sleep breathing disorder

[lina123]

dear dr
can the breathing disorder such as diviation of nasal septum,nasal congestion or sleep apnea cause the sever occipital headache or increase of blood pressure during the sleep?
thanks
lina

[Steven Y Park, MD]

Yes. You should check with your doctor about other possible causes of your headaches, but assuming that everything checks out, problems breathing while sleeping can definitely elevate your blood pressure and give your headaches.

[lina123]

thank you so much for your response.

[kurpal]

This is very interesting. I suffer from severe chronic daily head pain. It has been diagnosed as Migraine. I do also have severe sleep apnea and use a bipap. I have often felt that my lack of sleep causes the chronic part of the head pain. However, I use a bipap so I thought that meant I should be sleeping well. But I am not sleeping well. My last sleep study was 1 yr ago. The sleep specialist told me that they had to extend the study and additional 45 minutes because I didnt get into a deep sleep until the last 30 minutes. So if I am using a bipap and still not sleeping well, then what else can I do to sleep well?

Thanks for you assistance.