Excessive Yawning?

[SilentSong101]

Just a question for you guys....has anyone else here always yawned, a lot? I always figured my excessive yawning was due to tiredness, even though I would do it so incredibly much even after getting 9 hours of sleep a night. I also noticed the other day that I wasn't yawning any more...since surgery I only yawn when its getting late in the day and I'm actually sleepy. This is good haha - I used to get in trouble for yawning too much when I was in school haha.

Anyone else yawn more often than the rest of the people in their lives?

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum.

I am going to assume, which I do not like...but I will for now that u were DX'd with Chiari?...and that u have not had surgery yet? If that is the case that things not working like they should is pretty typical for Chiari...so that would explain it.

What other symptoms or issues r u having?

[scarymary66]

well I am truly confused, as I yawn when I'm cold lol

any suggestions ??

[SilentSong101]

Lol we should all conduct an experiment...haha!

[MommyofTwo2008]

It's funny, but yes I yawn a lot! I never really noticed any difference between the hot and cold theories, but I don't really pay attention that much. It may be true though because my head and neck always feel very warm even when the rest of me is cool, and I still yawn regardless. So it could be something we chiarians do to lower our brain temps? Very interesting to think about though. Something else for the researchers to look into :P

[selmaS]

  Well I had surgery and I was still yawning like crazy...lately tho my DH has the AC jacked up so it is cooler in here and I am cold, so I do not yawn as much, when I read the article I thought could this really help?...lol...not sure, if I could handle cold or ice packs on my skin I would experiment with it...

[SilentSong101]

Hmm....that is interesting....very interesting....I would be interesting to do an experiment to see if sometimes our brains get cooler after surgery...haha! Crazy....bizarre...hmmm...

[Red_Star]

I thought it was interesting too. I rarely yawn. I am blaming my hypothyroidism since that lowers body temperature. :)

[Viva001]

Yes, the masseuse avoided the area, intuiting inflammation or "something".  I was impressed!

[selmaS]

  I also saw the report or article on this and thought like u did and they did say that is a common misconception, yawning is not a lack of oxygen ...when in fact it is temp related...try sitting in a cooler room, or use a cool cloth on ur forehead and back of ur neck see if it helps.....

Well we do have to be careful with massage, as they can be too rough with our neck....so be advised, to ask them to be gentile in that area.

[Viva001]

That's really interesting!  (my guess would've been to force more oxygen into the body).

I had a massage a few months ago, and the masseuse said that she felt heat coming from my neck & the back of my head.  We've all had so much skepticism & misdiagnoses, maybe when all else fails we should get a massage.

[Red_Star]

Chiari surgery may have lowered your brain temperature. Fits in well with the newer yawn hypothesis. :)

Excerpt from "Why We Yawn" WebMD

"Sept. 23, 2011-- Why do we yawn?

All humans yawn. So do most vertebrate animals. Surely it serves some useful function. But what that might be has puzzled scientists throughout the ages.

Now a series of experiments suggests a surprising reason for yawning. It cools the brain, says Andrew C. Gallup, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University.

"We have collected data on rats, parakeets, and humans. All the data supports the brain-cooling hypothesis," Gallup tells WebMD."