Morning leg pain due to apnea?

[JanSaysHi]

Before using the CPAP I woke up in the morning with pain in my legs.
Now while using CPAP I rarely have the leg pains.
I am just curious if anyone knows if this pain is due to the apnea?

[Julie]

No, no, it was probably due to claudication, which means your legs weren't getting enough 02, but with Cpap, things are improved (just like some of us found our thinning hair to be thicker again!).

[lovey]

The doctors seem to be finding more links between pain and sleep apnea. I don't know what the statistic is in reverse, but they estimate that 80% of people with fibromyalgia have sleep apnea to some degree. So, it seems that many people with sleep apnea would have fibromyalgia, don't you think? So treating the OSA, probably would help people with fibromyalgia to lessen their symptoms, since OSA is not treated widely as it should be.

[Kiralynx]

I was diagnosed with apnea because of on-going pain issues after my cancer surger, and hip pain which predated that by six years.

The pain management doctor I saw said that any time a patient presents with pain of unknown etiology, the first thing she does is send them for a sleep study. Only if that comes back negative does she pursue other avenues because chronic pain is so often associated with apnea.

[KatieW]

I was diagnosed with apnea because of on-going pain issues after my cancer surger, and hip pain which predated that by six years.

The pain management doctor I saw said that any time a patient presents with pain of unknown etiology, the first thing she does is send them for a sleep study. Only if that comes back negative does she pursue other avenues because chronic pain is so often associated with apnea.

I'm glad you had such a good pain management doctor.

[Kiralynx]

I'm glad you had such a good pain management doctor.

Actually, so am I! I would much rather use non-drug solutions, like my water therapy and my BiPap than be popping NSAIDs and what-not.

Not that medications do not have their place, but if there's a non-medicated solution which is also non-invasive, I'll go for that.

[JanSaysHi]

There are a few different things that might cause leg pains. Periodic limb movement could be the cause. This is a sleep disorder totally unrelated to sleep apnea. You could alos have an arousal disorder because of your apnea. RERAS are a type of this. Your body can actually develop a twitch or bodily movement that acts as a defense to keep you breathing.

(this response was from Rock from another website)
Thanks Rock.

[kteague]

Someone with more knowledge than I can correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought true Periodic Limb Movement Disorder would likely worsen with cpap treatment. But wait, as I think this through, if cpap treatment allowed one to sleep sounder, and the limb movements are mild, they might not disrupt sleep like when it was more fragile. Since poor sleep seems to increase sensitivity to pain, just getting better sleep could improve pain symptoms even if the limb movements didn't improve. So, I was initially going to suggest you could rule out PLMD, but now I see my reasoning was shortsighted. It could still be on the table, but other possible explanations seem to me to be as feasible or even more so.

Kathy

[meusion]

I was diagnosed with PLMD along with complex apnea. My doc said that the PLMD would likely go away as the apnea is treated, however he also ordered a blood test to check my ferritan (sp?) levels. Ferritan is the stored iron in your brain. Sure enough my ferritan levels were low. So now I am taking iron supplements for three months and then it will be checked again. Sometimes I would wake up and my legs would be so sore, like I had been running all night. Maybe you should mention this to your doc and get your ferriten levels checked?
Heather

[JanSaysHi]

Thanks everyone for all your responses.

I truly believe now that my leg pain was due to RERA - Respiratory Effort Related Arousals.
(A response to an apnea by a twitch or spasm in my legs in order to bring about respiration).
They have almost stopped since using the cpap.

JanSaysHello