Aa
head pressure?
Hi everfyone, Im glad to have found this forum as Im trying to figure out what actions to take. I had been sent to a neurologist because I had complained about pressure feelings in my head. These feelings are painful (except for twice when they escalated to a migraine) but it feels as if I get a tightening in the base of my skull, which may progress to a very scary pressure feeling in my head. Is the a symptom which is experienced with MS? My neurologist is leaning toward a diagnosis of MS presenting itself in an atypical manner. Anyway, Im at a bit of a loss and was wondering if I could get any input
Thanks for the help!
Thanks for the help!
Hi Jess - This thread is a little old and I haven;t seen Sim around lately. I just didn't want you to think you were being ignored :-)
Kyle
Kyle
I am a 30 year old female who thinks she know exactly your feeling. It is frustrating and I have been dealing with it for over a year now. My neurologist says its migraines but I disagree with him.I don't have any recommendations for you, though I wish that I did.I am so sorry that you are going through it as well.
Hi Shell,
Sorry to hear of your Cspine porblems. I have a few of those too but the neurosurgeon said he didnt believe they would cause the pressure at the base of the head or the pressure I felt- so he sent me to the neurologist. I had an MRI and CT of my cspine and none of the impressions mentioned lesions
No I havent been back to the Doctor yet. Last week the neurologist handed me a CSF test, said "I think you have MS, you should go on meds. Go home and do some research on our website and come back to see me in two weeks". He did not even explain MS to me, only said the meds had awful side effects and cost about 50K per year. The more I think of how he handled the situation the madder I get at him, but that wont change things..
From the research Im seeing I understand why he said i "think" I am not showing lesions, but slight white matter changes and non specific demyelination.from an MRI I had two years ago. Also, I had two OGB in my CSF, but they were also present in my Serum. My neurological examine showed no weaknesses.
Im not able to post a new comment to the forum, but I added a listing of my symptoms, which can be seen above. Would you mind reading it and telling me what you think? Im trying to find out if others have presented this way, or if this is atypical also.
Im not denying I have something going on, but I want to make sure I have an understanding of what is going on before I say yes to meds. A number of years ago I had the bullseye rash from Lymes disease and since Ive been doing my research, I see that Lymes is a MS mimicor
Thanks for any input
Sorry to hear of your Cspine porblems. I have a few of those too but the neurosurgeon said he didnt believe they would cause the pressure at the base of the head or the pressure I felt- so he sent me to the neurologist. I had an MRI and CT of my cspine and none of the impressions mentioned lesions
No I havent been back to the Doctor yet. Last week the neurologist handed me a CSF test, said "I think you have MS, you should go on meds. Go home and do some research on our website and come back to see me in two weeks". He did not even explain MS to me, only said the meds had awful side effects and cost about 50K per year. The more I think of how he handled the situation the madder I get at him, but that wont change things..
From the research Im seeing I understand why he said i "think" I am not showing lesions, but slight white matter changes and non specific demyelination.from an MRI I had two years ago. Also, I had two OGB in my CSF, but they were also present in my Serum. My neurological examine showed no weaknesses.
Im not able to post a new comment to the forum, but I added a listing of my symptoms, which can be seen above. Would you mind reading it and telling me what you think? Im trying to find out if others have presented this way, or if this is atypical also.
Im not denying I have something going on, but I want to make sure I have an understanding of what is going on before I say yes to meds. A number of years ago I had the bullseye rash from Lymes disease and since Ive been doing my research, I see that Lymes is a MS mimicor
Thanks for any input
Hi Sim,
Sorry I never saw your initial post. Has the doc said why leaning toward an MS dx? I admit I do get base of the neck pressure, and pain, but it's mostly due to herniated discs in my c-spine. However, I do have a large lesion in c-spine as well. So, they could compound each other for sure in my case.
What tests have you been through so far? MRIs? labs? Evoked potentials?
The early phases of MS there is an inflammatory process. However, it's not as if the whole brain swells, like a traumatic injury. It's different. It's moreso at those sites there is swelling, and demyelination.
It's very important to stay ontop of the doc and discuss this feeling you are having. Have you been back to the neuro for follow-up?
thanks for joining us,
-shell
Sorry I never saw your initial post. Has the doc said why leaning toward an MS dx? I admit I do get base of the neck pressure, and pain, but it's mostly due to herniated discs in my c-spine. However, I do have a large lesion in c-spine as well. So, they could compound each other for sure in my case.
What tests have you been through so far? MRIs? labs? Evoked potentials?
The early phases of MS there is an inflammatory process. However, it's not as if the whole brain swells, like a traumatic injury. It's different. It's moreso at those sites there is swelling, and demyelination.
It's very important to stay ontop of the doc and discuss this feeling you are having. Have you been back to the neuro for follow-up?
thanks for joining us,
-shell
Im coming to you for help because from what Ive read, you have seen it all and researched so much! Im trying to figure out if my symptoms correspond to MS symptoms or not. I am a 52yr old woman in great health except for what Ive started to experience. Please bear with me, this may be a little long.
In April I woke up in the middle of the night with a tightness in my neck and pressure at the base of the skull. It developed into something which felt like a migraine on the right side of my head. The base of my skull felt like it would pop if I laid down and so did my head, so I paced for about four hrs. I also had tingling on the right side of my head, arm, and leg. Everything was ok the next morn and I figured I had a tension headache.
