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occipital headache and fatigue

I ALSO POSTED THIS IN THE OCCIPITAL HEADACHE FORUM

Hi,

After a virus in October last year I developed chronic fatigue symptoms including, fatigue, nausea, occipital headache, dizziness, strange taste in my mouth.

By early December I had got really bad, but began treating myself for Candida (fungal overgrowth) as alot of the symptoms matched. After acupunture, dietry supplements, a strict diet and rest, my energy levels are better but some symptoms remain and are getting worse.

Now I still have a headache in the back of my head in two very small points (indents on either side close to my ears). I start off the day OK but the headache increases as the day goes on and gets worse with exertion. Its is somewhat relieved by sleep. At night the pain continues to spread around the back of my head and feels tingly/pins and needles in some areas.

The headache increases along with a feeling of fatigue and I have contant post nasal drip and some infrequent frontal sinus pain (and a history of sinusitis).

Perhaps important...?
- Blood tests in December didnt show much except slightly high lymphocyte count
- I sleep on my front
- After sinus washing treatment some wierd white mucous stuff comes out
- Last summer and this summer I was bitten by many ticks, last summer I had some similar symptoms as those I have now and took a course of antibiotics for Lymes (I didnt take the full 4 weeks treatment though, stopped after 10 days under advice from doc as iIfelt worse). Although i never had any skin rashes etc...
- I have a couple of vertebrae out of alignment in my upper back/neck for ~15 years
- I am 30 and lived a very active/stressful lifestyle
- Incident happened a few days ago that got me suddenly scared and stressed, the headache became overwhelming and "burned" and the fatigue burst out to my limbs like a wave, could this be something to do with adrenaline?

Hope this isnt too much info!

Advice very much appreciated,

Kind regards
13 Responses
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Avatar universal
CSF leaks are NOT only caused by head trauma.  It can come and go and nasal drips aren't always constant either.  I've seen this before and it was a suggestion.  It had something to do with a small hole around the back of the head/neck/occipital area.  a pin hole size.  It was corrected easy with a simple surgery.
Helpful - 0
975514 tn?1324997938
I am not a doctor, but I really don't think symeboy is suffering from a CSF leak. That is usually caused by a head injury. He was exposed to A LOT of tick bites- more than I've ever heard of. :)  It's much more likely that he is suffering from Lyme disease. He'll be ok as soon as he let's the antibiotics run their course I think.
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Avatar universal
To symeboy, I googled csf leak & got this, I'm not familiar with this site or it's reliability so maybe you'll want to search further.  Anyway, it's a start!  Sound slike the csf leak would mean a literally constant runny nose, but I'm no expert!  http://www.tchain.com/otoneurology/disorders/central/csf-leak.html
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975514 tn?1324997938
I am sure that Lyme is still prevalent there in the UK as well as in the states so I would stick out your current treatment for the Lymes. Not everyone gets the rash, so some people can carry the disease around for a long time before getting treatment.
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Avatar universal
BTW I live in the UK, so lymes symptoms could be slightly different over here maybe?
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Avatar universal
tanyamn, what is CSF leak?
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Avatar universal
Yeah it seems to be pretty common round these parts, just found out my boss caught it this year. I had ruled it out because I didnt get the classic bullseye rash.

Have started a course of doxycycline which is making me feel worse again, but hopefully if it is lymes I have cuaght it in time (mind you, could easily have been 7-8 months since the bite)
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Avatar universal
First thing that came to mind after reading your post.......CSF leak!   3 symptoms you mention: headaches, bad taste in mouth and nasal drip all lead to CSF leak.  Talk to your doctor.  I'm not trying to scare you or worry you, but I've been a Med Tech since 97 and I'm familiar with body fluids/symptoms, etc.
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Avatar universal
In what state did you get the tick bites?  You can get lyme anywhere but it is much more likely in the endemic states.

I don't know whether you have lyme or not but your symptoms are common in lyme.  It is also common to get worse when antibiotic treatment is started as the bacteria die and release toxins.  Symptoms get worse from the toxin build up.  This is called a Herxheimer reaction.

Lyme testing is not very accurate so even if you test negative it is possible to have lyme disease.  The testing is even less accurate when you have had a course of antibiotics.
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Avatar universal
Cheers dusty,

Much appreciated.

Yeah i worked in the forest two summers and got bitten many times (the first year about 30-40 times and last summer about 15 times).

I will book an app tomorrow.

