Headache on left side

[maryl52]

My 17 year old daughter has had a headache on the left side temple area for 5 months now. She has a tender spot in this area. We have done the Ct scan , MRI etc and they showed nothing. It is always there. She takes Tramadol when she can't stand the pain. Any ideas?

[Dr Santos]

Hi,
How are you? As mentioned from your other post, your headaches can be due to primary headaches especially if the imaging tests done were normal. Cluster headaches usually respond to oxygen, ergotamine, sumatriptan or intranasal application of local anesthetic agent. Preventive medications such as use of steroids, calcium channel blockers and lithium have been used also. Check with your doctor for proper management. Take care and regards.

[daisyl]

Hello, I am a 28 yr old female, and I've been getting headaches for the past few months. I started getting them in January. I've never had headaches before. It just started one day, around 11am, a throbbing, sharp pain in my left temple, sort of behind the eye, lasted for about 15 min, and went away, and then came again about 2 hrs later, again about 15 min, went away, another few hours, again, etc. This lasted for about a week before I went to my doctor. He checked for a couple of things (sinus, "something serious" which he ruled out after feeling for an artery on the left temple and asking if it hurt, blood pressure) and then referred me to a neurologist specializing in headaches. I went to him and he was pretty thorough with questioning. He had me get an MRI and an MRA, both came back fine. He gave me a prescription for a preventative but I never took it because I wanted to wait a week and see if they would go away first. My dad told me to get my eyes checked, which I had never really done, because I thought I had perfect vision. I went and it turned out I had a slight astygmatism, so I got glasses. I started wearing them every day, even though I didn't have to, and a little less than a week later the headaches went away! I couldn't believe it, I was so happy. About a month and a half or two months has gone by, and the headaches just came back randomly :( They are also a little more intense this time around, and more frequent. I wake up with one (still left side, throbbing), it goes away after 15 min, and then I get one about every 2 to 3 hours all day until I go to bed. It's really irritating. I've read up on cluster headaches and it seems like a match, but I find it odd that the neurologist didn't mention them, and it also seems like people who suffer from them have much worse pain. Mine is more annoying, irritating, not exactly debilitating. Aspirin, Advil, Tylenol, etc do nothing because they don't kick in fast enough, the headache goes away as suddenly as it appears. I'm going to a chiropractor soon to see if an x-ray shows anything, or if an adjustment helps. I just feel like I'm running out of options and wish someone could say "you definitely have this, and this is what you need to do." If someone could respond with some advice I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks.

[Dr_Smita_S]

Hi

It is difficult to comment on the cause for these symptoms without actually examining the patient. However you may find the following information useful.

There can be several causes for headaches like primary headaches which are not associated with any other diseases (example migraine, tension headaches and cluster headaches) or secondary headaches that are caused by some associated disease. Secondary headaches may be due to withdrawal from caffeine, high blood pressure, brain tumors, strokes, meningitis among other causes. Tests such as blood tests, CT scan, MRI or lumbar puncture are usually able to establish a diagnosis.

Since your daughter’s scans are within normal limits, it may be possible she is having migraine of tension headache kind of thing.

The exact diagnosis would depend on a detailed history with respect to the exact site, duration, time of the day, intensity, any associated symptoms like nausea, vomiting, visual loss, any neurological symptoms along with your past medical history.

She should consult a doctor for proper diagnosis since the headache is bothering her.

Take care!