REM Headaches

[uriahsky]

Years of suffering from extreme headaches that usually always start in the morning and I think I am narrowing things down. I have eliminated many suspect causes but still I sometimes wake with a dull headache that gets worse throughout the day. Not nearly as bad as they used to be but it always happens like this.

I sleep real good for about four hours. I use the CPAP machine and I wake feeling fine. If I could survive on four hours I would be OK. But then when I fall asleep again and go into REM sleep where I have some deeper dreams I always awake from that with a dull headache forming.

I don't think it is sleep apnea because these headaches don't go away when I wake up they get worse and stay with me most of the day.

I don't think it is sinus related because the first four hours I wake feeling just fine with no sinus trouble at all.

I don't think it is food because I have eliminated all suspect foods and these headaches always start after REM sleep regardless of when I ate last.

I also stopped most all medication except for an occasional fraction of an Imitrex pill to help with the more painful episodes.

I can make these headaches worse by eating the wrong things and not drinking enough water and many other things but I can't seem to make them stop.

Anyone have any insights into this?

Has anyone resolved their morning headaches that are similar to mine and what did you do?
Thanks
Russ

[Babette]

Have you tried changing your pillow? I have to sleep on a very firm memory foam contour pillow, and that doesn't always eliminate the morning headaches for me.

In my case - I have the same problem - it's largely positional. I find as it gets colder, I tend to hunch my shoulders more, and "turtle" into my pillow, which inevitably causes headaches.

Try a new pillow. Try raising the ambient temperature in your room. Those two help me.

Good luck!
B.

[uriahsky]

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

My thinking on physical things like pillows or bedding or even allergies and other things is that if there was a problem with things like this why don't I experience it during the first four or five hour of sleep? After roughly this amount of time I wake up and feel perfectly fine. No neck pain or sinus trouble, or headache of any kind. I could go jogging if I really wanted to, but I know in an hour or two I will get so tired that I have to fall back asleep or the rest of the day i am wiped out. It took me awhile to really pay attention to this pattern and I could still be wrong but there is something going on during and after REM sleep that has to be involved with this misery.

I do have many pillows and a Select Comfort adjustable air bed, and an adjustable bed frame along with room air filters and so on. All in the hopes of making a dent in this chronic headache pain.
Thanks
Russ

[ironhands]

i get strange headaches whenever i'm really REMy.... usually at the back of my head. more like swelling than a regular headache

[kteague]

Not sure what machine you are using but if it were me I'd want to see my data for the morning hours and be sure there wasn't a preponderance of events during the morning hours of REM sleep. After checking the data I'd move on to looking for other causes.