Killer headaches, feels like I'm having a stroke

[biowham]

Every few weeks, maybe every couple of weeks, for the last few months (about 4-5 months?), I've been wakened in the middle of the night with these pulsing, horrific headaches at the base of my skull. I've given birth unmedicated in my home, and this pain is far beyond that. It's so severe, I consider going to the emergency room every time b/c it feels like something there is about to burst. The thing is, it's positional. When I get up, it calms down considerably to a dull, sort of head-wide ache that's completely bearable. Motrin (a LOT of Motrin) doesn't touch it if I'm lying down. Light and sound do not exacerbate it. It is unrelated to any kind of hormone cycle. This will happen for a couple of nights in a row, and then stop.

I also have pulsing tinnitus (a whooshing in the ear with your pulse).

Add to that that in the last three weeks, I've developed an occipital neuralgia of some kind...a shock that starts at the base of my skull and travels to behind my right eye...takes about a second or two, and the pain is so intense that I have to stop what I'm doing and just bear it. It comes at all and any times--sitting, standing, eating, yawning.

I'm hoping Quix reads this and it triggers some ideas for her, but if anyone else can speak to this, please do. I have MRIs today, so I guess if it's something that can be imaged, it'll show up.

Bio

[DawnYM]

I've gone to the ER for head aches and one was Boston medical, the (we'll call him guy) was like "what do you want us to do") he was so mad like I was inconveniencing him!!! He was getting paid to be there! I drove 35 miles hoping to get respect!!! I got laughed at!!!
My daughter who is 19 was like " my mother has been suffering for months with this head ache and we drove 35 miles to get help and she's not leaving till we get some help"
I was already to leave because I felt ashamed for even going in the first place!!!  They gave me a cat scan and later I could here the same guy laughing at the nurses station saying "yup, that cat scan was normal just as we suspected!!".
I was beside myself, I wanted to... But I didn't ! I went home with a headache neck ache for another couple weeks and one day it was gone!!!

Not so easy to go to er when they think ur nuts, that was my first time at Boston medical !!!!!

My usual hospital thinks I'm nuts and I refuse to go, I've even asked my co workers to put me in a car and drive me elsewhere for help!!! I'm sure if they needed to they'd just call 911!!!
Sorry about going on and on!!!

[steph74]

I'm on both meds and they aren't the same.  Gabapentin is generic for Neurontin and Lyrica is metabolized differently acc'ding to my neuro.  Sometimes combining drugs works better than one alone for TN, though not yet for me.

[Quixotic1]

Bio, any headache described as the "worst they have ever had" is worthy of an ER visit - even now that you have a history of "surviving" some.  A bulging and leaky aneurysm could cause what you are describing and fits with the positional part.  The pressure inside the head is higher when you are horizontal, than it is when you sit or stand.

I'm not in favor of people being cowboys and toughing things out.  You need this evaluated.  This combined with the puslatile tinnitus makes an MRV or something pretty mandatory IMNTHO.

In the case of occipital neuralgia, lying on the back with pressure on the back of the neck could certainly exacerbate it.  In MS a nerve may be damaged, but not quite enough to cause symptoms, then you add a pressure insult to it and it can act up.

To the ER next time, gal, and in the meantime tell your PCP about it.  I would like to see the imaging done before the next headache.

Regular images won't usually show an aneurysm up unless it is actively bleeding and they use contrast (I think).

Quix

Another thing to be aware of is increased intracranial pressure like from a condition called pseudotumor cerebri (idiopathic intracranial hypertension).   Interestingly enough this can be caused by some medications and high dose ibuprofen is occasionally the culprit.  However, ibuprofen more often causes an aseptic meningitis - a meningitis not caused by something that can be seen with the microcsope nor cultered out.

Again, we all have to be careful not to disregard new symptoms as "more of the same" carp we always go through.

[biowham]

That must be someone else. I'm on neither. But Lyrica is the trade name for pregabali.

Bio

[elie777]

Hi I have a question for you.  Why are you on Lyrica and Gabapantin?  These prescription drugs are the same.

[Fluffysmom]

Sounds awful; I hope you do OK in the MRI, no shooting pains or that horrid headache. That makes my trigeminal neuralgia sound like a walk in the park by comparison.  Lyrica and Tegretol help my TN.

Sorry I don't have any insight, just empathy.

Kathy

[Ufrustrated2]

i've had them over the years so i can empathize for whatever that is owrth these days. did the dark closet thing when this issue first happened years ago.

been a few times that a gun to the head seemed like a really good idea as the headache or whatever you or a doctor wnats to call it was driving me sorta like i was feeling insane. know what i mean.

like i said, it was only a thought of a good idea in a mind numbing situation. i am always fearful of those returning because nothing helps - just time.

i'm on and off again with the exercise/stretching which does help and i loved to be in shape kick butt so to speak. but, i now know nothing is consistent with me and theere a is a reason.

when vomiting type headaches happen, i'm off to bed, i gotta be flat, pillows no good for me screwed up neck too, a nerve pill and pain pill an djust ride it out. like what else i'm i gonna do, like have freinds over and party!

we can't work when this happens, no one gives a dhit about it, so we do wath we gotta do.

i knew i did nt' feel good for a few days and now i really know it. i can only wear a hapypy face for like2-3 hours then the real MiSerable self begins show.

i hope you feel better.

[HVAC]

My head hurts so bad I start vomiting and can't stop. I realized dry air and going from cold to hot was making my nerve pain worse. I sleep with a vaporizer to cut down on the dry air. I am limiting my time in the cold. covering my head, neck and face when out. I am also trying to stay ahead of the pain with pain medications. I am doing mild stretching to keep my neck relaxed.

Alex

[steph74]

I have something very similar.  The worst pain is when I'm lying down.  The shocks that I get in the base of my skull are severe enough that at times my head has literally jerked forward due to the intensity of the shock.

I think it's occipital neuralgia.  I've assumed (for me) that all the pain in the back of my head and through my scalp and eyes is related.  It all flares at the same time.  I also have trigeminal neuralgia (bilateral).  The occipital neuralgia initially started on the left (as did the TN), and is now bilateral as well.

I'm taking Lyrica and gabapentin.  Without these I would not be functional.  With them I can manage to hide the pain from my kids and my co-workers.  Initially this was thought to be migraines (which I also have), but the migraine preventatives did *nada* for the pain.

Definitely talk to your neuro about pain medications.  Also, last week when the pain was really excessive for several days (and I started having migraines on top of it), my neuro gave me a single dose of IV solumedrol.  This helped a lot over several days.  I hate steroids, but right now, I'm thinking a 3 day course might have been better, but the single dose definitely helped.

Good luck.

Stephanie
(undx)