Strange Ongoing Symptoms

I am a 22 year old student who began having difficulties in September of 2009.  I was living in St. Augustine FL at the time and I realized I began having headaches every day as well as vision trouble. I was also not engaging myself in my classes, which is unlike me.  I thought I should have my eyes checked, went to an opthomologist, they said I had terrible near sight and gave me a prescription.  Within the week I was waiting for my glasses to arrive, I had migraine headaches, the room was spinning and I had light and sound sensitivity. Once I had the glasses, I felt better, but my headaches never went away.  In the end of November, I had another round of migraine headaches. I saw auras and stars, the pain floored me.  It eased the beginning of December and I went home to Upstate NY for Christmas.  By the second week of December, I had another round of migraines.  This time , in addition to previous symptoms, I began to lose sight of reality. I hallucinated quite a bit, until the beginning of January. I also began to have searing jabs of pain throughout my entire body.  It lightened in January and I have not had an episode as intense since,  but on bad days I continue to lose sight of reality and have body pains.  Whether it is a good day or a bad day, I always have a ringing in my ears, I have difficulty with higher level thinking, and I constantly see lines and negatives in my vision.

I have had an MRI, a CT scan, an EEG, and several blood tests.  Everything has come out normally.  I'm kind of stuck as to what to do next.  Any ideas as to what this is or what I should do?  

[Neuro Forum]

Thanks for using the forum. I am happy to address your questions, and my answer will be based on the information you provided here. Please make sure you recognize that this forum is for educational purposes only, and it does not substitute for a formal office visit with a doctor.

Without the ability to examine and obtain a history, I can not tell you what the exact cause of the symptoms is. However I will try to provide you with some useful information.

There are several causes of headaches. Headaches can be divided into primary and secondary. Primary headache disorders are headaches without a direct cause. These are diagnosed after secondary causes have been excluded. Secondary headache disorders are due to an underlying problem, there are many many causes but some include medication side effects, systemic illness, nervous system infection, tumors, bleeds in the brain or clots in the veins of the brain, and others. In the setting of a normal MRI, a secondary cause of headaches become less likely.

Primary headache disorders are much more common than secondary ones. There are several primary headache disorders, migraine being one of the most common. You refer to your headaches as migraines; these are usually a pulsating throbbing one-sided pain with nausea and discomfort in bright lights that lasts several hours. Some patients have visual aura, such as loss of vision in the periphery or flashing lights in the peripheral field. This is termed migraine with aura.

Confusion is unusual in migraines but can occur with migraine; seizure would be another possibility for the confusional episodes you experiences. A normal EEG does not necessarily exclude seizures unless the EEG occurred during an actual episode.

In treating chronic headaches such as in yourself, the treatment should include two types of medications: preventative therapy and abortive therapy. Preventative therapy is a medication that would be taken every day regardless of whether or not a headache is prevent. This type of medication is used to prevent headaches from occurring, and there are several types including but not limited to beta blockers such as propranolol, calcium channel blockers such as verapamil, and others including topamax, depakote, elavil, etc. A lot of these medications were invented for other uses and are used not only for headache but also epilepsy and depression. They have proven very effective in preventing headaches. The second medication is abortive, meaning it is used when a headache is coming on. The medication used depends on the nature of a headache. If it is a migraine type headache, a group of medications called triptans can be used. And so on. However, with frequent use of abortive medications including triptans, tylenol, advil, and others, medication overuse headache occurs.

It is difficult to explain the pains in your body; there are many potential causes for such pains, and the exact nature of the pains would help in generate a differential diagnosis. Discussion of these pains with your physician is recommended, as is the most appropriate therapy for your headaches. Evaluation by a headache specialist (a neurologist specialized in headache medicine) may be of benefit for your headache management as well.

Thank you for this opportunity to answer your questions, I hope you find the information I have provided useful, good luck.

[Fishingaddict]

Have you tried a migrane (migraine) medicine like imatrex during a bad episode?  

If it partially resolves with Imatrex, perhaps your doctor can put you on a tricyclide antidepressent or betablocker, which will help with migrane (migraine) prevention.

[Saraha118]

Thanks Fishingaddict! I have tried Imatrex for a few months.  It did relieve my headaches, but I still had difficulty with my eyesight and body pains, the reality problem haha....By now I've discovered that the headaches are a symptom of their own and are not causing the other symptoms.