Can stress be causing all this?

[jakc824]

I am a 19 year old male college student and a couple of months ago, I began having mild, sharp pain on the left side of the front of my head. I assumed they were nothing and I just lived with them. I should also note that they began at around the time when I was preparing for finals so that's why I assumed they were stress related and nothing to worry about. When winter break started, I expected the pain to go away but it only got worse and more frequent. The pain lasted for only 3-5 seconds and sometimes came consecutively, 5 or 6 sharp stabs at a time. They mostly happened in the same spot of my head, but then one day it moved to the right side and then it started just randomly striking at different points on my head, still mostly on the left side, sometimes on the right, and also on the top of my head in the center. Throughout my vacation month, I was constantly tired even after sleep 8-12 hour night, I always felt fatigued. This is when I started getting worried.
About 2 weeks ago, I felt dull, achy pressure all over my head and felt like my head was heavy and difficult to keep on my shoulders. My eyes were difficult to keep open because I was so tired and because it felt like there was a weight pushing me down. I also had double vision and sudden blurry vision that came and went one time. I went to see my PCP because it was all starting to scare me and he told me it is likely due to stress which I didn't understand because I wasn't very stressed out during my vacation?! He prescribed me some silly pain meds that I stopped taking because they only made me more sleepy and did nothing for the head pain.
This week, a new symptom, my hands are starting to hurt me to the point where it is almost difficult to grip a pain. The pain in my hand usually comes and goes and is mostly in my right, middle finger and sometimes on the sides of the palms of both hands. So, if you are still keeping track, there is head pain, pressure, fatigue, vision problems, hand pain, and then this past weekend when I woke up in the morning my right shoulder was hurting me, it felt stiff and it was hard to reach up but that went away after a couple of days. I had an MRI done this past Friday, nothing seems to be wrong. My blood test was normal and my hormone levels are all good except for testosterone which is low. Could this have something to do with my pituitary or is it all just stress? My doctor is convinced it is tension, but the medications aren't really helping! I don't know what to do, I am a student and this is starting to interfere with my school work and I am having trouble concentrating. Any ideas? And thank you for reading all this if you got up to this point.

[jakc824]

Thanks for your responses. I don't think migraines are the cause and my doctor doesn't either because they last all day and haven't stopped for the past 20 days. I have no history of migraines and so this led him to believe that these were tension headaches. I don't think they are tension headaches so I am worried. I have been having memory problems, difficulty concentrating, and fatigue all the time so I am convinced its not tension. My vision problems also lead me to believe that. I also forgot to mention I get ear pain in both ears from time to time and also had ringing in my ears a couple of times. I feel like I have way too many symptoms for this all to be caused by stress, or even by one specific problem. Also, about the droopy eyelids, yes I do have that problem, everyone keeps asking me why I look so tired and I just say because I am! I will be going to get a second opinion to figure out what's wrong with me.

[rumpled]

How low was the testosterone (results with range is most helpful) and were any other tests done that are complementary to this test like estrodial or DHEA sulfate? Testosterone comes from more than one source... LH and FSH?
Are your eyes droopy?
Did they test you for acetylcholine and MUSK antibodies - for myasthenia gravis?
Headaches on one side is classic for migraines - were you evaluated for that?

Sounds like you have docupheadarseus and need a second opinion!

[enzymelover]

Any time you have headaches, fatigue, vision problems, and unusual inability to deal with stress, along with any abnormal hormone levels, I would suspect a pituitary disorder, or a hypothalamic\pituitary\adrenal axis problem.
Did you have contrast dye with your MRI? Was your report read by a neurosurgeon as well as the radiologist?
An exam with a neuro-opthalmologist would be helpful.