I know this is totally OT and I probably need to see the doctor but since I'm sitting here at the computer instead of sleeping and there is an "other topic" forum...

For the past 3-4 weeks, I've been having headaches ranging from mild to moderately severe. For the most part, I haven't let them keep me from my daily activities and Tylenol or Ibuprofen seems to dull the pain. They aren't always in the same place, so I couldn't say it's sinus, etc. Sometimes it's behind my eyes, sometimes the top or back of my head, this morning it was the tops of my ears!

I woke up at my usual 5AM and got dressed to go to the gym. On the way there, the headache came on. Along with it came a mild panic attack. I used to suffer debilitating PAs years ago. (I hesitate to use that acronymn here on this website but I'm so used to using it from years back on an anxiety forum...sorry!) They started 6 months after I got married, abated after we left CA and moved back up to WA and came back with a vengeance about 7 years later when we wound up in MA; right before my 40th birthday, I had a bout of labrynthitis (inner ear thingie that causes severe vertigo) and after that the PAs returned. I went back into therapy to try to get rid of them, started an anti-anxiety drug (Klonopin) along with CBT and that seemed to do the trick. I weaned myself off the K when pregnant with my daughter, started back up but in a very, very small dose after she was born and I've stayed there ever since. I think it's more of a psychological crutch at this point.

Anyway, I got to the gym thinking I'd work off the headache and just could NOT bring myself to go in. I had an overwhelming feeling of dread. Weirdest thing! So I came home and laid back down for about an hour. Woke up and felt better, S was getting ready for school. But once I started moving around, the headache came back and I had to lay down again.

Now I'm up and drinking coffee (hmmmm.. maybe there's a connection there...) and feeling moderately better but not steady enough to take on the 40 mile drive to my office. Today is an office day for me but I called in and said I was working from home instead.

I know I probably have to see a doctor. But has anyone had any similar experiences? Stress? Lyme? Something more inisidious like an anyeurism or a tumor? (yeah, hypochondria used to get me during my PA days, too...)

I have had these same types of headaches. Sometimes they make my teeth hurt. It's been going on for months. I guess we should BOTH see a doctor. Caffeine helps me too, but not completely. I hope you find an answer.

Sounds like stress. I get those type of headaches when I'm under stress. Stay away from the coffee, try meditating - some great CDs to help you out and definately see a doctor.

Gg

stress.

Now that you know you're getting close to doing something truly traumatic in your life, your subconscious is kicking in.

but you know you have to follow your mind on this, not your heart. Cos it's the heart that's been enabling him.

It's not just the headaches. I think I'm starting to lapse back into panic attacks again too. Twice at the gym, I've had to leave because I thought I was going to throw up or pass out.

Have you gone to www.unitedway.org to find a therapist you can go to without having to pay? This is NOT something you can handle by yourself.

I don't need United Way (and am opposed to them based on what I consider really squirmy ethics but that's another story...)

I have medical insurance with mental health coverage. But the therapist who treated me for this years back doesn't take my current insurance coverage in her individual practice. She has an individual and she's part of a group. Her group takes my insurance but since I left to follow her to individual, she can't take me back to the other company. The guy who owns the practice is ticked off that she branched out on her own. Office politics, but I lose.

So I have to find another therapist. I'm looking.

In the meantime try meditating - get one of the CD or videos and set aside time every day. Do you keep a journal - writing is a great release.

Gg

Hey OurHouse, a friend of mine happened to mention recently that she her naturopathic physician told her to take magnesium for her headaches. Just thought it might be something you could look into.

Hey, OH. Do you have any other symptoms with the headaches? Neck stiffness, light sensitivity, pain when moving the head or the eyes... You mentioned nausea and feeling like the world is going to end, though you attribute it to potentially PAS. And how would you describe the pain - dull, throbbing, stabbing, burning, etc.? Or is it different every time?

I ask because I suffer from migraines, but I also have severe allergies which means I have sinus headaches as well, and I have a husband and a pre-teenager which means I get stress & tension headaches. And the sinus & tension headaches can "morph" into a migraine. Migraines can appear in different spots (though they tend to have a "favorite" -- mine is above my right eye) and they are often accompanied by nausea and a "feeling of impending doom".

