Can Your Morning Headaches Be The Result Of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is when you have several repetitive episodes of upper airway obstruction that occur during sleep, usually associated with a reduction in blood oxygen saturation. In other words, the airway becomes obstructed at several possible sites.

The upper airway can be obstructed by excess tissue in the airway, large tonsils, a large tongue and usually includes the airway muscles relaxing and collapsing when asleep. Another site of obstruction can be the nasal passages. Sometimes the structure of the jaw and airway can be a factor in sleep apnea.

Some Of The Risk Factors For Sleep Apnea:

• Excess weight. Fat deposits around your upper airway may obstruct your breathing. However, not everyone who has sleep apnea is overweight.
• High blood pressure (hypertension). Sleep apnea is not uncommon in people with hypertension.
• A narrowed airway. You may inherit a naturally narrow throat. Or, your tonsils or adenoids may become enlarged, which can block your airway.
• Being male. Men are twice as likely to have sleep apnea as women are. However, women increase their risk if they’re overweight, and the risk also appears to rise after menopause.
• Being older. Sleep apnea occurs two to three times more often in adults older than 65.
• Family history. If you have family members with sleep apnea, you may be at increased risk.
• Use of alcohol, sedatives or tranquilizers. These substances relax the muscles in your throat.
• Smoking. Smokers are three times as likely to have obstructive sleep apnea than are people who’ve never smoked. Smoking may increase the amount of inflammation and fluid retention in the upper airway. This risk likely drops after you quit smoking.

Since I was a non-obese female in my early 50’s, who didn’t smoke or use alcohol with low blood pressure and no family history perhaps this is why it took 2 M.D.’s, 2 Chiropractors and 3 neurologists over 7 years to figure out that I had sleep apnea.  The lesson here is when you know there is something wrong keep searching till you find the cause.

For years I suffered with migraines, many of them prompting me to go to the emergency room. While many of my headaches were during my menstrual cycle I assumed they were all due to hormones.  But many of my severe headaches would happen to me when I woke up early in the morning.

Anyone who has experienced migraines knows that the pain usually builds to a higher intensity as time goes on. This fact would have me running to the emergency room as soon as I got up.  I missed my share of work days because of having to come home and spend the rest of the day in bed after they gave me demerol or some other strong drug.

Like most family doctors mine sent me to a neurologist. After a couple of tests the neurologist concluded I had migraines (no kidding) and decided to treat them with Neurotin. My terrible experience with Neurotin is a whole article in itself, needless to say it was a really bad experience.  When I called to complain, I was forwarded to an answering machine and didn’t hear from anyone for three days. Due to the extreme side effects that I experienced from Neurotin,  three days later, I threw the pills away and that was the last time I ever returned to that neurologist.

After suffering for another couple of  years with my headaches I decided to try another neurologist. He decided it must be a food allergy and had me keep a diary of what I eat. I asked him if it was something I ate why do I wake up with the headache everyday. I also asked him if it was possible it was a sleep disorder. While I didn’t really fit the profile for sleep apnea ( see above for risk factors), I guess he just figured that it couldn’t be that. After several visits I decided he was not going to be any more helpful to me than the first neurologist was, so I never seen him again either. 

In the meantime, I always believed in chiropractic care and went more than a few times hoping my headaches were a misalignment or something, but while chiropractic helped other conditions I had, my headaches kept coming.

After a few more years of morning headaches, which included more emergency room visits,  I decided to try another neurologists. During the initial visit I asked him if he thought it could be a sleep disorder. He thought for a second and said, “Well, let’s find out,” and he then ordered a sleep study.

A sleep study (polysomnography) is a test done in a sleep lab to diagnose, or rule out, many types of sleep disorders including narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome, REM behavior disorder, parasomnias, and sleep apnea.  After the test was completed and I returned to the neurologists, he informed me that I did indeed have sleep apnea.  Since the test was so many years ago I can’t remember the exact number of times that he told me  I would stop breathing every hour, but I believe it was over 30 times. This fact created a low oxygen level in my brain which caused the severe morning headaches.

I can’t believe how happy I was to find out that I had  finally found the reason for all my morning headaches. I asked him if it was O.K. if I hugged him. He most likely thought I was a little strange but I didn’t care. Maybe know that I knew the reason I could actually do something to stop the headaches.

I decided early on I couldn’t use the c-pap machine so I elected to have surgery. The most common surgery for sleep apnea is the uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, or UPPP procedure, which was what I had. UPPP is intended to enlarge the airway by removing or shortening the uvula and removing the tonsils and adenoids.  While success rates for sleep apnea surgery are rarely higher than 65% and often deteriorate with time, averaging about 50% or less over the long term, to me it was my only option. I just couldn’t sleep with that mask on my face every night.

Initial results were good I stopped having daily morning headaches.  My surgery has been over 6 years ago and I do have occasional morning headache again but they have never been the extent they were before the surgery so I think it still was a good choice for me.

If you think you have sleep apnea, don’t be afraid to ask the doctor to test you. If he says no, and you continue with symptoms just find someone who will actually listen to you. No one should suffer for years with sleep apnea or any other medical condition.

To A Great Night’s Sleep!