Headaches from laying down

I am a 51 year old male who has had daily headaches for the past 5 years. The headaches are in the back of my head, and seem to be caused by laying down. I awake each morning with a headache. Most mornings they are mild to moderate, and a few days are stronger. I can be feeling fine with no headache, and then go lie down and within 30 minutes will have a headache - usually worse if I lay on my back. Does not matter where I lay down - bed, couch, floor. I recently had a complete physical and everything is fine. Have been seeing a chiropractor for the last 6 weeks for therapy on my neck muscles but this does not seem to be helping. I am experiencing no other symptoms. I would love to hear from anyone with similar headaches.
Thanks !

[BhumikaMD]

Hi,
You should get your blood pressure and blood sugar checked. These could be tha cause of your headaches.
Have you tried OTC pain relief medication and have they helped?
Has an MRI been done?
Discuss all this with your doctor and ask himif a neurologist consultation would be required.
Hope this helps.
Good luck.

[LifesAHeadache]

Headaches upon laying down can be connected to your cerebral spinal fluid build up.  The fact the the headache is in the back of your head is also a tell-tale sign, also the laying on your back.  Have you ever been to a neurologist and had an MRI?  Your neck muscles are tight because with pain at the base of the skull, your neck muscles clench in an attempt to protect your head.  You need to get to a neurologist and get an MRI and full exam.  

You can research cerebral spinal fluid headache, intracranial pressure, psuedotumor celebri.  You may not have any of this but 45 year old male with onset of headache upon laying down.  It is classic.  Don't worry about what you read, if this is your problem you may just need medicine to decrease the production of cerebral spinal fluid.  I am not a doctor but I research alot and by the way, I have not been able to lay flat for 6-7 years now.  I hear the pulse in my ear, my right pupil is actually so large in the morning you can't see the brown of my iris.  The other pupil is fine.   I actually hear the liquid squirting in the back of my neck and when I take that CSF pill - mine is DIAMOX, its only a water pill.  I feel the tingle all through my head.  So welcome to my world - my first suggestions - TONS OF PILLOWS.  You have to keep that CSF down.  But like I said, I am not a doctor and cannot say this is your problem.  But really think hard - can you give more symptoms????

[kennyh]

My blood pressure & blood sugar are fine. I take Excedrin for the headaches and that helps most of the time. I have not had an MRI. How good are the chances that an MRI will give some answers? The only other symptom that I can think of is that I usually hear a noise in my left ear during these headaches.
You mention TONS OF PILLOWS.........do you mean use a lot of pillows under my head during sleep?
Thanks.

[LifesAHeadache]

Yes, that is exactly what I mean.  and hearing a noise in your left ear is important.  Is it like the pulse of a heartbeat or is like ringing (tinnitis)?  The MRI will give answers and rule out certain conditions.

[BhumikaMD]

Hi,
You need to get a neurologist consultation at the earliest and also get an MRI done. The MRI report would clarify as to what the possible diagnosis could be, and if the neurologist thinks it necessary he might advise a lumbar puncture for CSF examination to come to a definite diagnosis.
Do let us know how you are doing and what has the neurologist advised.
Hope this helps.
Good luck.

[betsy449]

hi, I'm still looking for a diagnosis,my neurologist is not sure if  I have posuedotumor cerebri because I'm not obese and I'm also hearing water squirting all around my head sometimes . It all started in the back of my head . head pressure came all of a sudden out of nowhere from theback of my head with water dripping out of my nose and a little bit from my ears . I haven't had any headaches. just pressure in the head that shifts everywhere.feeling like my brain is being squeezed. there are times when my ears get clogged feeling like if your under water type of noise .
some times I also get neck pain or neck pain that radiates down on the left of my chest. opthalmologist says that psuedotumor cerebri can cause pressing of the sinus artery. The artery that connects from your brain to the heart. I had to spinal tap so far one with pressure 25 and the second one with pressure 35. Also had MRI with gadalinium normal. Four previous ct scan normal. Tested for swollen discs in the eyes normal. That's another reason why neurologist does'nt think I have the condition. also because my head pressure is constant non stop since january 24th 2008 now we are in april still going non stop 24/7.what do you think?:)

[thebear702]

You might want to get an x-ray of your lower back I know it sounds silly but 20% of the population have a form of spina bifida that goes undetected. If this is true you could possibly have something like chiari malformation.  Sometimes it is easy for them to miss on an MRI if they are no really looking for it.

[soccermom1999]

Kenny, I struggle with the same problem, so do my mom and my sister.  However, two years ago, my sister went to a chiropractor down near Ft Worth who after probing her head asked my sister specifically whether she got headaches from sleeping on the back of her head.  My sister had two adjustments with this dr and has had no headaches of this nature since.  

The chiropractor asked if anyone else in her family had this issue and informed my sister about what she termed a "hereditary dysfunction of the suboccipital muscles."  All of us began to be effected by this in our mid-thirties.  

As for me, my "lying down" headaches degenerated so badly that I could only lay on about a 2 in. section of my left check to sleep, and I use the word sleep loosely.  

I've not had as good of luck w/ my chiropractor, but two months ago I became so desparate that I drove to Texas and had that chiropractor adjust me twice.  I'm also in rehab for unrelated shoulder issues and my rehab guy's been instructing me on exercises that help.  

At this point I can sort of sleep on the back of my head.  Not at all on the right side, and sort of on the left side.  I have to see the chiropractor regularly and also go and have deep tissue massages on my neck and head only (and I'm very directive during these massages knowing exactly what I need for relief).  My husband's been taught specifically how to relieve my headaches by both mine and my sister's chiropractors, but frankly he's not good at all and can't even give decent back rubs.  If he can get the pressure points right, he is much more effective than any pain reliever.  I worry about taking too much ibuprofin, Tylenol, and aspirin...


I have one question for you.  If you press deeply on your jaw joints right in front of your ears does it cause any pain?

[bristol600]

If you had a spinal tap they may have punctured your Dura and you could have a CSF Leak. This really sounds like it. Pain in the neck feels like you are at the bottom of a pool. If it is alleviated by laying down it is definitely it. You can have a blood patch done to fix the puncture if that is it. I just had back surgery followed by dural tear - I am well read!