For Dr. Abhijeet Three months now with unrelenting headache and neck pain

[stellamae80]

I am posting again at this board because I have had a unrelenting 24/7 headache now for three months.  I think it
is getting worse.  I have tightness at top of neck at base of skull with occasional neck pains and have pains
shooting up back of head and some times a crampy type pain up center of skull.  Headache does not got past top
of head.  I also have a very sore scalp and sometimes head feels tight.  When I lie down the shooting pains subside.
I have had a CT scan and MRI of the brain and they were negative.  I have had a neck Xray which showed nothing
significant.  I was put on Lexapro and had to come off because of a skin burning side effect.  I have now been
put on Lyrica but I don't know yet if it will help as they say it takes 2 weeks to get into system.  I don't go back to see
my Neurologist until June 3rd.  Does anyone out there have these symptoms and have they been diagnosed.  I don't
know if trigger point injections would help or not at this point.  Please Dr. Abhijeet, please advise what you think it
might be.  I am 61 years old and have never had headaches.  Thank you

[ShakinThingzUp]

Does most of the pain subside when you lie flat?

Upon rising slowly and carefully do they immediately return?

If the answer to these are yes, then tell your doctor those specific things.  There is such a thing as a spontaneous Spinal Headache, caused by spinal fluid leaking (even without a puncture).  My understanding is that this is rare, but does happen ------- and if your headaches subside when you lie flat, this is very important for your doctor to know!

God Bless!
Amy

[stellamae80]

Yes lying down relieves headache I have thought about a spinal fluid leakage since
this headache came on suddenly.  I will definately tell my doctor about this.  Right now
he has me on Lyrica and I have not seen any significant change.  I saw a show on the
Discovery Health channel about a women that had headaches for 7 months and they
finally did a lumbar puncture and she had leakage.  She had to have 17 brain surgeries
to get the leakage under control.  I think this is rare.  Thanks for answering.
Belva

[ShakinThingzUp]

That extreme case you saw on tv is why it is so important that your doctor rule out a CSF leak in your case....... I'm certain there are many things that could be causing your headache, but IF you have a CSF leak, they can DO something about it.... before so much damage is done.... Also, having had a spinal headache in 2002, I know how awful life can be while enduring one...  Hopefully your doctor will address this possibility right away.

God Bless!
Amy

[drma]

I know this is an old post. Did you ever find out?
Mark