Doctors Answers (2)
The only way to be certain that the sleep apnea is the cause of your high blood pressure is to use CPAP faithfully for awhile. If sleep apnea is the cause then the blood pressure should normalize in a few weeks. I would just assume that your sleep apnea is the cause of your high blood pressure as 50 percent of patients with sleep apnea have high blood pressure and 50 percent of patients with high blood pressure have sleep apnea. Both need to be treated regardless of the cause.
Sleep apnea is known to be an underlying cause of hypertension (high blood pressure). Therefore, you may find that your blood pressure will go down following adequate treatment of sleep apnea. If your blood pressure does go down, you may be able to reduce or discontinue antihypertensive medications. However, this must be monitored by your doctor, and you must make sure that you use your blood pressure medication according to his or her instruction.
