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Neurology (Expert Forum)
Excruciating head pain
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Excruciating head pain
by huppmaster, Jun 13, 2005 12:00AM
My husband has been experiencing excruciating head pain along with bleeding from left eye during attack. He has been having these attacks at least one a week for the last two years. During an attack he is rolling on the ground screaming holding his head. The intense screaming and rolling last about 2 min. After that part is over he just lays there not responding to me at all. It takes about 5-10 mins. before he realizes that I am there. Sometimes his body goes limp and he starts snoring just to be startled to an awake state. He can't sit up or stand by himself for about 30 min. after an attack. When he finally is able to get up I have to help him and he drags his feet after every attack. He has had 2 MRI's of the head, 2 CT's of the sinuses, 2 EEG's. He has seen 3 neurologists,
3 ENT's,and an opthamologist. He has a strep and staph infection in his sinuses in which the Dr.s can't seem to get rid of. He did have sinus surgery in which they removed an inverted papilloma from left tear duct and opened up the rest of his sinuses. After surgery no more head pain or bleeding from eye for 3 months. Then pain and bleeding started all over again. Before an attack my husband can feel pain and pressure under and behind left eye. Usually an attack relieves the pressure just to build up again. My children and myself usually know when an attack is coming because he usually gets angry or agitated 12-24 hours before an attack. Have you ever heard of anything like this? We have been searching for years with no real answers. Been on tons of medications with no relief. Thank you
3 ENT's,and an opthamologist. He has a strep and staph infection in his sinuses in which the Dr.s can't seem to get rid of. He did have sinus surgery in which they removed an inverted papilloma from left tear duct and opened up the rest of his sinuses. After surgery no more head pain or bleeding from eye for 3 months. Then pain and bleeding started all over again. Before an attack my husband can feel pain and pressure under and behind left eye. Usually an attack relieves the pressure just to build up again. My children and myself usually know when an attack is coming because he usually gets angry or agitated 12-24 hours before an attack. Have you ever heard of anything like this? We have been searching for years with no real answers. Been on tons of medications with no relief. Thank you
Doctor's Answer
by CCF-Neuro-M.D.-PW, Jun 15, 2005 12:00AM
I cannot give a clinical diagnosis over the internet unfortunately, but I can give you some pointers which you can follow up with your primary physician
Has cluster headache been thought of? - this is an acute paroxysmal but benign headache associated with severe severe pain (rolling around type of pain) and autonomic symptoms such as red eye, tearing, droopy eyelid, tha toccurs in bursts over several days to week then is quiescent for a while before recurring again, but can be chronic. There is no absolute diagnostic test and scans are normal, just the clinical history and response to specific forms of treatment for cluster headache. It responds well to high flow oxygen, steroids and triptan medications.
Another suggestion would be frontal lobe seizures, which involve episodic hypermotor movements with loss of awareness, and a brief period of confusion afterwards. An EEG can evaluate for this but is commonly normal between attacks. He may benefit from an admission to an epilepsy monitoring unit to capture these events on the EEG to ruleout seizures
Good luck
Has cluster headache been thought of? - this is an acute paroxysmal but benign headache associated with severe severe pain (rolling around type of pain) and autonomic symptoms such as red eye, tearing, droopy eyelid, tha toccurs in bursts over several days to week then is quiescent for a while before recurring again, but can be chronic. There is no absolute diagnostic test and scans are normal, just the clinical history and response to specific forms of treatment for cluster headache. It responds well to high flow oxygen, steroids and triptan medications.
Another suggestion would be frontal lobe seizures, which involve episodic hypermotor movements with loss of awareness, and a brief period of confusion afterwards. An EEG can evaluate for this but is commonly normal between attacks. He may benefit from an admission to an epilepsy monitoring unit to capture these events on the EEG to ruleout seizures
Good luck
