Sleep clinics use polysomnography along with other tools to amass a wealth of data that aid diagnosis and treatment. “It’s really amazing the amount of data that we get,” Dr. Smith commented. “So it’s something to think about with these patients if they have migraine, especially if they are refractory to treatment and/or have histories of sleep problems.”
Putting the Pieces Together
“There are all these anatomic correlates, there are neurophysiologic correlates, and there’s overlap between sleep, sleep disorders, and headache. But when you put it all together, it doesn’t always dramatically have an effect,” Dr. Smith said. “There are people who have dramatic responses to CPAP, but it’s not always that nice one-to-one correlation where you treat them and they’re better,” he said. “If CPAP doesn’t affect their headache but they feel markedly improved during the day, at least you’ve treated their sleep apnea.”