The only way causality can be proven is if you intentionally give human subjects sleep apnea and see how many of them develop diabetes or hypertension. That kind of study will not happen.

And let's not forget co-morbid conditions. Perhaps obesity is one underlying cause of both sleep apnea and diabetes.

In conclusion, let's try to stick to the facts. People who have sleep apnea often have diabetes, and people with diabetes often have sleep apnea. We just don't know, and we are unlikely to ever conclusively know, if one causes the other.

Comment by Henning on February 8, 2009 at 7:16am

I think that most people with diabetes know the company Novo Nordisk. This is a very big Danish pharmaceutical company, who is a world leader in diabetes care. They also have established a foundation.

“The Novo Nordisk Foundation is a non-profit institution, whose formal purpose is to provide a stable basis for its company's operations and to make contributions to scientific, humanitarian and social progress.”

They have just donated a very large amount for scientific studies in sleep medicine here in Denmark.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page