Hello-
I’m a 41 year old male, 6ft-2in tall and 180 lbs in overall good health, other than almost daily headaches and brain fog, with migraine headaches every 2 to 4 weeks that last between 12 hours and 4 days. The last 6 months the brain fog seems to be getting worse, making it hard to focus and concentrate at work. I work as an engineer in an office environment and spend a lot of time staring at a computer screen. I have far more days where I don’t feel great due to my head than days where I feel fine.
My feeling is that my headaches are caused by something in my sinuses or somehow related to my neck or posture. Every time I have a migraine, one or both sides of my sinuses are completely stuffed up. The stuffy nose always goes away when the migraine is over, although I never really breathe well from my nose, probably due to my deviated septum. I also don’t seem to have a very good sense of smell if that helps. It’s definitely not as good as it was when I was younger.
The pain always seems to start in either my nose area or the back of my neck. Excedrin Migraine stops the headaches about 75% of the time, and seems to work better when the pain starts in my neck instead of my nose. Since Excedrin only works if I catch the headache early, I use it 4 or 5 times a week since I have headaches pretty much every day of the week. Below is some additional information:
- I had a CT scan approximately 14 years ago. Everything looked normal. Doctor told me to quit drinking caffeine.
- I’ve quit caffeine for 6 months straight on two different occasions, only to have daily dull headaches plus migraines every 2 weeks or so.
- If I sleep more than 6 or 7 hours, I’m almost guaranteed to wake up with a headache. Sleeping in results in throbbing pain in my lower neck as well as behind my eyes.
- I’ve been to 2 different ENT doctors who both said I have a deviated septum, but there were no bone spurs or anything like that and no need for any kind of surgery. One doctor gave me a prescription for migraines and the other a prescription for a steroid spray for my stuffy nose.
- I usually wake up with somewhat of a stiff neck, and always hear ‘crunching’ sounds when I stretch my neck by tilting my head left/right etc.
- When I stand up when getting out of bed, I feel a fluid-type sensation from behind my nose, almost like fluid is draining out, but it does not come out my nose.
- I’ve tried increasing caffeine, such as drinking a cola in the morning and before bed, which seems to make my head feel better when I wake up, but does this contribute to brain fog?
Is the brain fog related to not getting enough sleep? How am I supposed to get more sleep if it triggers headaches as described above? Are my symptoms related to any of the following:
- Thyroid issue?
- MS?
- Leaky gut?
- CSF leak?
- Nutritional deficiency?
- Overactive immune system? I’ve literally only taken 2 sick days in 6 years, and those were due to migraines.
- Spinal alignment / posture issue?
Sorry for the long post! Any help our thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Troy