headpain to Dr. Abhijeet please answer

[stellamae80]

I have had headaches daily for almost two months with very little relief.  They relieve when I am lying
down and start about 30 minutes after I wake in morning.  Sometimes I have neck pain before they
start as shooting pains and then it radiates to top of head where it will shoot pains, not real sharp but
will settle into  a very sore tight band on top of head.  Sometimes I get a little pain around the left eye.  The only medication that relieves the pain is several of my dad's nerve pills oxazepam but I have to take two 15 milligrams at one time.  I will only do this once a day but after this wears off I get
the pain again.  I am going to a Neurologist on Thursday, maybe you can give me some pointers \
about what to expect.  After years of wonderful medical insurance my husband had to take an early
retirement and now I have no insurance so I can't try a lot of different expensive medications and I
think that I need something to soothe the nerve endings.  Please let me have some advice.  I am
60 years old and do not typically get headaches.  Have had a CT scan and bloodwork and it was
negative.   Thank you

[stellamae80]

Hi. my husband took early retirement  at 62.  He had open heart surgery around 16
years ago, his job consisted of heavy lifting and a long drive.  He has had no major
health problems and I will keep you informed as soon as they do the biopsy on the
suspected melanoma.  Thanks for all you help and concern.  Belva

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hi.

I am sorry for your husband's melanoma. Does he have any other health issues ? He took an early retirement!?

Occipital nerve damage can be tested. The easiest way is to block the nerve with an anesthetic injection in the neck and observe if the pain vanishes. If it does, the diagnosis is confirmed. At the same time, it would be a good idea to get your neck spine assessed for any injuries.

Regards

[stellamae80]

Today my husband went to the doctor and he is suspected of having a melanoma on
his back which they are going to surgically remove on Wednesday, so you can say we
have really been going through it.  Thanks for listening, Belva

[stellamae80]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions.  About the neck
injury, the day before I started having the pains I had lifted a box of heavy dishes into
a closet over my head and they started to slide and I caught them but at the time I
didn't have any feelings of pain.  I may have suddenly jerked my neck I can't quite
remember.  Can the neurologist do a test at his office to detect occipital nerve damage?
Thanks, Belva

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

It is necessary that a Neurologist examines your head and the neck. You headache is a bit unusual in that it starts with the neck.

There are two possibilities you can discuss with your Neurologist. First one is the Tension Headaches. These headaches have all the symptoms that you have. A tension headache comes with stress and anxiety. Simple analgesics may not help. Antianxiety or antidepressant medication works.

The second possibility, a distant one, is that of a neck injury. Do you recall any injury or sudden jerk to the neck recently before this started ? The occipital nerves in the neck muscles may get injured and the symptoms are similar.

Regards