Possible Signs of Sleep Apnea

It's well known that sleep-disordered breathing, including sleep apnea, is common in people with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. What is less well known are other surprising yet common triggers that should leave us suspicious that sleep apnea is present.

If you are taking narcotics for pain, think sleep apnea.

A recent review published by Medscape ("The Association of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Chronic Pain," May 24, 2013) showed that 49% of people taking narcotics for pain had sleep apnea. 35% had obstructive sleep apnea, associated with snoring. 14% had what is called central sleep apnea where there is no snoring but simply where people stop breathing repeatedly during the night. Poor sleep then aggravates the pain. This makes looking for and treating sleep apnea one more important considerations in people who are taking narcotics for chronic pain.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) will routinely trigger sleep disturbances and sleep apnea.

Another review also recently published by Medscape ("Recognizing Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury," Nov 11, 2013) found that sleep apnea occurred in about 24% of those who suffered a TBI, and disordered sleep or hypersomnolence in 46-98% of cases. This adds one more piece of information as to why TBI can trigger a secondary fibromyalgia. Earlier studies have shown that widespread hormonal deficiencies associated with hypothalamic pituitary dysfunction are routinely triggered by TBI as well. Fortunately, all of these are treatable — except that most physicians do not know to look for these underlying problems, and instead simply tell their patients that they need to "live with it."