daughter is on heated humidifire cpap machine

hi im new here and im desperate for advise for my daughter. I have a question about my 5 year old daughter she has been on C-PAP now for about a month lately she has been having headaches and some bloody noses. she is on a level 5 on her machine. but here is my problem, the headaches were controllable until last night it was in tremendous pain she was crying and grabbing her head so i gave her some tylenol turned all the lights off and gave her a warm wash cloth and just sat with her until it passed but i'm not sure if it is caused by the cpap machine or something else?

some history on her: back in.... i want to say november or so of last year she was having alot of pain in her head and in her stomach, and vomiting during school the doctor said she was severely lactose intolerant and had abdominal migraines so we switched her foods over but after a while she seemed much better i think it had to do with the stress of her teacher and school it was her first year in school. She can now have regular milk except yogurt other than that she is fine now. But then in june her doctor felt she needed a sleep study because she is always tired and also a referral to a ENT to check her tonsils. her oxygen level drops to 93% 2 times an hour and ENT said surgery was not needed. And on top of all of that she has controlled asthma.


So now i need to know if anyone has had these problems with migraines or bloody noses with an adult or a child and how do i fix it? i have a call in to the doctor but they aren't calling me back!!!! she is only 5 and i hate to see her in pain!!!! please help.

thank you.

Hi - I believe your daughter needs to see a pediatric neurologist, rather than a family doctor, because migraines of any kind (and sleep apnea) are neurological problems and a specialist should be able to come up with better answers for her.

I am curious why the doctor thought she had abdominal migraines - regular migraines can cause abdominal symptoms (upset stomach, etc.) and I also wonder if she's actually been tested for lactose intolerance or he just guessed at it. It's hard for children to express what they're feeling (don't know the words yet) and it's best to see the 'right' specialist.

You said her Cpap is set at 5 - is that her prescribed pressure, or ??? If someone has a migraine, the added pressure of air being blown in could make it feel worse, but rather than guess, or go off Cpap on your own, I would see the right doctor as soon as possible. I hope she feels better soon.

Go to the control panel and fill in the machine and mask she is using.
Then figure out what her pressure is at and what her humidifier is set at. These are two different things.

I agree that she needs a specialist to test her for migraines triggers. I would not have put her back on milk products AT ALL. Lactose intolerances does not cause migraines, it causes upset stomaches . Migraines can be triggered by food allergies - an allergy is very different from an intolerance. Food allergies can cause sinus issues which could make cpap therapy very painful.

@ julie she would have breakfast at school within 20 mins or so she would vomit at school then the stomachache would start then the headache would start then she would cry herself to sleep after about 30 min of cryin then she would sleep for awhile get up and be better. All of them were very severe but she was never tested for anything like lactose intolerance.

ALSO her perscribed pressure is a 5 sorry im new to this cpap thing.

@ Blackspinner on this machine it starts at a 4 and slowly moves up to a 5 thats as high as it goes. And as far as the milk products the doctor said u can try her to see if it was the milk so i believe it was just a guess but i stopped the milk and dairy and it seemed to ease down but she was under a lot of stress with her teacher and once we moved her out of that class in february she has done fine with this problem she was just hospitalized due to a virus in may she gets soooo sick so fast the virus started at 730 am she was in the ER by 3pm and stayed fro 3 days!!!! she has been tested for immune issues several times and nothing ever comes up??? please if you have any more questions i will due my best to answer

thanks again

oh ya the dr called back and said stop usin the mask and come see me next week i only come in 1 time a week and im leaving in about 5 mins... good luck!!

EDIT: Sorry, missed the last post. If you talked to the doctor then what I said is probably irrelevant and might cause panic.

I agree with Julie's post. My granddaughter had similar problems and they were determined to be migraines. Often she also saw an aura of colors for a few seconds. A pediatric neurologist is the way to go. They usually will outgrow the problem or will learn to control them.

@ LSAT did they take your grandaughter to the neurologist? if so what did they say?

From what my daughter said, when my 11 year old granddaughter has this come up in school, she was to lie down in a dark area until mom comes to pick her up. The neurologist did suggest a med, but I don't know what it is. When she gets this she sees an aura of colors sometimes and her sight goes black and white for a few seconds also. She does not have this often...I think it was 2-3 times last year She understands what this is and does not panic...hopefully it will disappear with age. I think it is hereditary on her fathers side.

hopefully it will disappear with age. I think it is hereditary on her fathers side.

Unfortunately, it usually gets worse in puberty for girls.