undiagnosed apnea causing widespread pain?

I've looked online and the symptoms of sleep apnea do not state widespread pain. However, tests have been done showing that anyone deprived of sleep can get widespread pain so i would have thought it was common.

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia (basically widespread pain) 2 years ago and had it every day since...that is until 5 weeks ago when the sleep specialist suggested I might have sleep apnea. I began propping myself up at night just to see what happened and I was cured of my pain overnight (besides a sore neck from the awqward position). I was diagnosed with apnea last week and should get my machine next week.

Please tell me if you experienced widespread pain prior to diagnosis. Surely I am not the only one? The doctor also thought it was strange that my symptoms disappeared just from sitting upright so I really don't think I actually have fibro. Please help me to work out if this is more common than it sounds.

thank you

I have widespread pain that has not been relieved by nearly four years of XPAP treatment. Of course, I have not been able to get good sleep for the last 4 years, either, so that might still be the problem.

Anything is possible, but I highly doubt sleep apnea causing widespread pain.

nudave wrote:Anything is possible, but I highly doubt sleep apnea causing widespread pain.

I think it's more that if you don't get any restorative sleep, your body can't heal. AT least, that is what my doctor told me.

For me, having to wear a mask that hurts and leaks keeps me awake enough that I never get good sleep, so every injury I've ever had still hurts.

Many members have reported a decrease in pain after starting xpap therapy, both for fibromyalgia and arthritis.

I had a lot of skeletal pain before starting CPAP--no specific diagnosis except that I've had bilateral frozen shoulders and my shoulder pain was the worst. My pain is down significantly with CPAP. I suffered for years with pain at about 7 on a scale of 10, all the time. Now, it's about 1 or 2 if at all, most of the time. My anecdotal experience is that CPAP helps pain issues a lot.

There is some connection with blood glucose levels (See Dr. Bernstein's Diabetic Solution) with weakened tendons and joint problems. Inasmuch as using CPAP helps the hormones that regulate your blood glucose and insulin levels, that might be part of the reason it can help with the skeletal pain.

OutaSync wrote:

nudave wrote:Anything is possible, but I highly doubt sleep apnea causing widespread pain.

I think it's more that if you don't get any restorative sleep, your body can't heal. AT least, that is what my doctor told me.

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I agree with this statment. I had acid reflux for years, I would get heart burn by just looking at food but it went away my first night on CPAP. I know though that this is not the case for everyone.

More likely the relief is from a reduction in acid reflux from sleeping upright, and with improved sleep comes better health. Jim

Goggle Avram Gold and UaRs. He talks about the relationship between URIS and functional somatic syndromes such as fibromyalgia, etc. He has published that predominately women experience Fibromyalgia as one symptom of an unstable upper airway. A vast majority of his patients responded to airway stabilization with major reduction in pain. Cpap or oral appliance can HELP!

The first priority of fibro treatment is to ensure good sleep. Even if apnea doesn't "cause" fibro, if both conditions are present, then treating the apnea certainly should reduce the pain.

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea as a result of insisting to my doc that I surely must have fibromyalgia. Since I am male, my doc thought I couldn't have it (wrong he is), but they wanted me to have a sleep study.

I've been on CPAP for almost a month now and my pain level improved almost immediately. I was never diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and I don't care since I feel soooo much better.

I was never formally diagnosed with fibro either, but I had most of the symptoms and all of the trigger points. It wasn't unusual for me to feel like I had the flu a couple days out of the month. I'd regularly pop advil just to cope with the aching. I mentioned fibro once to a doctor and he laughed, so I never worried about getting a doctor to agree with me. I've only been on CPAP for a week, and for me the difference was immediate. I wake up every morning feeling like I'm in a brand new body. I was told my sleep apnea was mild, but my body considers CPAP a major improvement. I didn't realize how bad I felt until I started feeling better. I hope the same is true for you, friend.