There are so many types of headaches in a person’s lifetime, that it can be difficult to distinguish a migraine from sleep apnea headaches. That’s why many of sleep apnea patients may present to other specialists with sleep complaints, but not a sleep doctor.The physician specialist may or may not recognize the presenting symptoms as being related to a sleep disorder.

For example, a patient with cardiomyopathy (a weakening of the heart muscle or a change in heart muscle structure) and a daytime fatigue may or may not be referred for sleep apnea evaluation, depending on if the cardiologist knows that cardiomyopathy patients are at high risk for sleep apnea or other forms of sleep breathing disorders.

The same thing we can say if you go to the urologist because you have nocturia. An urologist may evaluate an obese young male for nocturia and recognize that sleep apnea may be a significant contributor to this problem and that sleep apnea treatment may result in decreased symptoms.

The same case if you go to the neurologist… The neurologists may or may not refer you for headache evaluations to determine if your recurrent headaches are because of sleep apnea.

Bottom line… Many nonsleep specialists have seen sleep apnea and remained unaware of it. So it’s a good idea to ask your doctor about the possibility of having sleep disorders. Remember that sleep apnea and headaches tend to improve with the sleep apnea treatment.