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headache pain and aneurysms?
Ok I NEED answers and if anyone has any, I would greatly appreciate it! I have had headaches for 11 days now. I am taking topomax and it doesn't seem to be doing anything. I am extremely fatigued. I sleep like 12 hours a night and then take several naps. I am a 26 year old female otherwise in good health. I do have anxiety and tend to think the worst so thats why I wanted others opinions. I have a baby to think about so I really need to get better. I had a CT, MRI/MRA on Oct 31st of 2006 that were clear but did show chronic sinusitis. I have called my neurologist and she didn't seem too concerned...I have an appt. next week. She did a BAER test yesterday which I'm not really sure what that will do. I have also had ear fullness and ringing in my right ear for a week now. My right ear has regular tinnitis and pulsatile tinnitis. I read somewhere that sudden tinnitis can be something like an aneursym or something. Do you think thats what it is? I also recently (2 days ago) developed pain behind and directly above my eyes - very painful! I also have a lot of pressure in the front of my head by my eyes - like a band of pressure. My questions are...
Do you think that anuerysms can develop that fast if my tests were clear 2 1/2 months ago? What else could it be? Should I seek ER tests soon? I'm very worried and any help would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thank you and God bless!
Do you think that anuerysms can develop that fast if my tests were clear 2 1/2 months ago? What else could it be? Should I seek ER tests soon? I'm very worried and any help would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thank you and God bless!
First of all, keep in mind that I am unable to diagnose you because I am unable to examine you, this forum is for educational purposes.
The headache that you describe are unlikely to be due to anueryems or other ominous pathologies. Anuerysms do not develop overnight, and most often are present for many years without causing and problems/headaches, then may rupture unexpectantly. The good news is that you did not have anuerysms on your MRA and thus you should not be concerned. MRA is not the best study for aneurysms, but is a good screening tool. If there is any thing suspicious on the MRA a CT angiogram can be done that look at contrast dye filling in the cerebral vessels. The 'Gold standard' is the convential angiogram, which is done when there is bleeding from an anuerysm(sub arrachnoid hemorrhage), to repair an anuerysm (through endovascular coiling, etc) or when other tests are unclear. Your headaches sound like a primary headache syndrome and are most likely in the migraine spectrum. I would recommend a MRV (magnetic resonance venogram) if you have not had one, since after pregnancy women are more prone to sinus venous thrombosis, which can cause headaches like you describe. Topamax is a preventative medication that works after 3-4 weeks of use, so I would suggest giving it a full trial. I think the BAER is a reasonable test to evaluate you complaint of tinnitus and ear fullness, and should also be accompanied with other tests of ear/vestibular testing, such as ENG. In the case you described, I would recommend a trial on Indocin (a strong anti-inflammatory medication) and possilbly a medrol dose pack (steroid taper). I would also caution against using to many over the counter pain relievers (tylenol, ibprofen, etc) because this can cuase rebound headaches.
I hope this has been helpful.
The headache that you describe are unlikely to be due to anueryems or other ominous pathologies. Anuerysms do not develop overnight, and most often are present for many years without causing and problems/headaches, then may rupture unexpectantly. The good news is that you did not have anuerysms on your MRA and thus you should not be concerned. MRA is not the best study for aneurysms, but is a good screening tool. If there is any thing suspicious on the MRA a CT angiogram can be done that look at contrast dye filling in the cerebral vessels. The 'Gold standard' is the convential angiogram, which is done when there is bleeding from an anuerysm(sub arrachnoid hemorrhage), to repair an anuerysm (through endovascular coiling, etc) or when other tests are unclear. Your headaches sound like a primary headache syndrome and are most likely in the migraine spectrum. I would recommend a MRV (magnetic resonance venogram) if you have not had one, since after pregnancy women are more prone to sinus venous thrombosis, which can cause headaches like you describe. Topamax is a preventative medication that works after 3-4 weeks of use, so I would suggest giving it a full trial. I think the BAER is a reasonable test to evaluate you complaint of tinnitus and ear fullness, and should also be accompanied with other tests of ear/vestibular testing, such as ENG. In the case you described, I would recommend a trial on Indocin (a strong anti-inflammatory medication) and possilbly a medrol dose pack (steroid taper). I would also caution against using to many over the counter pain relievers (tylenol, ibprofen, etc) because this can cuase rebound headaches.
