Hello. I'm a first time user of this site and I'm hoping someone can shed some light on my situation. This is long (believe me it is the short version) and I apologize in advance:
About 2 years ago I started waking up about 2-3 hrs . after going to sleep and started noticing a strange sinus pressure (I won't call it a headache yet) with no apparent signs of what it could be. I went to my primary after about a week and he prescribed Lunesta. I got abour 5 hrs. sleep but as the days passed and sleep continued to worsen, the pressure developed into a headache and continued to worsen each day. They tried Ambien CR and my sleep problem was solved but my headaches were intolerable. I saw multiple neurologists and went to the E.R. twice. I had a sleep study done and was diagnosed with sleep apnea (25 events/hr), I was 215 lbs. at this point. I would sometimes reach for the Tums about a half-an-hour after my awakening for what I thought was reflux, not even thinking it was related to my awakening.
Things got so bad that I eventually ended up at a major University Headache Center where I was diagnosed with New Daily Persistant Headache and was told I would probably have to deal with it for my entire life (I was 44 at the time). I did not agree with this diagnosis, previous to this bout I was healthy as a horse barring a shoulder surgery in September '06. The Headache Center pumped me full of drugs, everything from beta blockers and anti depressants to Imitrex and Topomax. Nothing worked until I spent 8 days in the hospital undergoing a "headache-breaking procedure" where I was on an IV and drugs were continuously pumped into my body. Finally they ended up prescribing Depakote which seemed to work. I remained on Depakote for about 5 months and my sleep returned to normal and I had remnants of the sinus pressure with an occcasional headache related to that pressure. I don't know that it was the Depakote butat least things were managable.
My neurologist decided that Depakote (long-term) was too dangerous and wanted to experiment with some other options. After he prescribed Indocin I got gastritis. My endoscopy showed mild gastritis with no sign of esophogitis and I was told to stay on Aciphex for 2-4 weeks and the gastritis would be healed. That was 9 months ago and I am still on PPIs.
When it seemed Aciphex wasn't doing the trick I switched to Nexium 40 mg/day and eventually 40 mg/2x day. I developed dyspepsia believing it was due to the gastritis since I'd never experienced anythinng like this before.
I ended up switching gastro doctors and got another endoscopy after 6 months. This one showed mild gastritis and esophogitis. It seemed strange that I now did show signs of erosion.
I just discovered that Nexium was causing my dyspepsia (I would get full before I ate enough and develop abdominal pain and acid). This is after losing 60 lbs... I'm now 155 lbs. But my sleep is much worse with Aciphex - from 5.5 hrs. to about 4 hrs. As well I have noticed that after returning to the CPAP for my apnea (which I was told was no longer an issue after my weight loss) my headaches upon awakening are much milder.
As well, since changing from Nexium, I have noticed very clearly what I thought was the case... I get headaches about a half-an-hour to an hour after eating too much or questionable foods. It is almost like it is directly related to my acid level or my digestion.
Can anyone shed some light on this or lead me to the right specialist? Thanks much!
Mike
