Sharp pain in the back of the head especially while sleeping

[Naegit]

Hi,
I have a question. This is regarding my father. He has been experiencing sharp pain in the back of the head recently especially while sleeping on the back. The pain is so bad that he can not sleep for 5 mins in the same position and has to turn around...very uncomfortable for him. He also feels frequent dizziness and darkness in front of the eyes. This is happening to him for the last month or so. He had a stroke and blood clot in the brain a year ago. The neurologist has ordered a MRI scan but that is not going to happen for another 3 days and I couldnt wait until then. Please Please help me to understand his problem. Could this be a sign of tumor? He is 65 years old and is already an open heart surgery patient (15 years ago). I would really appreciate if you could reply to me as soon as possible. This thing has been killing me :(("




This discussion is related to Husband gets shooting pain in head.

[Naegit]

Hi,
First of all thank you very much for your responses. I really appreciate it. My fathers MRI results came all right. There were no signs of tumor as per the doctor. But I still wonder why does he have the frequent sharp pain in the back of the head and occassional dizziness. The doctors said that it's because of his age factor. He is 65 and healthy otherwise. Should I be concerned? Should I go for a secnd opinion or do I believe what the doctor says?

Thanks

[Dr Sharma]

Hi there.  Occipital or suboccipital headaches can be due to cluster headaches, sinus headache, vertebrogenic headaches, temporal arteritis, brain aneurysm, brain tumor or a fresh stroke. You need to wait till the neurologist examines your father, take him to the emergency department if its possible for an urgent MRI and correlation of symptoms. This could aggravate within 3 days when you are going to see your neurologist. So seek medical help as soon as possible. Take care.

[samrin]

as headache increases while sleep so it means it can occur due to any heamorrhage or clot in brain coz it will compress the vessels during lying down.......n i guess it is related with some neural or ischemic problem.....still you should wait for de reports