Headaches

Hi All,

Iā€™m interested in hearing from everyone on the sort of headaches they get with this junk ā€“ or even if you do not get them at all.

For me, I never get the one-sided pounding pain I hear about that causes a person to lie comatose in a dark room for 2-3 days straight. Instead I get severe tension type headaches (tension migraines?) occasionally (Iā€™ve had a severe one now for 4 days straight with no end in sight) or mild ones most of the time. Sometimes Iā€™ll have such a headache following a 1-2 hour dizzy episode and this can fluctuate throughout a given day. My head pain never seems to originate in the head but is referred pain from the neck, occipital region (these are the worst of all) or from a sore jaw. Migraine hits me in all of these muscles and it can happen within an hour of eating trigger food or for no apparent reason at all.

If a migraine persists like it is now, I resort to plan B (plan A is do nothing except take pain killers) and go see this Chinese doc who does a very good massage around the base of the skull (occipital) and around the temples. Itā€™s worked once or twice but sometimes does nothing.

Best ā€¦ Scott 8)

Usually one-sided (but they donā€™t always stay that way), and almost always with weather change or those extremely hot and muggy days. Been that way all my life, though, and hardly ever where I needed total darkness and absolute silence. Some start at the base of my skull. These are pretty new and I wonder if theyā€™re related to my arthritis.

I donā€™t know if these would be linked to ā€˜this junkā€™ or not. Used to be, dizziness was limited to 2-3 days and spontaneously quit and stay away for weeks or months. No head pain involved. At the onset of this since-June junk, there was no head pain.

And massage sounds divine!

The migraines that I had over the years (not so often now) were always the same. They were in the dip at the back of the head (occipital), very severe (like being hit over the back of the head with an iron bar). Through having them so often, I developed neuralgia on the right side at the back which now reappears with and carries on, after the migraine. My neck was always bad and I thought they originated from the neck but I dont think they did, I just think the two go together, as nothing has changed with my neck, but the less migraine, the less neck pain and tingling.
Those migraines lasted 2 to 3 days. In between would be the temples ones. Either one temple or the other, sometimes both, again with neuralgia (this neuralgia has now gone).

Now I mostly get dull headaches every day with dizziness, the occasional full blown migraine and the odd full blown vertigo attack (room spinning, stuck on the bed not moving type).

I always took two strong painkillers (paracetamol, codeine and caffeine) type to knock out the occipital ones, it was the only way to knock it on the head (so to speak!)

Christine

For the past couple of years I would say that I donā€™t get headaches, I get non-headaches, meaning the headache I have 24/7 sometimes goes away (briefly). When I donā€™t feel any headache or strange off-balance feeling It is so amazing. If I ever get through this condition I donā€™t want to take feeling ā€œnormalā€ for granted ever again. Balance is definately the sixth sense that most people donā€™t realize how important it is, I know that I never did. Back to the Headache. Mine is like a dull pain at the front of the head with sharp pains all through my neck. An MRI showed three bulged disks in my neck and a loss of fluid and loss of curve but I donā€™t think that should result in a headache that never goes away.

Steve.

I get 4 kinds: 1)regular migraines, generally on the left side: Yuck; 2)ice pick headaches that go from just above the orbit of my left eye through my skull & out the back of my head (itā€™s a long ice pick!) I donā€™t like these. They really hurt, 3) headaches when I wake up: they hurt but they generally go away within an hour or so , so I can deal with these and 4) Basilar Migraines: it affects my speech-either dysarthria, perseveration or I canā€™t speak at all, extreme photophobia and nausea, lower extremity paraparesis, little to no balance reactions, a terrible headache and great fatigue. The next day I am pretty fuzzy. These are really affecting my life.

Thatā€™s my headache roll call.

Claudia

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ā€œā€¦ and almost always with weather change or those extremely hot and muggy days.ā€

Funny you mention this MJ because thatā€™s exactly whatā€™s been going on in Sydney for the last 2 weeks. Very humid and a low pressure system hanging around. Iā€™ve never really made any connection between the weather and how iā€™m feeling though. Not sure if itā€™s a coincidence. Six days of it now and still no end in sight. :?

ā€œlike being hit over the back of the head with an iron barā€

Exactly what this one feels like Christine. I was saying to a mate yesterday that it feels like I was hit in the back of the head/ neck with a crow bar. Itā€™s like itā€™s bruised in there. Before the dizziness began years ago I thought it was a structural problem too. Spent a ridiculous amount of money on physio, chiro, and osteo.

ā€œheadaches when I wake up: they hurt but they generally go away within an hour or soā€

These are generally the sort I usually get. Didnā€™t know anyone else got them this way. Itā€™s all bizarre stuff.

Thanks all ā€“ Scott

Hi Scott,

I am sorry you have one of those nasty ā€œback of the headā€ migraines that go on and on. The only thing that worked for me, was the strongest painkillers (with codiene and caffeine) which make you a bit dizzy afterwoulds for 3 hrs, rest on the bed, more painkillers 4 hrs later if need be and ice cubes in a flannel on the back of the head, not for too long, but for say, half to an hour. You have to knock the migraine out. Probably feel rubbish for the day you take the painkillers but it hopefully will be gone the next day. These were the migraines I often had the zig zag lines before they started.

Good luck Scott, remember, it will go eventually.

Christine

In the early day of my headaches, I only got them once a month or so. They were one sided but not what I would call dibilitatiling at the time.

Then I got moved to a new work location where there were more scents, smells and fragrances in the area. I started getting them once a week and then by 2007 I was getting them everyday. I had been on medication for about five years at this time . (Abortive medication) I was taking it everyday for almost a year and a half. Then during that time they remodeled out floor at work and the chemical smells sent my headaches into overdrive where they hurt so bad in my eyses, back of the neck, stuffy nose, felt like someone had hit me with a bat on the back of the head.

Then I had my vertigo attack in 2008, the headaches continued until November of 2008. They are much fewer now but no less severe when I get one.

They usually start out as a dull ache on the back of the neck, then move to behind the eyes and temple area. Then the nose becomes involved as it feels stuffy, then the overall pain takes over for at least two to three days now when I do get them . They had always been on left side. Now I get them on both sides, seem to now start on the right side and before all is said and done the left side is where they end. So whose knows what all this means ā€¦I am thankful I do not have them everyday now. BTWI think I have one starting today and I am sure the trigger is me getting my haircut yesterday and being at the beauty shop around all the scents and smells.

So I started Nori about 3 months ago. I am on 20mg and I will say I have felt better overall. The dizziness is not as horrible, which is great, however I have a headache every single day. Has anyone else experienced this? I think I heard that sometimes when the dizziness gets better with MAV, the actual migraines start

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Yes that does happen much the same as some people can start with migraine headaches then have a long symptom free period only for the condition to re-emerge as dizziness/vertigo. That happened to me. I have heard people say that doctors are happier when it morphs into headaches because headaches are easier to treat. An alternative might be headache is a listed common side effect of Nortriptyline so just maybe? A betablocker, Propranalol is the favoured one here in UK, or An ARB, Candesartan might be a better bet. I would suggest discussing it with your medical provider.