Severe headaches

[SallyLT]

Hello, I am 23 years old. I was always a very healthy person before, I used to practice martial arts and play soccer. About two and a half years ago I started having weird symptoms. My stomach and intestines would hurt, the doc diagnosed GERD. The pain went away after a while but then my heart started feeling weird. I get skipped beats every now and then and my left arm goes numb from time to time. They did an ultrasound of the heart and said it was fine. The heart problem went away, although not completely. However, about a year ago I started feeling dizzy and extremely weak as if I were about to faint. I would go to the ER and docs said it is a virus. Things started getting worse as I started feeling headaches every day all day. Then, I started experiencing sever headache in the back of the head. My neck tenses a lot. I am sensitive to the light and my ears feel weird as well. Went to the doctor and got an MRI that came back normal. The only thing they found was my pituitary gland a bit swollen and with a small spot, but I had that diagnosed about 4 years ago when I used to have mild headaches. I would like to know if anybody has any idea what could be happening to me. I suffer a lot from these headaches, I feel like I am gonna die. They pain is too strong and feels so weird, as if I were gonna have a stroke or something. The most strange thing is that they come and go. One minute I am completely fine and the next I am lying in bed almost dying. Please somebody help me!!! I have been seen by 4 different doctors and they all tell me the same thing: it is a viral thing. I am desperate as I cannot do much for the symptoms. I also get dizzy and started having some blurred vision. Any info on this will be extremely appreciated. Thank you so much.

Sally

[doctornee medical]

Hi
Thanks for writing to the forum!
I read through your post. Based on the information provided by you, I think you could be suffering from ‘benign intracranial hypertension’(BIH). This happens due to impaired CSF absorption. A generalized throbbing headache worst felt in the morning and last thing at night. Have you noticed any such co-relation—the headaches come more during early morning and at night? This headache is generally relieved on standing (consistent with raised intracranial pressure). It is aggravated by straining, coughing or a change in position. The second most common symptom is visual defect, which you too have.
Another possibility is that pituitary swelling is causing pressure symptoms. It is difficult to comment beyond this without examining.
Hope this helps. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!

[SallyLT]

Well, I do not see the co-relation of the headaches early in the morning and at night. My head usually hurts all throughout the day, it doesn't have a set time, or there is nothing in particular that triggers the pain. I just feel it throughout the day, some times more severe than others. My neck tenses a lot, and the back of the head feels like a knot. I do feel some severe throbbing on both of my temporal lobes now and then but this doesn't happen all day long. What scares me is that the back of my head hurts horrible, I feel it right on the cerebellum stop. I got a doctor's order to see a neurologist and an endocrinologist. Hopefully they can work together to figure out what is going on. My doctor says that it is unlikely that the pituitary gland is causing any symptoms, but the endocrinologist will be able to determined that. Thank you for your fast response.
Sally