non-heartbeat pressure pulses in head

[diannet]

Hi, for 6 weeks I've been getting a weird sudden sensation like a single pulse or wave of pressure in my head, NOT connected to my heartbeat. The pulses can be from 45 seconds to 20 minutes apart, but usually average around 7 minutes apart. They scare me. They are disturbing, though I'm not dizzy in the usual sense. My blood pressure is on the healthy side of normal. I had a CT scan recently and nothing showed. (Am on waiting list for an MRI but the queue is long even with urgent request from 3 GPs.).

Bit of history - I know this is a lot but I have been through the worst year of my life with this. About a year ago I had declining kidney function, atrial fibrillation and pericarditis after a terrible chronic headache - confirmed new Toxoplasmosis and suspected Leptospirosis after exposure to rats (rat-infested neighbour nearly died of a bad strain of Lepto a couple of months earlier. And my doctor's wife got Toxo from rats, not cats.) I Have been symptomatic for 13 months with atrial fibrillation, headaches, chronic fatigue, gut upsets, urinary tract infections. I have been on 150 g per day of Flecainide acetate since the onset of the AF a year ago and daily 100 mg aspirin......

Recently I believe I also contracted Rat Lungworm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, from slugs in the garden (sub-tropical east coast of Australia - a child died, another child and man critically ill with this disease in this area). I had another severe - 8 to 9 out of 10 - chronic, 24-hour, intractable headache from mid-August until end September, which started just after moving house and picking 100s of slugs off the new lettuces in the veggie garden. During this headache I had sore glands in my neck, a very stiff sore neck (different from my usual spinal neck trouble), a hot flushed face and head (although not febrile), neurological phantoms like crawling sensations on my head, back and knee, visual peripheral hallucinations, "adrenalin rushes", and many other symptoms listed by sufferers of Rat Lungworm. The headache declined in intensity after September, but I felt unwell all the time and keep getting opportunistic infections after strong antibiotics (for the Toxo/Lepto), such as Enterococcus in urinary tract, Pseudomonas in uterus/cervis, E.col in urinary tract.

Now on top of it all I have this pressure wave thing. It started the day after a terrible argument with my mum's husband. He was being abusive to her when she was sick after major surgery and I got very angry, felt sick afterwards, had the first classical migraine (prodromal aura, etc) for 8 years (none since menopause). Then a day or two after the fight the pressure pulses/waves began. I don't know if the anger and the pressure wave are causally related. For about the last 3 weeks the pulses had been getting less frequent and intense and almost gone, but suddenly started again 2 days ago for no apparent reason. Doctors have never heard of this thing and don't even have a good hypothesis; I can't find anything about it on the internet - people's pulses seem to relate to the heartbeat pulse. This is scary - am I going to have a stroke? Aneurysm? Brain damage? Has anyone even HEARD of this symptom?

[diannet]

Thanks for that. My blood pressure is generally at the low end of normal, where I like it: 100 to 110 on 60 to 70, pretty good for a 57 year-old post-menopausal woman, but I do as much as I can to stay  heathy: no alcohol, coffee, sugar, cigarettes or any other kind of drugs plus I'm gluten-free dairy-free vegetarian, exercise, plenty of sleep, water, supplements, etc. I am a qualified biologist with many years experience in medical research and apply what I learn.

Regarding other symptoms, I don't have any eye difficulties, vomitting without nausea or alterations in consciousness. However I will print your comments and discuss them with my doctor; he can perhaps update his letter to the neurologist I'm seeing in mid January. It's just a very long wait for treatment when something this scary is going on!

[Red_Star]

It sounds you have intracranial pressure waves. ICP waves are seen with increased intracranial pressure. Your pressure wave may be a C wave.  This type of ICP wave correlates with blood pressure (which can rise due to anger) and respiration.

Toxoplasmosis and leptospirosis are both pathogens listed to increase ICP.  Symptoms that suggest a rise in ICP including headache, vomiting without nausea, ocular palsies, altered level of consciousness, back pain and papilledema (optic disc swelling).

Intracranial pressure waves:

A waves:
Plateau waves/ 50-100 mm Hg
Advanced intracranial hypertension
Generally last 15-20 minutes
Sharp increase in ICP of 30-69 mm Hg
Plateaus for 2-20 minutes and returns to baseline
May increase in amplitude and frequency before S&S of ICP seen clinically

B waves:
< 50 mm Hg; correspond to respirations
Warning of potential risk of IICP
Sharp, rhythmic oscillations with sawtooth appearance that occur every 30 sec to 2 minutes
Frequently precede A waves

C waves:
Small waves (16-20 mm Hg)
Correlate to changes in BP and respirations
Lack clinical significance
Occur every 4-8 minutes