Answer: The most common cause of sleep apnea and diabetes is being overweight. You can't get diabetes from sleep apnea or vice versa. Sleep apnea can cause alot of health problems as can diabetes. My advice is find a good doctor and get cleared for a weight loss/exercise plan. If the weight is lost and a more healthy lifestyle is adapted both the diabetes and sleep apnea may go awayI am a 57 year old man who also has sleep apnea. Yes there is a good correlation between being obese and having sleepapnea but not all who suffer with this are obese. I know several women who are skinny and have this. According to mydoc sleep apnea makes trying to lose weigh a lot harder. I know that after starting treatment 5 months ago I have lost 14 lbs without dieting or more exercise. The Mendoza web page has a nice article on this.