In July I had the same experience again- tightness in the neck, base of the skull, into a migraine. This time the headache seemed to be on the left side. I saw my GP and she thought muscle induced migraine, and said start exercising and stretching to build the neck muscles. I did, but I kept getting tingling on the right side, without the pressure in my head buildup. The tingling was not every day, and on the days I had it, it might last 5 min. 30min, or an hr, and be gone.
After about 6 wks of exercise I asked for some tests because the intensity of the tingles was getting stronger, and more frequent. We did all the structural tests and the neurosurgeon said he couldnt help that he felt it was neurological.
In the meantime at the beginning of Sept, the symptoms were getting stronger everyday and i was worried they would go back to a "migraine" status and was ready to head to the ER. My GP gave me pred, and within two days the symptoms subsided, leaving me with being back to the occasional on and off tingling on the right side, usually just my arm, rarely down the back of my leg , and everyone once in awhile elevating to tingling in my head and pressure at the base of the skull. I got off the prednisone within one week, and the Neurologist put me on lyrica and through a lot more tests. From what I read the tests are inconclusive.
Anyway, these feelings are still going on today. Almost everday I have feelings, on and off , of tingling in my arm, still rarely in the back of my leg, occasionally in my head. My neck muscle on the right side, still has a huge knot in it, and sometimes I feel that is what is causing my sensations.
Im sorry, Ive been trying to pour over posts and Im info on the web, and Im just not seeing what Im feeling. So Im asking for your help and hope you can share some of your experiences. Do these sound like MS symptoms?
Thanks!
In April I woke up in the middle of the night with a tightness in my neck and pressure at the base of the skull. It developed into something which felt like a migraine on the right side of my head. The base of my skull felt like it would pop if I laid down and so did my head, so I paced for about four hrs. I also had tingling on the right side of my head, arm, and leg. Everything was ok the next morn and I figured I had a tension headache.
In July I had the same experience again- tightness in the neck, base of the skull, into a migraine. This time the headache seemed to be on the left side. I saw my GP and she thought muscle induced migraine, and said start exercising and stretching to build the neck muscles. I did, but I kept getting tingling on the right side, without the pressure in my head buildup. The tingling was not every day, and on the days I had it, it might last 5 min. 30min, or an hr, and be gone.
After about 6 wks of exercise I asked for some tests because the intensity of the tingles was getting stronger, and more frequent. We did all the structural tests and the neurosurgeon said he couldnt help that he felt it was neurological.
In the meantime at the beginning of Sept, the symptoms were getting stronger everyday and i was worried they would go back to a "migraine" status and was ready to head to the ER. My GP gave me pred, and within two days the symptoms subsided, leaving me with being back to the occasional on and off tingling on the right side, usually just my arm, rarely down the back of my leg , and everyone once in awhile elevating to tingling in my head and pressure at the base of the skull. I got off the prednisone within one week, and the Neurologist put me on lyrica and through a lot more tests. From what I read the tests are inconclusive.
Anyway, these feelings are still going on today. Almost everday I have feelings, on and off , of tingling in my arm, still rarely in the back of my leg, occasionally in my head. My neck muscle on the right side, still has a huge knot in it, and sometimes I feel that is what is causing my sensations.
Im sorry, Ive been trying to pour over posts and Im info on the web, and Im just not seeing what Im feeling. So Im asking for your help and hope you can share some of your experiences. Do these sound like MS symptoms?
Thanks!
Thanks for the input and I will try your test if/when it happens again. The pressure sensation I get radiates from the base of the skull and although there is no pain, I feel like my head might explode! I cant lay down because it increases the pressure. It feels like my brain is just not right. Twice it has turned into a migraine, but all the other times it has stopped before then. So the brain will actually inflame from a flare up? Oh boy, do I have a lot to learn.
I think I get that. Does your head feel like it is helium filled not painful though. I usually will set my eyes on a still object and turn my head back and forth while spotting the still object. If I get dizzy or nauseaus I know my brain is inflamed from a flare-up. That's my feeling 'of' it from my past experiences. I've had my diagnosis since Oct. '02.
PS. I had a typo, correction made.
Best of luck to you I hope they get to the bottom of it for you.
.
I think I get that. Does your head feel like it is helium filled not painful though. I usually will set my eyes on a still object and turn my head back and forth while spotting the still object. If I get dizzy or nauseaus I know my brain is inflamed from a flare-up. That's my feeling if it from my past experiences. I've had my diagnosis since Oct. '02.
Thanks for the reply, and the welcome :-) its wonderful to have a group to bounce things off of. The support is appreciated. Good luck with your diagnosis. Im sending out a prayer for you.
I am not diagnosed with anything but wanted to say hi and welcome. I haven't had the pressure in the back of my skull that you describe, but I have had stabbing pain at the base of my skull on the right side.
Hopefully someone who has experienced this or has more knowledge will chime in soon.
Best of luck,
Minnie :)
Hopefully someone who has experienced this or has more knowledge will chime in soon.
Best of luck,
Minnie :)
Would I be safe in assuming that if I dont see alot of affirmatives, that this is not a common symptom?
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