I hope this has been helpful.
Good luck at your appointment tomorrow. I hope it goes well for you and you get the answers you need. I'll be sending good thoughts your way.
I am sorry I scared you..I didn't mean to..I thought that maybe your signs were happening at that moment, then of course that would warrant a trip to the ER. Another reason would be if you have severe pain that just won't go away with meds, interfering with eating or functioning, or if you have other new problems that just can't wait for a visit to the docs. You have been through alot of tests, the not knowing exactly what is causing all of this is sure taking its toll on you physically and mentally. I just hope that your doc sends you to the right specialists so that you finally can get relief. If he or she suspects other disorders, then more tests will be run.Hopefully there will be that one doctor who can put together the puzzle.
I went through alot of what you did tests, tests aand more tests...diagnosing me was a nightmare. I went to alot of different neurologists because of weakness in my legs, then I couldn't breathe when I exerted myself. I chalked it up to my ashtma. I couldn't have been farther from the truth..after a battery of lung and muscle tests, the docs found that I have a rare type of dystrophy with a paralyzed diaphragm. I now live on a vent. I am a rare case, a zebra within a large cluster of horses. Iwas called crazy, psycho somatic etc...prior to being diagnosed. Honestly, I went through 4 different neuros, 2 different pulmos. My lesson to you is to not give up, find your answers and don't let anyone call you nuts!!!
Oh an here is the icing on the cake...I was also diagnosed with cystic fibrosis not too long ago with the persistance of my primary doc. No doc thought of CF, I had alot of symptoms...rapid weight loss, growing wierd bacteria even for a vented person, developed diabetes and do have sinus issues. To make another long story short, I am treated at a CF center along with my other docs...team effort. Took years to finally get the right answers. I hope that this craziness won't happen to you, but like I said, follow your gut and fight hard if you need to.
Sunny
I went through alot of what you did tests, tests aand more tests...diagnosing me was a nightmare. I went to alot of different neurologists because of weakness in my legs, then I couldn't breathe when I exerted myself. I chalked it up to my ashtma. I couldn't have been farther from the truth..after a battery of lung and muscle tests, the docs found that I have a rare type of dystrophy with a paralyzed diaphragm. I now live on a vent. I am a rare case, a zebra within a large cluster of horses. Iwas called crazy, psycho somatic etc...prior to being diagnosed. Honestly, I went through 4 different neuros, 2 different pulmos. My lesson to you is to not give up, find your answers and don't let anyone call you nuts!!!
Oh an here is the icing on the cake...I was also diagnosed with cystic fibrosis not too long ago with the persistance of my primary doc. No doc thought of CF, I had alot of symptoms...rapid weight loss, growing wierd bacteria even for a vented person, developed diabetes and do have sinus issues. To make another long story short, I am treated at a CF center along with my other docs...team effort. Took years to finally get the right answers. I hope that this craziness won't happen to you, but like I said, follow your gut and fight hard if you need to.
Sunny
I suggested the ER is your symptoms are acute and your message was written in capital lettering which means in linguistic typology. This is why.
So, again, in answer to your question: YES! If the symptoms are acute. If they wax and wan and have been around for awhile or before you had all of those tests and studies I would say "probably not" and to book an appointment with your family doctor.
Playing guessing games with your self will get you nowhere. In a sense, it can be torture. If your testing sequences were reported negative then this lessens the severity of your outcome in some respect. However, there is so much information that I do not have to be clear on my opinion.
You need to see a physician in person and if he/she says no and you are not comfortable; listen to your gut and see another. If this time this physician says "clear" then you will have to look elsewhere perhaps into psychosomatic problems, stress, et al.
