What could this be?

[MoonLight23]

hello, well i am here just to find out if this sounds familiar, i am not asking for a diagnoses, but maybe some information.This is my story i have been having headcahes since i was 4 years old i am now 23,i was also diagnosed with sinus .But 8  months ago i have been having these weiard sentations in my right  side of head on the top, its like burning ,piercing,tingiling and numbnes. It lasts from seconds to mints to hours, basicaly it comes randomly.Its not painful its just anoying, when i press my scalp with my fingers it hurts, it feels like a bruise, and the thing is , its only in the same spot .I also get vertigo everyday, i went to a clinic for the  the pain and the doctor told me it sounds like migrains, but she sugested to see a neurologists, witch i want to but i cant  afort it at all, so its gona have to wait.I am very worryed that this might be a brain tumor or aneurysm, and actually this is giving me a lot of stress and anxiety.Any sugestions? does this sounds familiar? please anything would be helpfull.
p.s I do suffer from anxiety disorder, i have a lot of stress and it usualy happents when i am tensed up..........thanks a lot

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-PW]

As you know, I cannot give you a formal medical opinio, only educational advice

Pain that is from the superficial strucutures of the head (skin, scalp etc) does not usually suggest a cause from a deeper strucutre in the brain like a brain tumor - pain that is very localized, tender to touch in one point, is more likely to be from a small perpheral sensory nerve in the scalp that is 'overactive'. This is relatively common and called 'neuralgia'. THe pain may be effectively treated by an injection in the region of the affected nerve of for instance lidocaine etc. Less often there can be an association with vetigo as there is abnormal sensory feedback from the overative nerve which feeds false information into the brainstem, where the signal processes cna mix up the balance signals also. Treatment of the problem nerve will hopfully help the vertigo too. I do not know if this is pertinent to your specific case

Symptoms to be concerned about for brain lesion include seizures, focal neurological signs (weakness or clumsiness on one side of the body)

Sinuse headaches are rare, and are usually actually migraines.

Good luck

[KrisKraft]

I know many people with Lyme with those symptoms.

You can see a comprehensive list of symptoms in peer-reviewed journal articles under "Symptoms and Characteristics (peer-reviewed literature)" on my website:
http://www.openeyepictures.com/underourskin/uos_resources.html
Fewer than half the people with Lyme ever see a tick bite or a rash. The longer you have Lyme, the harder it is to get rid of.

I would strongly urge you to run to a Lyme-experienced physician, which you can find by typing in your location to "Flash Discussions", then "Find a Physician" here:
http://www.lymenet.org/

And you can also enter your symptoms under the "Medical Questions" section, and you can see what other people with similar symptoms think.

KrisKraft
http://www.lymediseasefilm.com/

[jcverive]

Lyme disease is a possibility, but it also happens to be one of the more common "guesses du jour".By this, I mean that it seems to be suggested by readers of this site very often when anyone hasunusual symptoms. Given that you've had headaches for a long time without other significant symptoms until now, I doubt that Lyme disease is your problem.

I also doubt that migraines or migraine variants are your problem. This is a common misdiagnosis by doctors who are not headache specialists. Migraines are almost always characterized by pulsating pain in one region of the head.  Your pain is not pulsating, but its "come and go" nature makes it 'paroxysmal' (in medical terms).  

Sinusitis is also a common guess, but the specific locations and stabbing type of pain make me suspect some sort of cervicogenic (caused by something in the neck or cervical spine) headache, such as occipital neuralgia/neuritis.  I think a trip to a neurologist is a good idea, though it may be better to see a pain clinic doctor first.  

Good luck with your health, and please let us know what your doctors come up with.

[MoonLight23]

hello and thank you for  both replying, i read all the sympotms of lyme disease and and i think my sympotms match, but who knows what i have. And for migrains, i  do get them about once or twice a month, as of matter of fact i have neck problems as well my neck and shoulders get knots and  it hurts a lot and actually last night it got so tight that the pain was from shoulder to neck to head, and a big migrain.When it rains or when i am stressed my neck and shoulder and head  get so tensed up, oh and when i am in a aircondition i get stifed up , but anyways thanks for your replys i apreciated

[KrisKraft]

I would like to respectfully disagree with jcverive on a couple of points, though I can tell that he/she seems to know a lot about medicine, and I agree with the other points.

JC: "Given that you've had headaches for a long time without other significant symptoms until now, I doubt that Lyme disease is your problem."

K: I just got back from a talk by a prominent Lyme clinician, who said that people can harbor asymptomatic Borellia for years, and it can flare when the person has a stressor, such as pregnancy, a car accident, a vaccine, a bad cold, etc. The latest thinking by researchers is that Borellia follows the Relapsing Fever and Syphilis model of infection, where the organism can essentially go dormant in a cyst form, embedded deep within tissues, then come out again when the conditions are right. (Read the Brorson's papers for more info.)

JC: "Lyme disease is a possibility, but it also happens to be one of the more common "guesses du jour."

