forehead pain

[msh5617]

the pain starts when I sit in front of my computer.  Its is right above my eye sockets, in between above the nose.  This is a pain that take my focus away from work and study.  I rub a tiny bit of Ben Gay for a minute or so which seems to help a bit and allow me focus on for 30 minutes.

I have been having this pain for a long time (more then 10 yrs).  My G.P. gave me a full course of triple dose (1500mg) of amoxacilin to cure any infections. Later I went to several ENT specialists.  One ordered a CAT scan thinking my sinuses may be causing this.  After the scan result, he said the sinuses seems to be cleared.  Another ordered a MRI covering front and back of head.  At the end of her diagnosis, she said nothing was found.  She prescribed Flonase for my stuffed nose.
Opthalmologist after examination increased the number on my prescription glasses from -4.0 to -5.25.  But i am still having the same annoying pain.

[Dr Santos]

Hi,
How are you? It is good that the results of your CT and MRI were both fine. Aside from refractive errors, sinusitis and migraine headache, other causes of forehead pain include underlying medical conditions such as hypertension and even diabetes. If you have been working in front of the computer for long periods of time, this may also be occupational in nature. The eye exercises mentioned by Marilee are very helpful and need to be done regularly. If the pain persists despite medication, you may need to have this checked by your doctor or be referred to a neurologist for further evaluation. Take care and do keep us posted.

[marileew]

Hi msh5617,

It is good that you have already went to a doctor for this, and that you had scans done to rule out infection or other diseases. Since your CT and MRI were clean, that rules out infection. Getting your eyes checked was the correct thing to do next, and it is good that you now have the correct prescription glasses. Having the correct prescription glasses will reduce eye strain and reduce the amount of headaches you get caused by eye-strain.

Even with the correct prescription lenses, you can still get eye strain if you work at your computer or read for too long. Make sure to take very short breaks very often by looking away from your computer and looking at something far away for just a second or two even. Do that often, every minute or two if you can remember. Also, take slightly longer breaks every half an hour where you do "eye exercises" such as focusing on something far away, and then something close, and far away again, or pretending to follow the arrows of a giant clock from Noon to Midnight with your eyes, slowly. You can ask your eye doctor for many more "eye exercises" like this.

It is also possible that these are not related to your eye-sight at all, it is just the computer that is triggering another type of headache, such as a migraine. Migraines are usually felt behind or around one eye, but they can happen on both sides of the head as well. If you have pain around your eye that does not respond well to over-the-counter medication and is distracting you from your every day activities, it is possible you have a migraine. Migraines rarely respond well to many over-the-counter medications, and some over-the-counter medications can even make migraines worse. It might be a good idea to see a neurologist. A neurologist could tell you if you have migraines, and could also prescribe you the proper medication to stop your migraines. Triptans are first-line migraine medication and should be tried first unless you have a medical condition that prevents the use of triptans. The most effective triptans are the quick-absorbing triptans, such as Zomig Nasal Spray, Maxalt-MLTs, or Imitrex Injection. Imitrex Injection is rarely used since it is an injection, but Zomig Nasap Spray or Maxalt-MLTs are simple to take and usually work for most people. Sometimes people use a medication called Naproxen in combination with their triptans, and that works very well. Sometimes people use an antiemetic along with a pain killer (such as Tylenol+Codeine OR Naproxen) OR triptan, one of the most effective antiemetics for migraines is Metoclopramide.

I hope that you find an effective treatment plan for these headaches soon! Keep in touch!

- marilee