Gerd, Asthma and Sleep Apnea

[Lisa1958]

I have read that if you control Sleep Apnea (recently diagnosed), you will likely control Asthma and GERD.  How are any of these related?  I can't seem to wrap my head around this.  I now have a CPAP but it is so uncomfortable, I'm not sleeping...guess that beats not breathing....but it isn't helping my asthma or GERD.  If I can figure out how to cohabitate with the CPAP, when will I see changes in my Asthma or GERD and at what point should I stop taking medicine for them?  Thanks.  

[National Jewish Health]

There is no guarantee that even effective continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) management of sleep apnea will "control Asthma" and quite unlikely that it will "control GERD".  What you describe is the ineffectual application of CPAP and that is unlikely to change anything.  There is good evidence to support the belief that adherence to effective CPAP can attenuate the bronchial hyperactivity, one of the major factors in the pathophysiology of asthma, and in turn improve asthma control.  Conversely, untreated sleep apnea is often associated with an increase in bronchial hyperactivity, with "twitchiness" of the airways and an increased propensity to contract.  Basically, if you can successfully treat your sleep apnea with CPAP, you are likely to experience a reduction in asthma severity and an improvement in asthma control.

There are significant benefits from effective therapy of sleep apnea, with reduction of the symptoms associated with it that result in markedly reduced quality of life and better asthma control and that is why you must find a way to make the CPAP not only tolerable, but effective, by working closely with the sleep lab technical support team.  When asthma improves, with better quality sleep, the improvement may be evident within days or weeks.  Until then you should work with your doctor, to develop a medical regimen that will result in optimum asthma control.