Long history of daily headahces, now debilitating

[mandytia]

We have tried and tried different things and cannot get answers.  54 year old male. 10 year history of headaches. Tried migraine med after migraine med, lynrica.  Finally diagnosied with severe sleep apnea.  Was put on bi-pap therapy and things were GREAT, for a year. Now headahces are back with a vengeance. he is no longer able to work, is taking many many drugs.
CAT scan, MRI, lumbar puncture negative. Has been admitted and treated with prednisone for a week with no change.  has seen two neurologists who basically say they have nothing to offer. Stress test negative, carotid doppler negative.  he is type II diabetic, has high choesteral and high blood pressure both controlled with medication.  His diabetes is also controlled with medications.
Meds include, esomeprazole, metformin, norvas,celebrex, nortriptyline, gliciazide, hydrochlorothiazie, micardis, crestor, victoza injection, lyrica, fentanyl, morphine.  He is in pain every hour of every day.  Headaches spike at various times to 9/10. When this happens he is irritible. not able to concentrate, becomes very solemn or lashes out. He has muscle tremors, short term memory loss, swollen feet and legs.  He also has sensations of his head getting bigger, hot water being poured over his head and feeling like his eyes are gonna pop out of his head.

[msteechur]

I am so very very sorry and wish I had an answer. One thing I can say is that as much as possible he needs to get control of the health issues he has control over like Type II diabetes. I have been suffering with daily headaches for almost two years and get the "burning brain" feeling, hot ears, etc. When the pain spikes I agree, concentration is impossible. It's like trying to think "around" a ball of pain. I am a teacher so it's a challenge to try to help kids with problems when I can hardly focus.

This sounds odd, I know, but one thing that helps me is exercise. yes, it's hard to get out and do it when the pain is bad but as the natural endorphins start to circulate I get a level of pain relief. When I went to the UW (Washington) Headache Clinic, that was actually one of the prescriptions (I was already doing it as I was a running/trainer prior to my brain hemorrhage in Jan 2012). When they heard I was already doing it, they were pleased. Other doctors had suggested no running, one had even told me I was too old and I needed to be sedentary (at the time I was 47). But the specialist told me that it helps the body to release the endorphins and that had already been my experience. I had initially continued it because I was determined to continue my previous life, and I expected my headaches to go away at any time, but now it's just part of how I help the pain.

It would also help with some of his other health issues.

[horselip]

Hi-
I am also a long term headache sufferer. I noticed that your husband is on opiate meds. I am too. I have also tried most of the migraine meds and they really did not do much for me.

I do build tolerance over time and the dose needs to be upped every 3 months or so. Over a year ago I was on very doses of Hydromorphone (dilaudid) and Oxycontin. I had been on these meds for over four years and they just stopped working and the side effects were awful.. My doctors weaned me off very slowly and I went of of the meds for about two months.

I was then restarted at only 10 mg of oxycontin twice a day and it provided relief again. This had since been upped to 20 mg. which helps quite a bit.

With opiates we develop tolerance eventually and have to go off, and then restart.

I cannot say that this is the answer to your husband's dilemma, but it is an idea, particularly if his doses of the meds are high.

There are over 300 types of headaches and about just as many ways to treat them. Opiates are sometimes the only thing that works but because of tolerance issues they need to be used carefully.

Just a thought.
Horselip