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        New Message Board Archives >> 2005 Cluster Headache Specific Posts >> Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
        
(Message started by: Spike_Inmyeye on Dec 19^th, 2005, 10:03pm)

Title: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
Post by Spike_Inmyeye on Dec 19^th, 2005, 10:03pm

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.

Title: Re: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
Post by Barry_T_Coles on Dec 19^th, 2005, 11:47pm

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

Title: Re: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
Post by Karla on Dec 20^th, 2005, 11:17am

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.

Title: Re: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
Post by Bob P on Dec 20^th, 2005, 11:20am

Here are some studies:
http://www.ouch-us.org/chgeneral/apnea.htm

Title: Re: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
Post by Spike_Inmyeye on Dec 20^th, 2005, 4:22pm

Thank you. That was very helpful!

Title: Re: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
Post by Dave on Dec 20^th, 2005, 8:51pm

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.

Title: Re: Apnea = Cluster Headache ????
Post by mcf69 on Dec 20^th, 2005, 10:37pm

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.