Pressure in head for 10+ days
Posted , 5 users are following.
Hello all, I've been experiencing a strange series of feelings in my head for the last 10 days. Its been a bit of a ride so far and frankly I want to get off.
I had a few normal headaches around my birthday which was 22nd August but I got on top of them with regular paracetamol. It was then by the 26th August that I had a pressure in my head that was pretty much stuck in my right temple, felt kinda weird but I wouldn't say it "hurt" per se. On Sunday 27th I felt the pressure behind my right eye on and off. At this point I was not taking anymore paracetamol because I was busy with things and just assumed it would go away with rest and drinking water.
So we get to Monday 28th August and my head feels super weird, the pressure was radiating from the front to the back of my head all on the right side, never straying into the left side of my head though. There were twangs of pain but it still felt more like pressure than pain.
I ended up in the doctors office after a poor nights sleep and a heavy dose of worrying.The doc listened to my story and concluded that I was experiencing a "migraine without aura". She inspected my eyes with a torch thingy and lightly touched around my head with her hands. Doc got it out of me that I was worried about the possibility that I could have a brain tumor and she asked me a series of questions like, Have I been vomiting? Have I been blacking out? Am I losing my memory or vision or hearing? To all of these I answered no. Doc then said that these are all red flag symptoms so I should not worry. She sent me home with pills called Sumatriptan(?). And I was told that I would know if these pills worked after one dose.
So there I was that evening I took one of these new pills and nothing happened, but after the second one a couple hours later I got in bed to go to sleep and had a terrible night. I had a real legit pain bouncing around my head from both sides, front and back. i was miserable. Next day I went back to the doctors office with the weight of the world on my head.
I saw a doc who I had actually met with before who remembered me from a past ailment which was reassuring. He heard me out and ended up doing a full blown check up. He took my blood pressure, my temperature, he had me do a series of exercises with my hands for my coordination or something, he turned off the lights and got out a torch for my eyes, and he felt all around my head and neck. All the while he was asking me questions without a breath in between so that i had no time to think about the answers.
When he was finished he sat down across from me and said that my head problems were due to tension. So I obviously started asking questions. The whole "migraine without aura" was now debunked. This doctor who had met me before knew that I was a worrier so he went through the whole brain tumor possibility with me. He was pretty damn confident that I don't have one for the same reasons that I had been told the day before and he thought it was very unlikely that I would start to experience these red flag symptoms.
I was somewhat reassured having had a full check up and a rather comprehensive discussion about everything. I was told to go home and take co-codamol "for a week or so" that was my doctors words, and to work on relaxation techniques, maybe use a heat pack on my neck or take hot showers or baths.
From that evening when I got home, which was Friday 1st September, I have been taking 2 co-codamol about every 4 hours everyday. I have done my best to try and relax and be optimistic, I have also stayed off the internet looking for answers. I am still worried though deep down. My head has gone back to feeling like I have a concentrated pressure above and a little behind my right ear, sort of to the right of the back of my head. Its as if someone is pressing on my head in that spot. I have noticed a few times now and then that I will struggle to think of the word i mean to say, but that could be because I am so distracted by my head. I also have floaters in my eyes but i have had these for years. A few times I have had a sudden ringing in one of my ears but i have heard this in both ears at different times, but this could also be because of how much i listen to music at a loud volume.....
Yesterday; 3rd September, I woke up and felt as if my head was better, I was happy to feel like this suddenly, until I got up and started to do things to find that my head was still mad with me. I am still taking co-codamol every four hours but it doesnt seem to actually do much. I am keeping hydrated as much as i can and I am still eating albeit not as much as i normally do, which is a classic trait of mine when I am nervous and worried.
This morning (4th September) I felt as though my head was ok when i initially woke up, just a bit delicate maybe, but as i got up and had breakfast my head is definitely still feeling weird. I have that pressure at the back right side of my head, I wouldn't say it hurts, just pressure. I'm on my first co-codamol of the day, gonna have my second dose soon. I'm not sure wether or not to go back to my doctor or try to soldier on and see what happens.....
1 like, 2 replies
haden130290 andy28994
Posted
Hey Andy I was in so much pain Saturday afternoon I had to call for the paramedics I thought I was gonna die I had lumber puncture ct scans blood test give me iv paracetamol auntie sickness morphine co codamol codeane they have now given me Tremadol and it still hasn't worked still got this thumping headache and all I wanna do is sleep I feel if I go back and for the docs I'm a nuisance I haven't ate anything since Friday I can barely hold the water down I have no taste no sense of smell or nothing
sandra45651 andy28994
Posted
I have had a "headache" now for almost 5 years. Not one doctor nor 5 different neurologists can tell me what the problem is. I have a long history of back pain since going through chemo 7 years ago and 7 vertebrae fractured in my lower spine. The pain was excruciating and I was sent to a hospice where I was given extremely high doses of Oxycontin combined with Ketamine plus several other drugs to cope with the accompanying nausea. I was almost catatonic with them all. It was on one of my check-ups that the rheumatologist thought I might have Altzheimers and she sent me to a neurologist to confirm. He checked my meds list and said it was the Haloperidol and to come off it. I started getting more alert after coming off it and wanted to start using the computer again to play Scrabble on the Internet but the chair was at the wrong height for me and my shoulder started to get sore using the mouse. I think it may have been the extra pain I was coping with that sent my brain into "meltdown" or, I suppose, it could have been the Oxycontin. I get this feeling of heavy pressure in my head but it is constantly moving in an elliptical fashion, with tendrils of sensation going through my cheeks or my mouth or nose. It feels like my brain is a hot-air balloon tethered by guide wires and it's bobbing about in the wind. But it can get really heavy as if it's weighed down and the pressure of the "guide wires" almost feels as if they are trying to cut my nose off! This pressure NEVER leaves me. It has been going on constantly for 5 years when I am awake. I also have another neuropathy which my neurologist found has recently been written about by doctors in Holland and my consultant is studying me at the moment to try to find a cure. I've even gone to a presentation for 30 neurologists so that they can try to understand what is going on. My neurologist has recommended several different meds to try to help but each one so far (8) has not helped. And each one has to be slowly brought up to max dose then weaned off slowly before starting another one. This process takes weeks and weeks to do so it is getting frustrating coping with these other symptoms that I have whilst still coping with the pain of my back and the pressure in my head. I have been told that they might never find a cure for either of the neuropathy conditions so I wouldn't hold out much hope, sorry.