Severe Pounding Headache During Bowel Movement

[mt_100]

I have had a problem for some time now and am now very worried.

Background:
I have had this on and off for quite some time, over a year.

I'm a 33 man and at the time it started I was 194 pounds and had cholesterol of 216. I admit I was out of shape. One thing to note is my tolerance for pain is very high.

I was tested for everything, CAT scans, bowel X-rays, scoped from one end to the other. Tried fiber, lots of fiber, Nothing. I gave up on answers about the time the symptoms subsided.

Since then, I shaped up. I am now 165 pounds, cholesterol of 136 and can run 4 miles a day. At no time during the workouts or other strenuous activity do I experience this issue or other issue.

Symptoms actually went away for quite a while, several months in fact, but are now back as of this last week and worse. I now can tell when I need to have a BM because it starts very mildly.

During the BM, without straining at all, it starts. It will start on the back of my neck as a small soreness or stiffness and very quickly I will feel my heartbeat in my neck. Within seconds the pounding in my head starts on the left side and goes up to the top and down the bottom. With each heartbeat there is excruciating searing pounding pain. A pain that feel like someone hooked a bicycle pump to the left side of my neck and is pushing pressure very hard into my head. Each heartbeat is torture and afterward it slowly subsides over a few hours until only a stiff sore neck remains. However this last time the dull headache lasted into the next day.

The pain is so severe I have blacked out once however I fight not to. I am not straining, pushing, or doing anything. Most of the time I am trying to relax. This happens with hard or soft movements and diarrhea. I would consider this pain to be a 8-9 out of 10. (A motorcycle accident with broken bones was a 6 to me for comparison sake)

I have tried to identify changes or habits that may have changed or repeated and so far cannot find something. I am truly worried that I will have a stroke or brain aneurysm during a bowel movement to the extent that I call my wife on the phone.

Can someone help? No doctors around here are able to.

[Bnhrtn]

I'm having EXACT symptoms as mt_100 and its very strange and painful!! Help us out doc? I'm slowly goin civilian as i'm currently treated by the V.A.

[meronyk58]

an MRI of the head to rule out tumor--sharp headache with bowel movement can present this

[Kitty086]

I have had the same problem as you, I had been suffering from this for years, people ask if your straining or if the bowel moment is too hard and they try to tell you to take laxatives to help but it doesn't help, but I have just got over having a common cold, now I know that your going to ask what does a cold have to do with all of this but when I had the cold i drank loads of orange juice and the intense pain stopped, so I have been expecting with it, and it is definitely the Orange juice that has stopped the pain, I have cut out all fizzy drinks and I only allow myself to have two cups of coffee a day, the rest is orange juice and I have been pain free now for 2 weeks I can't tell you how much of a relief it is that I don't have to worry about going to the toilet anymore. I do hope that this works for you to, I thought that I was the only one going through this but I have found that I am not so I wanted to pass my information on to you

[DubsJ]

have u ever seen a doc specifically for your pancreas and endocrine system?  it may be worth a shot.  the abd distention etc concern me for something in your gi tract not just your bowels.  also, did u have a full colonoscopy or just a partial scope?  (i can't remember the full name of the procedure, but it checks all 3 branches of the colon, ascending, transverse and descending)  sometimes what is commonly referred to as a colonoscopy is only a partial view.   you may also want to ask for a endoscope of your throat and stomach. an ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography).  will show things like your esophagus, pancreas and great vessels that are all involved in the digestive process.  i am not an md, so some of these terms are probably not the most technically accurate, but it should be a good starting point for a discussion w/ your md.  the gist is you need to have your entire gi tract checked, up and down!

[BigMomma2u]

topomax helps for migraines, preventive. I take it.

[nacogdoches12]

I started getting these bowel headaches in August 2013-September 2013. They ended then started back up this month(February 2014). I've had MRI, MRA, CAT scan, blood work and my Neuro has no idea what is going on. My symptoms are so much the same of all of y'all. I'm not straining. In fact, the easier it is to go is when it happens. I can feel it in the back of my neck creeping up. Then bam! Out of no where it feels as if some one has put an ax in my head. I've passed out a couple of time and had many panic attacks. I'm a frequent flyer at my hospital. I'm absolutely scared to death if going to the restroom. I've even gone as far as driving myself to the ER and using their restroom just incase it happens, I'm already at the hospital. Those who have never had this amount of intense pain laugh, but I thought it was pretty damn smart. If anyone has any answers, please help. Thanks!!

[kenzieloper]

Psuedoaneurysm