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Neurology (Expert Forum)
Pressure in head
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Pressure in head
by bob411, Dec 31, 2005 12:00AM
Hello doc and thanks for taking my question. When I first found this site I was amazed at the number of people who share symptoms very similar to mine with no clear answer. There is a thread in the Family Practice forum with about 25 different people discussing mysterious head pressure. I appeal to you please to help us find an answer, I lost a good job in the airline industry and my friends and family have given up on me, and I've had to switch doctors 3 times due to them trying to psycho-analyze me and basically ridicule me, since my MRI was negative but I still insist there must be an explanation. I have seen a top University neurologist who specialty is headaches, plus another neuro.
I woke up with day with an intense pressure deep in my head, extend to top of head and at eyebrows level. waves of anxiety, dizzy, nausea begin at same time.
One clue seem to be a "trickeling" or "squishing" sound when I stretch my neck out or move my head around. If I extend my head upward and hold it stretched (like giraffe neck) and the sound happens I get temporarily great relief from the pressure...I must hold my head in the extended position to maintain relief but when I relax it comes right back. I can 99.9% say this sound is connected to symptoms because there is occasional day when pain/pressure is less and this squishing sound is hardly present.
I was wondering first do you think my CSF could be somehow being blocked or slowed between cranium and neck (hence squishing sound) or perhaps poor blood circulation?
Please help me return to my family and life, Paul/31,Toronto
I woke up with day with an intense pressure deep in my head, extend to top of head and at eyebrows level. waves of anxiety, dizzy, nausea begin at same time.
One clue seem to be a "trickeling" or "squishing" sound when I stretch my neck out or move my head around. If I extend my head upward and hold it stretched (like giraffe neck) and the sound happens I get temporarily great relief from the pressure...I must hold my head in the extended position to maintain relief but when I relax it comes right back. I can 99.9% say this sound is connected to symptoms because there is occasional day when pain/pressure is less and this squishing sound is hardly present.
I was wondering first do you think my CSF could be somehow being blocked or slowed between cranium and neck (hence squishing sound) or perhaps poor blood circulation?
Please help me return to my family and life, Paul/31,Toronto
Doctor's Answer
by CCF-Neuro-M.D.-PW, Jan 02, 2006 12:00AM
I have not heard any reports of interupption of CSF flow by just movements of the neck. Movements of the neck can compress the vertebral artery in older people with bad degenerative joint disease, this can be assessed by doppler ultrasound techniques. The symptoms would be more of fainting, or loss of vision, double vision, imbalance or weakness on one side etc, rather than just headache.
The routine MRI is usually negative in most headache disorders so this should not be seen as atypical. Sometimes a high sensotovoty MR venogram can reveal clots or occlusion of the cerebral venous sinuses in patietns with new onset intractable headache and other signs - if an MRV was not done in your case, ask your doctor about it.
The neck is intimately connected with headache, and pain in the neck can casue referred pain to the head, or trigger other forms of headache you are predisposed to ie tension or migraine headache. Evaluation of your neck anatomy, posture, muscles etc and treatment by a physical therapist sepcializing in the eck might be helpful.
I cannot give you a formal medical opinion based on the internet, but one could be obtained from the Cleveland CLinic Headache Center for a second opinion if you so wish
Good luck
The routine MRI is usually negative in most headache disorders so this should not be seen as atypical. Sometimes a high sensotovoty MR venogram can reveal clots or occlusion of the cerebral venous sinuses in patietns with new onset intractable headache and other signs - if an MRV was not done in your case, ask your doctor about it.
The neck is intimately connected with headache, and pain in the neck can casue referred pain to the head, or trigger other forms of headache you are predisposed to ie tension or migraine headache. Evaluation of your neck anatomy, posture, muscles etc and treatment by a physical therapist sepcializing in the eck might be helpful.
I cannot give you a formal medical opinion based on the internet, but one could be obtained from the Cleveland CLinic Headache Center for a second opinion if you so wish
Good luck
I would encourage you all to read this thread. Myself and others have written extensively about this phenominon.
Anyways, I am 20 years old and had a concussion in February 2005 where I was knocked out and suffered headaches for quite a while. They went away, and everything seemed to be good. Then, in September, I started having painful headaches which seemed like migraine headaches. They would last a few hours, or a couple days. Some days I would wake up and have a headache which was very dull, only hurting if i coughed or bent down to pick something up. These also went away, but my doctor noticed I had high blood pressure, 155/100 to 145/89. Ran a bunch of tests, EKG, blood work- nothing. Then, I began to have tingling on the back left of my head, which would come on and off without headache, and lasting a short time, and leave. Then the tingling would radiate into my shoulder, arm and then I noticed when i look down (bend neck), the sides of my trunk tingle. I've gone for a CT scan and waiting for the results...any ideas?
There are no indications that it is coming on. Although, it seems to happen if I have been sitting down for a while, and then stand up and walk a short distance. Very strange.
Has anybody experienced the bending over pressure or ear throbing?