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Topic: Apnea = Cluster Headache ???? (Read 2459 times) |
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Spike_Inmyeye
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Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
« on: Dec 19th, 2005, 10:03pm » |
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I don't know if this is bullshit or not, and generally I am pretty good at figuring out the bullshit. I had a sleep study performed a few weeks ago and was told that I had "obstructive sleep apnea." Yes, another thing to worry about as I get older. At any rate the neuro who interpreted the test told me that my oxygen levels were quite low when I slept and accounted for a number of symptoms I had including cluster headaches. He said my o2 level was low about 90 minutes after I went to sleep. This corresponds nicely to when I would get a CH. He also said that this was why when I used o2 as an abortive it would raise my level and eliminate the CH. OK, this made sense but why didn't I have CH all the time? He said that the lower o2 was a good trigger when I was in a cycle but may not trigger a CH when I was out of cycle. Which leads me to conclude that the CH will wake me up to keep me from going brain dead when my o2 gets low. Unfortunately there are those times when I am not in cycle where my brain cells are allowed to burn out! He concluded by telling me that 80% of people with CH have sleep apnea (I have mentioned this in a post some time ago) and this was a common problem. So is the neuro full of it or has anyone else had this experience? Thanks.
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"If you can treat it over-the-counter it isn't a headache"
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Barry_T_Coles
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Re: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
« Reply #1 on: Dec 19th, 2005, 11:47pm » |
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Hi Spike
I wouldn’t want to prove or disprove your Neuro; a lot of people suffer from sleep apnoea but don’t get clusters.
One of the guys I work with suffers badly with SA and the only headache he knows is wine induced, this guy suffers so badly that other people have to sleep well away from him because of his snorting & snoring that it keeps them awake.
I had SA for a while some years ago but it simply went away after a couple of years.
The lack of sleep I endured through the last cycle I think was just that I was shit scared that I was going to hit as soon as I fell asleep so my own self conscious was depriving me of sleep not apnoea or the eventual cluster that I would have around 2 am.
Probably not been much help to you but then again we are all different in the way these things effect us.
Kind Regards
Barry
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| « Last Edit: Dec 19th, 2005, 11:48pm by Barry_T_Coles » |
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Karla
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Re: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
« Reply #2 on: Dec 20th, 2005, 11:17am » |
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I had sleep studies done and I do NOT have sleep apnea. So how do you explain my ch? My Dad has sleep apnea real bad but no ch. How do you explain that? The gurus of ch have said ch is caused by a brain defect. Maybe your apnea triggers your ch but is not the cause of it.
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| « Last Edit: Dec 20th, 2005, 11:18am by Karla » |
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Karla
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Bob P
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Re: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
« Reply #3 on: Dec 20th, 2005, 11:20am » |
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Here are some studies:
http://www.ouch-us.org/chgeneral/apnea.htm
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Spike_Inmyeye
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Re: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
« Reply #4 on: Dec 20th, 2005, 4:22pm » |
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Thank you. That was very helpful!
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Dave
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Re: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
« Reply #5 on: Dec 20th, 2005, 8:51pm » |
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Very interesting. I've pondered this one and there may be some connection.
But if I had to guess, I would veer toward sleep apnea being more of a red herring than a cause. It might be a trigger, but you can definitely get plenty of cluster headaches without having interrupted breathing.
There are numerous cures for sleep apnea, and I do not think they stop cluster headaches. Low tech approaches are sleeping on your side (not your cluster side), breathe-right strips, and decongetsants.
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mcf69
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Re: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
« Reply #6 on: Dec 20th, 2005, 10:37pm » |
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Although there is an interesting link between apnea and CH I can tell you from personal experience having the apnea treated doesn't have any effect on the CH's I had a sleep study, they found I have apnea and my O2 levels crash, I had the apnea corrected with a cpap machine, and I'm still getting CH. It does help tremedously with sleep when I'm not in cycle though, so that is a huge plus.
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