Interestingly one of my work mates who spent alot of time in the forest is also ill with stiff joints etc. so maybe lymes is common here.

thanks

Helpful - 0
975514 tn?1324997938
Hello and welcome,
With your history of the tick bites, I would MOST definitely get reevaluated and retested for Lyme disease as soon as you can. The common lyme titer blood test can sometimes read false negatives however, so you might want to demand a western blot right away and ask them to read all of the bands. If your doctor is uncomfortable requesting these tests, ask him or her to refer you to someone who will. Good luck.
-Dusty  
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Avatar universal
Thanks for the insight very much appreciated.

I think I will make a trip to the doc, because as I type the headache is real bad and every day it seems to be spreading.

So far, from gleaming this forum and elsewhere, I apparently need the doc to rule out tumor, lymes, MS, vitamin deficiency, hypothyroidism. Anything else?

With regards to the Candida and diet, I have been following a strict diet of very few carbs, no sugar, no alcohol, lots of meat and veg. I like to call it the cave man diet! It helps with the energy levels. I also have had acupucture, physio, medication, herbs, colonic irrigation but Im still not right.

I dont really know what firbromyalgia is... Is it specifically muscle weakness? How does it differ from CFS?

Tomorrow will be my first day back at work and im dreading it. I also am in a heavy rock band and have lots of gigs coming up, so i really wanna get well so i can play again!

I wish western medicine was more effective at dealing with such things :-(
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Avatar universal
First of all you sound very insightful. So in tune with your body which is the first step.  In my early 30's I had similar symptoms. I was very stressed, busy career, my kids were young, marriage, new home.  I had constant low grade headaches just as you describe.
I started with acupuncture and the problem was as soon as I resumed my schedule the symptoms came back.  Then the aches and pains were so incredible.  It turned out to be fibromyalgia.  MS, arthritis and lupus were ruled out by a rheumatologist.
I've also had numerous back surgeries for ruptured discs and disc disease.  
I also developed thrush, basically candida.
All of this came after a traumatic incident, a car jacking in my early 30's.  
So what I have learned from all of it is our bodies are amazing.  Telling us constantly what we need.  If you were tested and have lyme disease and I have not looked in to that so I am not sure there is anything other than anti-biotic for that so you may have to take the anti-biotic for that, check back with your doctor on that.  That can mimic fibromyalgia.  So please treat that and try to eliminate it.

Foods are a huge factor in pain especially with headaches and I had to figure that out the hard way.  Nuts, cheese, wine, anything with white flour, simple sugars even chewing gum all brought on my headaches.  Odors such as chemicals, perfumes, cleaning products, cigarette smoke can make me sick for days and give me an instant migraine.  So try to eliminate or look at things environmentally that could be contributing to your head ache. I worked in an office that had poor ventilation.  There were fumes from somewhere that caused me to have headaches and neck pain.  So it can be as simple as that.  

As I mentioned I have had surgeries and 3 have been on my cervical/neck. So my headaches got worse so now I take topramax. It helps keep migraines a bay.  It has helped me so much. I spent every day with a low grade headache trying everything I could to prevent the 1-2 big migraines every month.  This medication has almost, not completely eliminated that.  So that is an option for you too.  The goal should be to figure out why you are getting these headaches first.

As for the sinus/nasal drip. Prior to be diagnosed with fibromyalgia I was on one prescription after another for sinus infections. In looking back I realize I didn't really have sinus infections, I had immune issues that were causing headaches and cold/flu/sinus like symptoms.  
I can barely take an anti-biotic now. I will immediately get thrush and that is beyond painful and it takes weeks to get through.
So what I have discovered are two things: Grapefruit seed extract and Astragalus. You don't take either one on a regular basis.  But Grapefruit seed extract can be taken to help with the candida or if you feel you are getting run down or a cold or sinus issue coming on.  If you have the sinus issue now I'd start taking it now if it were me.  Astragalus is excellent if you feel you are starting to feel very sick.  Dr. Andrew Weil speaks a lot about Astragalus.  Look it up and always check out any supplement prior to taking as they have side effects as well and interact with what you are already taking.  I have had so much success with both of these.
I also get B12 shots monthly, for energy and to help combat the fatigue. I also added Iodine supplements several months ago.  I cannot say enough about B12 and iodine supplements.  And of course Vitamin D.  You might have your MD or ND check your B12 and Vitamin D levels.  
I would say given your age and we all have stress you should do anything you can to keep your adrenals healthy.  It could all be a combination of what is going on with you.

I hope this helps a little. Best to you.
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