K: I think Lyme needs to rise in the hierarchy of "educated guesses" when someone presents with multisystemic, wandering, unexplained neurologic symptoms. Unfortunately, the CDC is publicly downplaying the incidence of this disease. While their published surveillance criteria claims there were only about 20,000 cases last year, if you read the fine print in their 2004 MMWR report, they admit that these cases are underreported by "7 to 12 times." That means there were really about 200,000 cases in 2005, more than the reported US cases of AIDS and West Nile combined. I think for people who've been seeking answers for a long time, it's certainly worth spending a couple hundred bucks testing for it. Just make sure you order the ELISA AND the Western Blot IgG and IgM tests, because the ELISA is notoriously unsensitive, missing over half the positive cases.

[jcverive]

If money is indeed no object,  I certainly see no problem with concurrent testing as part of a *rationallly* derived differential diagnosis process.

I stress rational, since it is the doctors who need to go the extra mile when it comes to Lyme disease and other vector-born illnesses.  The degree to which these illnesses go under-reported is  matched by the hype of many well-meaning Lyme-awareness supporting zealots, with the true measure of the risk to public health probably in the middle of the two extremes.

I have no qualms over kriskrafts objections, as long as we use symptoms to separate the zebras from the horses (and vice versa).

[SteveIT]

A spot that's tender to the touch could by a myofascial trigger point in your temporalis muscle--a very large muscle on the side of your head above your ears. While you should look into other causes, a trigger point can cause precisely the sensory symptoms you are experiencing. Stress can cause or exacerbate these trigger points, especially if you unconsciously clench your jaw or grind your teeth when anxious. Slow, firm pressure on a trigger point causes it to release. You can Google trigger points for more information.

Sorry this explanation is not as melodramatic as some of the others, but it may be what you have.

[sbrucks62]

Just curious if you are taking any meds for your anxiety.  Often, vertigo is diagnosed when actually the symptoms are caused from anxiety.  Many symptoms, including pain have been linked to anxiety and depression, in fact, many doctors now prescribe antidepressants for migraines and many other types of pain. You might be amazed at how many of your symptoms disappear if you can get your anxiety under control, especially if you are currently living with a lot of stress.  Luckily, there are many clinics dealing with mental health issues, that can base the cost on your income and even help you with the medication costs.  I believe that it is definitely worth a try and may even change your life.  Believe me, I've seen it many times!

[zzzzzzzzzz]

I'm sure your hearts in the right place and you genuinely want to help, but I'd just like to point out that doctors DO NOT prescribe antidepressants for migraines because the patients migraines are caused by ANXIETY! It just so happens that these meds can perform other functions besides their intended use, and one happens to be migraine prevention - its about keeping arteries open and if it so happens that the patient is feeling depressed or anxious BECAUSE THEY ARE GOING THROUGH HELL WITH ILLNESS DISRUPTING THEIR EVERYDAY LIFE, (often with an underlying worry that its actually some horrible neurological disease causing their symptoms) then thats a bonus isn't it!

[sbrucks62]

I did not say that antidepressants were prescribed for migraines because they were caused by anxiety.  I simply said they are prescribed for migraines and many other types of pain, however, stress and lack of sleep have been linked to migraines and the type of antidepressants prescribed have been proven to be effective for both.
What I really meant to say was that it would be worth a try just to see if getting the anxiety under control might help.  Stress and anxiety can cause many problems, many that I'm sure have yet to be discovered.  My mother had every sign and symptom of severe mold allergies or some type of poisoning, including vertigo, and after many years of pure misery and completely rebuilding her home, she was finally convinced by a neurologist to just try a tricyclic antidepressant.  To her complete amazement, she has been symptom free every since and believe me she was the type that thought things like anxiety and depression are controlled using only mind over matter.
Nevertheless, Moonlight23 should definitely find a way to get a correct diagnosis.

[zzzzzzzzzz]

OK fair comment. I hope you can understand why I jumped on my high horse - when you have these kind of symptoms which are very frightening, one tends to get a little afraid that people will put it all down to stress, depression, anxiety etc and something will be missed. I appreciate that this is not neccessarily where you were coming from and you are right - antidepressants can help these things, but only the symptoms - not the cause, and in the mean time, the problem persists. What most of us want, is a clear diagnosis so that we can seek more specific, appropriate treatment - medical or alternative - for that condition - not all of us cope well with antidepressants - for some of us, the side effects every day are worse than the intermittant symptoms - at least without these effects, some of us get the odd good day.

[lost 1]

moon light, please try to see a neuro. Go to er they sometimes have one on staff or can get one there tolook at you. I am going through problems with trying to find doctors that will help me due to lack of insurance and money. I had to be driven into chicago, 2 hrs away to get to be able to be seen by one and the dr in er made me go straight to see neurosergon no neurologist skipped that bill. good luck hope to hear from you

[*****]

I am 21 and have been suffering from migrains since I was 13. My migrains used to be really bad and last for days. But just a month or so ago every time I started to get a migrain it felt like my head was swelling to the point where it felt like it was going to POP! At this point my head is very sensitive to touch, I couldn't even lay my head down it hurt that much. This feeling would last for about 20min. Than as the pain and pressure starts to go away I would feel light headed as if I was going to pass out! After it was over I have to think about where I'm at sometimes.  
  If anyone has any thoughts about this I would like to hear them.