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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2003 >> Off meds and feeling good!
        
(Message started by: headpain on May 8^th, 2003, 9:31pm)

Title: Off meds and feeling good!
Post by headpain on May 8^th, 2003, 9:31pm

I went to a new neurolgist a few months ago. I suffer from chronic cluster/migraines. Despite the fact that I don't snore much and I am not signicantly overweight, he sent me for a sleep study. It turns out that I have mild sleep apnea. My oxygen level dropped many times during the night and I woke up each time. I then had a second study wearing a CPAP machine and I did not desaturate (my oxygen levels were good). I have been using CPAP for over a month now and I have been able to stop all preventatives. I've only had to take imitrex about 3 times in the past month to abort headaches.

If you suffer from chronic headaches then ask your doctor to do a sleep study! There is a medical study linking sleep apnea and cluster headaches. I read it when it first came out but didn't have the study done because I didn't snore. Don't make the same mistake. Good luck! :D

Title: Re: Off meds and feeling good!
Post by Nathan on May 9^th, 2003, 4:46am

uhhhh.... i snore hard enough to pull the paint off the walls and have had cronic chs for 3 1/2 years. your telling me theres a connection??? tell me more, please! do you have a website to this study?

Title: Re: Off meds and feeling good!
Post by Nathan on May 9^th, 2003, 4:48am

ps, whats a cpap machine?

Title: Re: Off meds and feeling good!
Post by brewcrew on May 9^th, 2003, 3:24pm

CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. I have severe sleep apnea, diagnosed in Dec. 2002, and have been on a CPAP at night ever since.

Just so happens that I started in on another cluster cycle within days of starting on the CPAP. I was hoping like hell to see a connection between the two, but it hasn't emerged for me.

Sure am getting much more restful sleep now, though. Don't feel like a walking zombie anymore. I was actually waking myself up an average of 88 times an hour to initiate breathing, which does wonders for one's outlook - NOT.