How many of you used to have eye migraines prior to xPAP?

Prior to going onto CPAP treatment, I used to have eye migraines once a week like clockwork. Ever since I started CPAP therapy, I haven't had one eye migraine. *knock on wood* I started therapy the first week of November, so for me to go all of November and December without an eye migraine is pretty outstanding.

Just curious if CPAP treatment "cured" anyone else of eye migraines? The reason why I ask is that I'm hesitant to correlate my eye migraines to sleep apnea -- I've had eye migraines going all the way back to high school when I was in shape and not overweight at all.

I had ocular migraines for years and by the time I started CPAP they had tapered off to one every two years or so. Since I started CPAP six years ago I have had two or maybe three. I don't think CPAP affected them one way or the other since they were already diminishing.

I had ocular migraines very rarely before CPAP.

Recently I've begun to have a lot of them, but I've learned that they are being triggered by eating oranges--I seem to have developed a sensitivity, only very recently. CPAP doesn't prevent them. Avoiding this trigger food does.

I have had it for years too. Still have it with CPAP but I think it's from the computer screen???

Try blinking more often. That's the recommendation I got from my eye doctor.

I have only had a few ocular migraines since starting on ASV, and those have been short and mild. Prior to ASV they could last for hours.

My daughter has experienced far fewer migraines since she started cpap.

I would have one every 4-6 months or so before CPAP. I've had one since (when I worked about 40 hours straight).

So yes big difference for me.

I have both occular migraines & just the plain old, 'I've been hit in the back of the head with a bat', kind of migraines. I take Zomig, then get in a dark room. Many (not all) of my migraines are started by seeing flashing lights and most all of these are occular migraines,. These give me very little time to "take cover" - i.e.; get the car off the road & call family for help. I DO NOT drive once a migraine is started.

I suffered from a seizure disorder for several years, and am too afraid of it 'breaking thru' the meds, and don't want to endanger anyone, so I get off the road when a migraine starts. I hope any of you migraine sufferers who have similar symptoms (such as connecting seizures) know to get off the road. My first seizure started a few seconds after the onset of an occular migraine & I lost consciousness, when I came around I was on the other size of the road, on the sidewalk, facing the wrong way. I thank God that no one else was injured.

While most of you will hopefully never experience anything like this, research has shown, according to my neurologist, that seizures, migraines and sleep disorders can be connected. The brain is an organ that has never been and will probably never be been totally understood. When this nighmare happened for me, I had suffered from awful occular migraines for years, never knowing there could be any such connection. Just wanted to make you aware there can be a connection, not always, but the possibility exists.

I hope all of you who have seen a improvement of your migraines from CPAP therapy keep that improved state. For those who didn't (I'm in this corner), keep looking for 'triggers' be it food or environmental (like my reaction to flashing lights.). When looking for triggers, don't rule out anything, some of the dumbest things we are exposed to can cause migraines. I have a friend who is allergic to perfume. When she is under stress & is exposed, say as in a store, to perfume, the combo starts an awful migraine & her 'start' of a migraine looks worse than one of my seizures.

Sorry, guess my fingers got away from me, back to the reason for your post, I wasn't cured of occular migraines, but I do believe CPAP has a connection. I had been on CPAP about 4 yrs. when my migraine/seizure connection started.

Jen

I used to have migraines too bad ones, and yes I would try to get off the road or home when I felt them coming on too. Not because of the seizures but because I would get disoriented between what I saw in the rear view mirror and what was in front of me. A hysterectomy took care of most of them.

Since being on cpap just about the only migraines I have had are ocular and or tension in the back of my neck/shoulder blade. Which to my point of view is a big plus.

Meissen, I don't think you would be able to get the "cure" that BlackSpinner found helped!!!! However, some searching on the forum for migraines and you will find lots of good advice/suggestions for getting rid of/at least reducing the frequency. For me, chocolate, aged cheese, too much coffee (more than a cup a week or so), dehydration, stress, tiredness, atmospheric pressure changes, etc. can all trigger them. The worst is those obnoxious people, usually in pick-up trucks, who insist on driving behind me with their headlights on full beam - and getting 2 feet away from the back of my car. There is no way to get them out of the line of sight, except by getting off the road - and usually I don't want to do that. Particularly dangerous when they are on the Turnpike (or any multi-lane road) and the lane to the side (left in the US, right in the UK!) is empty.

Having said all of that, I believe that vitamin B2, magnesium, and CPAP all contributed to my getting fewer and less severe migraines. Good luck with yours.

I have them too...until recently, 3 a week. (since about '96 when they became much more frequent forme.)

Lately? I have 2 glasses of water before breakfast. first thing in the morning. Have no idea why, but it seems to work. I'm having about 2 every three weeks, and they are less severe.

I did as a child and throughout adolescence. Then they tapered off only to return during each of my
Pregnancies. Knock on wood, haven't had one in almost a year and a half.

I used to get ocular migraines three or four times a month or so. It's really the reason I began pursuing an sleep study and I'm glad I did! So far, two weeks with the cpap and I haven't had one yet (knock on Mahogany).

I've gotten them occasionally over the years. They're brought on by stress for me. If I catch them early enough, I can stop them by focusing on something other than what's causing the stress, or by alleviating the stress in some other way. That happened just the other day when I avoided having one. Other than that, haven't had any recently since my stress level has recently been reduced by a lot. I don't know if they've decreased due to cpap, that would be just a guess, but since I know from experience that stress causes them, I'd have to say that cpap hasn't had much effect on them.

When I pointed out my symptoms to my eye doctor, he said it was an ocular migraine, and immediately checked for
GLAUCOMA
Luckily, we caught it before any damage had occurred.
I take eye drops every night--beats the heck out of going blind.

RogerSC wrote:I don't know if they've decreased due to cpap, that would be just a guess, but since I know from experience that stress causes them, I'd have to say that cpap hasn't had much effect on them.

For every event your body goes into stress mode, flooding your system with stress hormones. Added to that is that life events are harder to deal with and more stressful if you are already tired. So yes cpap therapy has a lot to do with it.