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Odd headaches
by MJIthewriter, Mar 11, 2009 10:25PM
This is my first post here.
I've been bothered off and on by headaches. They seem like migraines, sometimes will affect mostly the left side of my face. Often though the heaches seem isolated in a spot at a time and move around. I'm having one of those headaches right now. It seems like when it affects a single spot, the pain is more intense, but then fades out. Just trying to figure out what it was. I had a doctor in 2004 suspect I have two kinds of headaches. One being a migraine and one being something else.
It seems like the upper/neck/ lower head is one area of continuous headache and then some other spot usually the upper part of my head, near one of my eyes as well as my nose. It doesn't seem like a typical migraines.
Also sometimes I will see random specks of light, almost like seeing a firefly. It's white then black, then disappears. Is that an Aura? I don't always have headaches after them, or sometimes a headache may not come until almost 24 hours after that.
I've been bothered off and on by headaches. They seem like migraines, sometimes will affect mostly the left side of my face. Often though the heaches seem isolated in a spot at a time and move around. I'm having one of those headaches right now. It seems like when it affects a single spot, the pain is more intense, but then fades out. Just trying to figure out what it was. I had a doctor in 2004 suspect I have two kinds of headaches. One being a migraine and one being something else.
It seems like the upper/neck/ lower head is one area of continuous headache and then some other spot usually the upper part of my head, near one of my eyes as well as my nose. It doesn't seem like a typical migraines.
Also sometimes I will see random specks of light, almost like seeing a firefly. It's white then black, then disappears. Is that an Aura? I don't always have headaches after them, or sometimes a headache may not come until almost 24 hours after that.
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Migraines can occur in variety of ways. While in some patients headache is followed soon after the aura symptoms others may get aura symptoms for days before they get full fledged migraine. There is a possibility that these short lasting headaches that you get are ice pick headaches. Ice pick headaches are commonly seen in migraneurs and are brief spells of sharp stabbing pains not lasting more than a few seconds.
I would suggest you to try and identify the triggers for these symptoms by using the migraine tracker of a headache diary.
Today it seemed just before the headache hit me I felt a sharp drop in mood and also felt strangely angry for no reason at all. I'll have to make note if my mood is tied in with headaches as well. I noticed in the past I'd have cognitive difficulties, not think or speak as clearly as well as feel dizzy and sometimes out of it like as if floating or in a dream...
Sometimes when I numb the headache with tylanol or ibprophin, the dizziness and cognitive stuff stays... I get the effects sans the headache.
Another thing that makes it difficult for me to track is I always seem to have a degree of "base" pain, that I ignore and tune out. I don't know if it will develop a headache or not. Sometimes it develops into the brief intense headaches I described that jump around and not in a specific spot.
As far as triggers go, I haven't found a specific trigger. Often I wake up with the headache and that's how I have it. Or I wake up with dull pain and the headache comes later.
Interesting I never heard of icepick headaches until coming to medhelp months ago and hearing other members describe it. I plan to look that up.
But, yeah... your headaches really sound a whole lot like my migraines!! Which... are pretty normal migraines... 'cept, I get them all the time which is lame... but other than that, pretty normal. Yeah, migraines are different for everyone. They're weird like that. I guess it's cause everyone's brain is different and it's a brain thing.
Then I found out my doctor was an intern and she was moving along with her career. The doctor who took her place didn't seem that concerned about my headache complaints. She thought I could try an NSAID for my combined foot pain and fatigue..
I seemed to develop an ulcer within about three days of taking, so that was that... When I see her again I hope to bring that up.
Headaches are serious. Pain is serious. Migraines are serious. I would say that most of the time they aren't serious in the same way a brain tumor is serious, and that is a VERY good thing... but, they are serious in their own way... because pain can be very disabling and very... well... painful!
You need to find a doctor who will take your complaints seriously and work WITH you to find a medication that works for YOU. You are an individual, and so you may react differently to some medications than the majority of patients. NSAIDS can cause ulcers in some people. You are one of those people. This is a known side effect and a legit complaint. There are so many other medications out there to try. Triptans would be a good starting place for migraine headaches... also, NSAIDS have a whole wack of problems if you use them on a long-term basis... and you mentioned a "constant headache" at the back of your head? So, you would not want to even be using NSAIDS on a daily basis for that anyway if you thought it was going to be a long-term treatment plan for your headaches. I use NSAIDS, when needed, but my first line of "defense" so to speak is proper targeted migraine medication, for me that is triptans, and for the majority of people it is triptans. It might not be triptans for you... but, there are lots of options out there other than NSAIDS.
it doesn't sound like you are at the point where you would need a very strong pain killer like morphine... i could be wrong, i don't know what you are feeling... but just from the way you described it... well you can let me know if i read that wrong. but, not needing that sort of pain killer is a good thing, so i'd be happy if you didn't need anything like that.
but, here is the thing... if you do have a constant headache NOW and you are NOT treating it and it is NOT going away... you will end up in a very serious pain cycle and those are hard to get out of and that dull background headache that you always have will eventually get much much worse if you don't find a way to get it to go away (this isn't like the most urgent thing ever... it usually takes months or years for this to happen... it took years for it to turn into a serious disability for me)... and if you get into a serious pain cycle then you could end up needing more serious pain killers eventually... and trust me, if you don't need them now, then you really want to avoid that. it happens to chronic migraine suffers a lot... and then it's very difficult to treat the migraines. before you get to that stage, it is a lot easier for a doctor to successfully treat you. that is why i am urging you to find a doctor that will properly treat you now. i started listening to my doctor and treating my migraines too late.
P.S. triptans aren't really "pain killers". they are more like "migraine killers". i like to remember their mode of action by their name... "trip"tans... they sort of "trip" the circuits in your brain that are causing the migraine like your power breaker does so your house doesn't catch on fire. essentially, they mess with the serotonin in your brain, and that does a few things... serotonin goes all wacky in your brain right before a migraine, they think the triptans counteract that, they also think that the triptans might stop seizure-like active in the occipital lobe and i think that they also think that some how it even helps to reduce some of the vascular symptoms too... that's why they are a lot better than just advil or something. because... advil just helps with the inflammation of the vascular symptoms of the migraine and Tylenol just blocks the pain but triptans actual stop the entire migraine.
oh... and one other thing... that dull low-grade headache you mentioned... it is possible, if you are taking advil daily for the low-grade headache that the advil might actually be contributing to the low grade headache... advil causes rebound headaches when taken too often. i cried when my old mean jerk neurologist told me this because he was a mean jerk about it and made me feel like it was my fault i was getting the headaches. so that is NOT what i am saying at all. i understand you need to treat the migraines and advil is better than nothing and if it works and that is all you have then you should use it, trust me, i understand that more than anyone... and i especially understand that more than any doctor who will rant to you about rebound headaches. but, if you can find something other than an NSAID (advil is an NSAID as well) to treat the headaches if you will be treating them often (more than once a week or more than two at a time)... it would probably be a good thing just to reduce any possibility of rebound headaches. but, i don't assume that i know your situation and if you don't think the rebound headache possibility applies to you please totally ignore this paragraph!! only throwing it out there on a whim.
I saw my doctor today and talked about the headaches. I also talked about my upper back/shoulder pain. I got a referral to a neurologist.
I'm not supposed to take anything for the headache for about 6 weeks or so. She said they may get worse and I have been having headaches, but should get better if I stay off the tylanol/ibuprofen. She also perscribed a vitamin B2 supplement and gave me a list of neck exercises for my stiff neck.