Hi Oh,

Have you had your eyes checked?

I use to get bad headaches too, in different places. Sometimes they were so bad I thought they were migraines.

It was right around my 40th birthday that I went and had my eyes checked. I had no trouble reading, I thought.

Turns out I did need glasses, and after I started wearing them, the headaches went away and never came back, even under the stress I've been under. So....you may want to check that.

I still don't know for sure, but I'm starting to suspect sinus headache and possibly sinus infection. I flew out of town last week and my ears were popping all over the place and it was painful. That's never happened to me before.

The headaches do move. Sometimes I wake up at night with the feeling that someone has been hitting on my forehead with a sledgehammer. Sometimes it feels like someone is driving a shim between my eyes or has the back of my head in a vise grip.

I think the panic is coming from the headaches as my hypochondriac self kicks into overdrive.

Me ,too. Massive HA's. I did not sleep much for a couple years past D-day and I think it messed me up.

Many, many years ago (about 20), I was diagnosed with a chronic sinus infection. It happened at a physical when the doc asked if I'd had any issues. I told him that I always seemed to have a cold - constantly, as if I have allergies or something. Surprisngly, he sent me for x-rays of my head, rather than an allergy test. They came back showing the chronic infection. I was treated aggressively with antibiotics, a corticosteroid nasal spray and I had to take full-dose decongestants (even though I didn't really feel congested exactly). Amazingly, it worked and I felt SO GOOD I hadn't even realized how sick I actually was!

I still get sinus infections - any bug that goes around settles in my sinuses - but they are acute now and the pain can get so bad it feels like my teeth are popping out. But they go away with normal treatment (or on their own) and I don't think I've redeveloped that chronic thing again.

See your doctor!

My headaches started in 2005 - same year as H's drunken ONS. I mostly ignored them until 2007 when I had had some olfactory auras (smelling stuff that was not there like cigarette smoke and coffee) that got worse when I started smelling skunk that was not there). In any case, the headaches were diagnosed as migraines (the olfactory auras are an unusual smyptom). Coindicentally (or maybe not), this was around the start of H's A. I also had some other physical symptoms like panic attacks (thought that was the stupidest thing for ME to have a panic attack, initially thought they were heart related) and a twitch above my left eye. The panic attacks and twitch disappeared after D-day (too busy vomiting????). Interestingly, the eye twitch returned last month, a couple of weeks before H contacted OW and we had a false recovery. The headaches are controlled with medication that I eat like candy.

Bottom line from my perspective is that this connection between the conscious and sub-conscious cannot be denied and will come out one way or another.

AM

After years of migraines, my mom made the connection last year that she only gets them when she's had certain foods, like wine, MSG, and some kinds of nuts. By avoiding her trigger foods and getting strong migraine medicines from her doctor, she's found a lot of relief.

http://www.achenet.org/education/patients/index.asp

an excellent resource

Be sure to visit their art gallery
link

Thanks for posting that website link, Pep. Interesting to note that sinus headaches are often really migraines. I thought I could be having sinus issues but the sensitivity to light, nausea, headaches worsening during exercise (just came from the gym now, having cut my workout short because my head started pounding...)

I have an appt w/ my doctor on Thursday.

I'll have sinus headaches or tension headaches turn into migraines... that's always fun (NOT). Right now I've had sinus pressure for 2 weeks that last week turned into a constant migraine and tooth pain. I'm trying desperately to combat it with Sudafed, Ibuprofen, steroid nasal sprays and I'm finally resorting to saline irrigation (which I should do as a matter of routine with my allergies, but I don't care for it so I "forget" a lot.)

Keep investigating, the more you post the more it sounds like migraine to me... talk to your doc, there's some good migraine meds out now. In the meantime, Excedrin with a coke will a lot of times knock it out (unless it's sinus-driven, in which case you have to deal with the root cause, too!)

Armymama, it's interesting... I also have olfactory auras, I've never known anyone else who had them. I usually smell pepperoni pizza!