Good Luck!
JCmcc.
So, again, in answer to your question: YES! If the symptoms are acute. If they wax and wan and have been around for awhile or before you had all of those tests and studies I would say "probably not" and to book an appointment with your family doctor.
Playing guessing games with your self will get you nowhere. In a sense, it can be torture. If your testing sequences were reported negative then this lessens the severity of your outcome in some respect. However, there is so much information that I do not have to be clear on my opinion.
You need to see a physician in person and if he/she says no and you are not comfortable; listen to your gut and see another. If this time this physician says "clear" then you will have to look elsewhere perhaps into psychosomatic problems, stress, et al.
Good Luck!
JCmcc.
I hope you are feeling a little better today. I just wanted to say that you need to pick a doctor or doctors you are going to trust and BELIEVE. The more docs you see the chances that someone is going to find "something" increases. It doesn't mean that something is wrong, it just could be that there is a some point a false positive. I have had a number of echocardiograms, they all have been different. The more tests you have by different docs they varied the results due to techs giving the tests to equipment. Just be wary of that.
I don't think you have anything serious, but I am no where near a doctor. I think you do, however, need to at least give anxiety a thought. You can and will exacerbate your symptoms by reading online and self diagnosing. No one here has the ability to see you or your charts and even if they did, they aren't clinically qualified to diagnose you. You are going to get a lot of people telling you stress, anxiety but you are probably going to get a response of someone you says, YIKES go to the ER--I had that same thing.
Actually a couple people, due to your appearant desperation suggested the ER and you questioned that. I can really sympathize with what you are feeling. I went to Centra care the other night because my chest hurt so bad and I was so short of breath. They said my EKG was NORMAL but wanted to call an ambulance and send me to the ER because of my shortness of breath and chest pains. Those are considered heart disease until proven otherwise. I freaked out. I said, I'll go but I'll drive and they said no. I had to sign out of there against medical advice because of the liability on their part. So my point is, what am I wanting and waiting to hear? They said go and I said no.
Please stop reading and self diagnosing. I have "had" all sorts of diagnosis since I started researching my chest pains online. Scary, scary stuff.
Good luck to you and I wish you all the luck in the world.
tanns
I don't think you have anything serious, but I am no where near a doctor. I think you do, however, need to at least give anxiety a thought. You can and will exacerbate your symptoms by reading online and self diagnosing. No one here has the ability to see you or your charts and even if they did, they aren't clinically qualified to diagnose you. You are going to get a lot of people telling you stress, anxiety but you are probably going to get a response of someone you says, YIKES go to the ER--I had that same thing.
Actually a couple people, due to your appearant desperation suggested the ER and you questioned that. I can really sympathize with what you are feeling. I went to Centra care the other night because my chest hurt so bad and I was so short of breath. They said my EKG was NORMAL but wanted to call an ambulance and send me to the ER because of my shortness of breath and chest pains. Those are considered heart disease until proven otherwise. I freaked out. I said, I'll go but I'll drive and they said no. I had to sign out of there against medical advice because of the liability on their part. So my point is, what am I wanting and waiting to hear? They said go and I said no.
Please stop reading and self diagnosing. I have "had" all sorts of diagnosis since I started researching my chest pains online. Scary, scary stuff.
Good luck to you and I wish you all the luck in the world.
tanns
I believe that you should go to the ER as soon as possible if these symptoms are acute. No one here is prepared to diagnose you and your message is plainly asking for that.
It can take months to be ansered by a neurologist and even then he/she cannot diagnose you on here.
If the symptoms are not acute contact your PCP immediately and if you cannot get a same day/next day appointment see an ER resident.
I would act accordingly but do not panic.
Good Luck!
JCmcc.
It can take months to be ansered by a neurologist and even then he/she cannot diagnose you on here.
If the symptoms are not acute contact your PCP immediately and if you cannot get a same day/next day appointment see an ER resident.
I would act accordingly but do not panic.
Good Luck!
JCmcc.
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