Lump on back of head

[sarahcruz]

I have a lot of headaches.  Usually I get them around the same time of year, January and February.  But with in the last couple of months (6-7) I've been having headaches almost everyday.  Most start in the back of my head, near the base of my skull and works it's way up towards the back of my eyeballs.

On Saturday night, I went to bed w/ one of my usual headaches, and woke up with the same one.  I went to rub the back of my neck and head, and noticed a lump on the left back side of my head.  It hurts to put pressure on it.  Since Sunday, it's grown in size and in pain.  Let me mention that NO I did NOT hit my head on anything.  I've been to the ER, and to my medical on base here.  I'm nauseous, dizzy, very tired and week feeling, I'm starting to have these shaking attacks.  It's the only way to describe them.  My legs shake, and it's just usually my right arm that goes spastic.

The ER nurse said she thinks it's a viral lymph node, and the doctors at my medical concur w/ her.  The thing is, they didn't do any tests at the ER.  My UA, and CBC were both normal.  As was my temperature, and my blood pressure.

I'm just looking for suggestions w/ exactly what to do.  Thank you.

[sarahcruz]

The tremors were due to the medicine I was on for my bipolar.  Trileptal it's called.  Once I stopped the meds, the tremors went away.  The lump was painful, but not red.  That has since gone away, they put me on naproxen.

I've been having headaches for a very long time now, and my doctor decided that he would wait until the tremors stopped to put me on anything that would encourage the tremors further.

I really appreciate your help, thank you.

[Vanessa Lacuesta]

Hi,

When you had these shaking attacks was your blood sugar assessed?

At that moment, would you say that the shaking may probably be chills ? Was fever present at the moment of "shaking"?

The headaches may be due to the swelling that you have noticed at the back of your head. It is best to have someone describe it for you.

Is the lump red and painful when touched? Redness and pain may signify an infection. Any associated palpable lymph nodes in the neck or in other parts of the body?

Any other associated symptoms like a rash, pain in swallowing, eye discharge,ear discharge , nasal discharge or joint pains that may suggest a viral infection?

You have noted however that your CBC is within normal. I suggest you seek consult with a dermatologist.If the node lies on the scalp , a dermatologic consult may help. This may be an infected node.Other differentials may be a sebaceous cyst , lipoma , and a boil.However, superficial infections of the skin or scalp may not explain your right arm that became spastic.I suggest that a thorough neurologic examination and a cranial CT scan or MRI may shed more light on this.