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Strange head pain and then.. anxiety attack.. don't know what to do

Posted , 3 users are following.

ShelShock
ShelShock

I'm new to this group, but was looking for help and advice online and figured I would post up at least to get this off my chest and see if anyone had feedback.

The entire day (yesterday / Saturday) I was very tired after an entire week of traveling for work.  I slept fine the night before, but my eyes were sore and I my body felt very beaten up most of the day.  I spent the day with my fiancee and had a really nice day despite how I was feeling.

I went back to my apartment in the evening and at about 9PM I started to experience a very strange headache.  It was above my right ear halfway to the top of my head and very localized.  This was not a sharp pain - but it randomly "pulsed" and almost made me feel like there was pressure in the area.  I've experienced tension headaches and migraines but this felt very different almost like an icepick headache would be described, but without the sharp pain and more of a dull pressure/pulse/light pain.

My mind went to high blood pressure / aneurysm, and immediately I started feeling pressure in my ears and became light headed.  The horrible feeling of anxiety in my chest started creeping up and my palms got sweaty.  It happened so fast that I could not mentally separate the feeling of dizziness from the anxiety from the fear that the dizziness was coming from something very bad going on in my head.

I've had anxiety attacks before; but generally they have similar triggers.  An OCD moment about something bad happening at work, a muscle - skeletal pain in my chest near my heart (had an injury to my ribcage as a kid and sometimes get pain there, totally not heart related, but that is where my head goes)..... but this was a totally new pain trigger that I had never dealt with before which made it much harder to cope.

I took a shower.  I went to bed.  I tried to meditate and tell myself that the feelings I am experiencing are caused by anxiety, and if this really was a serious brain problem the pain would likely be more severe or I would have much more severe symptoms.  I could still walk.  I had no drooping in the face.  Despite my being very tired and light headed, I had complete control of motor functions.  I tried telling myself this.  It didn't help.               

This morning I woke up and I am still getting some throbbing pain in the same area.  It comes and goes for very short bursts.  I'm lightheaded, but I also logically know this is coming from the anxiety because I still feel that dreaded anxious feeling built up in my chest.

I'm not on any meds.  I used to drink a lot to deal with anxiety and OCD -- I stopped that in the last year or so. I occasionally smoke pot to deal with it, however didn't last night because I was so scared that I thought I might drive myself to the ER.... which would have made me feel like a f*****g crazy insane asylum patient.  That and every time I go to the ER they tell me I have high blood pressure (white coat syndrome) when I really just have a panic attack as soon as they put the cuff on...

Someone tell me that I am not crazy.  Part of me still wants to go to the ER / doctor (especially when I get a little pulse of pain in my head) but I am trying to resist that urge.

0 likes, 2 replies

2 Replies

  • amy78531
    amy78531 ShelShock

    Posted

    I’ve had this too for the past two days and I have had a massive stressful week and anxious day yesterday . So if that’s two of us I’m going to put on a limb and say it must be another of the lovely side affects of this thing we have . Sp I wouldn’t worry too much that it’s something real bad. I feel reassured reading your comment xx
  • brooke69679
    brooke69679 ShelShock

    Posted

    The same exact thing happens to me. I can almost predict when I’m going to “get bad” again by this head sensation. It’s in the back left side of my head. It’s not painful but such a weird feeling. Then, I have a full blown panic attack, and for weeks after I don’t feel right (depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts) all day and night, it’s torture, and in those few weeks the head sensation comes and goes. Then when I have a few good months, no head sensation. It’s so weird and no doctor seems to understand. I’ve been to numerous head scans etc and nothing shows. It must just be a part of good old anxiety sad hang in there
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