Getting headaches in AM and middle of night

[Guest]

For the last few weeks, I have beeen waking up with headaches in the middle of the night or early morning. I checked my AHI and it's fine, nothing unusual there. I went to my sleep doctor and he says that CPAP does not cause headaches. I wonder if that's indeed true or they havent had enough evidence or studies to show this. I mean, who hasn't had a fan blowing at them directly for a lengthy period of time and not suffered a headache as a result?

My BP is now a little low around 115/68 and I am a male. Previously, when I didn't get headaches, my BP was 130/85. I am not on any meds.

Any thoughts?

[cflame1]

Why don't you register... tell us what equipment you have, and what kind of recent data numbers (AHI, etc.) that you've got?

[feeling_better]

Please see my earlier post viewtopic/t32391/NeckHeadache-possible- ... shion.html

BTW, the advantage you have of registering is that we know we are talking to the same person. There are many people as guests here and we do not associate subjects or conversations with that person. I really do not think this compromises any privacy. It is your call...

[like to stay anonymous]

Thanks, I use a public computer and I also have some cognitive impairment. I prefer not to register.

[Guest]

My headaches stopped after starting cpap therapy! I used to have them for a week at a time, that was the first thing I noticed after starting therapy and that my trips to the bathroom at nigh lessened, I used to get up anywhere fron 4-6 times a night and now it's 1 time a night!

Do you use a ceiling fan? Sometimes I will get a really bad headache while napping (if I don't use my cpap machine) oops!

Do you use a Heated Humidifier? That will help keep your nose moisturized and should help lessen the headaches, other than that you might need to go see your Primary Doctor to further investigate these headaches if they continue.

Goodluck as headaches are no fun!

SleepyNoMore

[like to stay anonymous]

I dont use a ceiling fan just an airpurifer that has no bearing of air on me. I do have a heated humidififer but I don't use it. I only use it as a "passive" humidifier in the summer months and just have water in it without additional humidification.

I wonder if I need maybe O2 supplementation? My sleep doc says he's satisifed with that my xPAP treatment is working. However, maybe he's wrong. Reading here, it seems that doctors have really big egos and like to think they're infallable.

[alnhwrd]

I had headaches during the first few months of CPAP. I attributed it to my sinuses adjusting to the treatment, and it has since passed. As much as I like to bash a bad doc, I don't like to lump them all into one group and point the "bad doc" finger at them. Lots of/most Drs are intelligent, caring, well educated and informed professionals dedicated to helping others. Unfortunately, we focus our attention overmuch on the few less than stellar ones. So your doc may not be off base. If you have the money and inclination, some people use a home oximeter to measure their O2 levels while they sleep, which would tell you if your blood oxygen level is really getting low. I think I would try adding some more humidity first though, and/or maybe some nasal rinses. Best of luck!

[bethtara]

Morning headaches can be caused by CO2 (carbon dioxide) retention. CO2 is the waste gas of respiration and needs to be got rid of. Patients who may retain CO2 are those who are obese and as a result hypoventilate (underbreathe), or those who have a respiratory disease.

I hope you haven't covered the deliberate leak on your mask which lets CO2 out?

[Country4ever]

Hi,
There are lots of other reasons to get headaches, besides CPAP and sleep apnea. How are your sinuses? You might have an infection. You also might be having a reaction to something you ate the day before. Any other medical conditions? On any meds that might cause headaches as a side-effect? Allergies can cause headaches too.
As was mentioned, using humidity with your CPAP is real important.

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): CPAP

[ozij]

For the last few weeks, I have beeen waking up with headaches in the middle of the night or early morning. <snip>

Any thoughts?

Treat them as headaches of unknown origin. Have yourself evaluated by qaulified, trustworthy professionals.

O.

[Gerald]

I'll place my bet on "High Blood Pressure" as the causative factor.

Further, I'll bet that the high BP is caused by a very high AHI.

If you're already using a CPAP machine, be sure you have one that'll allow you to have a detailed computerized print-out every morning.

If you can't get a CPAP machine that allows a computerized report, try to get your hands on a recording oximeter that'll give you a report on your O2 blood saturation levels all night.

Finally, my overall bet is that your O2 levels are too low during the night.....and your body is giving you fair warning....before it gives up and "resigns".

You'll do well to get some gauges on yourself to see what's happening.

Gerald

[lwg]

Am I missing something here? A blood pressure of 115/68 is not low...and 130/85 is only approaching high. ???

[Gerald]

Before I realized what was happening to me, my BP was spiking to 200 systolic in the middle of the night. During the day it was normal.

I didn't realize what was happening until I slapped on a BP cuff in the middle of the night.....immediately after a spike in BP woke me up.

Once I figured out what was going on, I got on the hose as quickly as possible. Problem over within 30 days.

Gerald

[Snoredog]

For the last few weeks, I have beeen waking up with headaches in the middle of the night or early morning. <snip>

Any thoughts?

Treat them as headaches of unknown origin. Have yourself evaluated by qaulified, trustworthy professionals.

O.

LOL!! you crack me up sometimes

[Snoredog]

well if they happen in the morning drink a cup of coffee or coke and see if that doesn't help.

You might try picking up some Excedrin "Migraine", special OTC version of Excedrin that has caffine in it, you could take that at night when the headache hits, performs the same function as having a cup of java in the morning (actually you get more caffine from the java vs pill).

My guess is:
Carryover migraine can be from rebreathing too much of your exhaled air during the night, if you are a shallow breather and/or have your machine pressure below 6.0 cm that can be expected, most masks need a minimum of 6.5 to flush out your exhaled CO2.

I would increase the Minimum pressure on the machine by 1 cm even if AHI appears normal. IF AHI goes UP after that 1 cm increase (especially AI/OA) then those are probably central apnea contained in the count and would explain the headaches, but I don't know what your pressure setting or range is.

Examine your mask closely, make sure the exhaust holes are OPEN, don't cornfuse the exhaust ports for the oxygen barb ports, the latter should have caps on them.

If this started happening after switching to the current mask, then I would suspect something wrong with the mask. So:

-check the mask
-check the Minimum pressure and increase by 1 cm and observ new AHI
-and get a new doctor

here ya go, and its really quite simple once you understand them, this explains them under my theory:
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=b ... dSerotonin

Blow up that neato cartoon of your Serotonin receptors, the brain controls blood flow by dialating and/or constricting the cerebral blood vessels and heart rate, as those blood vessels change size those receptors attached are like nerves they don't like to change shape, when that blood vessel changes shape those receptors create the migraine pain you feel (in simple terms). So by taking caffine which causes blood vessels to constrict (like nicotine from smoking) the pain goes away but blood flow is restricted. What causes those blood vessels to need to change size? Oxygen, not enough oxygen to the brain those vessels dilate to allow more oxygenated blood to get to the brain.

So look at your mask and pressure, something is shutting down the oxygen your brain needs during sleep, fix that and you get to the root cause of your migraines.

(Snoredog, he who used to have chronic migraines and auras on a weekly basis before OSA diagnosis and cpap and had to explain them to his quack neuro, its the oxygen stupid Give your brain the oxygen it needs and those vessels will return to normal size as shown on the left in the cartoon, when you get a migraine your cerebral vessels look like the one on the right, those branch trigeminal nerves with the serotonin receptors attached to the end do NOT like to stretch and so wholla migraine pain).

See like I said it is simple once you understand it.