Headaches

[moonoriquit 7]

So I've been having a dull but constant headache since maybe November. My health anxiety was so bad that every day was unbearable and the only thing that I thought could bring me any comfort would be an MRI telling me my brain is fine. Eventually my doc told me it was a sinus infection, gave me antibiotics, and sent me on my way. The headaches were less intense for awhile but never really went away. Recently I got a bad mucusy cough went back to my doctor and he said the same thing again. I told him my head was killing me and he told me sinusitis again. But I'm just not sure.

The right side of my head hurts me so badly, sometimes the pain shoots down to my neck and it feels like the back of my head where my neck and head meet is just radiating pain. My right shoulder hurts. My right eye hurts. The scalp on the right side of my head is very tender and hurts a little to touch, the right side of my face is too.

I'm trying to ignore this because I realize anxiety makes it worse but it just hurts so bad, and I'm trying to figure out what could be causing this. I have minor scoliosis and I'm wondering if I have TMJ because sometimes when I'm stressed I clench my jaw without realizing it. I'm pretty sure I've woken up doing it too so I think I do it in my sleep. I'm just so nervous it could be something worse, but I don't know what to do. The fear and anxiety in me is yelling at me right now to go to the ER and get an MRI done, but the saner side of me is reminding me of the five hospital visits I had just a few months ago when I was convinced I had colon or pancreatic c****r. Every test, including a CT scan of my stomach showed I was absolutely fine. However, I remember my stomach pain was so bad one night I was on the floor in tears. So part of me thinks my anxiety over the situation is what makes the pain worse. And yet there's still this part of me that thinks what if... And it keeps me awake all night scared and confused :/ not sure if it's worth it to go to the ER but I just cannot get over this pain. Don't know what to do.

[jonathan123 2368]

Hi moon. I suffer from sinus trouble and it can really hurt. I don't go to the doctors any more because I know that I will get it every Winter. It is the cold weather that brings it on. Olbas oil helps me a lot. Putting your head over a basin of hot water with a few drops of Olbas oil and breath the vapours through the nose for about five minutes. Strangely, sinus trouble can affect our health in general and can make some people depressed.

This is not the sinus that you get after a cold but is a chronic condition. Give it a try and also try not to worry. You have had all the tests so believe them. 'Confused'. That is the cause of a lot of heartache. But really there is nothing to be confused about. It is straightforward fear and anxiety that is the problem. The confusion arises from the 'what ifs'. Calm acceptance, if you can manage it, is the answer, but not easy.    Jon.

[Dany 10]

If you never had a MRI done I suggest doing that. Why? So your mind can not bring these negative thoughts about doing an MRI and 
"what ifs" when the panic starts. Knowing for sure that you are completely healthy will set your mind at the subconscious level. I am sure you MRI results will come up great and that you don't have anything to worry about.

 

Remember, you are doing this only for your subconscious mind. Once this is done, you can start working on your health anxiety. There are many effective techniques that can help you and the best one for you might be cognitive therapy. Go and see a specialist and decide together what might be the best treatment for you.

 

Take care and stay positive!

[moonoriquit 7]

Thank you both for your responses.. I'd really like to get an MRI done just not sure how to go about doing that. I'm pretty sure you either need your doctor's referral for one or if you go to the ER and say you're in excruciating pain then maybe they will give you one. I've seen my doctor twice since I started getting these headaches and he has yet to mention an MRI so maybe I will just wait it out a bit longer.

[Sunnybunny 289]

Hi Moonori. I am not a doctor but it definitely sounds like the anxiety and tension is a big contributing factor to your pain.

Also the headaches you describe that go down your neck and behind your eye sound much like the types of headaches I get. My chiropractor told me they are sub occipital headaches and are certainly triggered by tension, clenched jaw,and sometimes posture. Now I don't recommend chiropractors unless you can find a good one- there are too many crack-quacks out there! But a good chiro who doesn't use cracking or a massage therapist could help.

I was always clenching my jaw and jutting my head too far forward and once I got that reversed (mouth guard for sleeping and exercises to improve posture and strengthen neck muscles) it greatly helped with the frequency and severity of my headaches. Rest assured that headaches are very, very, very common and are usually (i bet almost always) related to stress, tension, poor posture, poor eating habits. Only rarely are headaches a symptom of something more serious.

But I feel for you as a bad headache can be very debilitating. Feel free to PM me if you would like some more ideas on how I got my headaches better under control.

[jonathan123 2368]

Do you have Osteopaths in Canada? I went to a chiropractor once and that was enough. Too much 'crash bang' for my liking. Osteopathy is a more gentle form of physical therapy and if I get back problems I go there.      Jon.

[Sunnybunny 289]

I have never heard of an osteopath although I googled it and apparently there is a College of Canadian Osteopaths. We have physiotherapists, massage therapists, chiropractors, acupuncturists and I'm sure plenty of other practitioners I am not familiar with.

I have seen only a couple of chiropractors and the are definite differences in that field depending on the practitioner. I recommend them with a lot of hesitation due to the fact that there are so many that crack and manipulate in ways that make me nervous. My chiro uses only gentle movements and a drop-table to correct alignment. He wouldn't dream of cracking and I would never go back if he did. Also he won't treat anyone the first time until he has seen X-rays. That puts some people off due to the added expense but it makes good sense.

[amylou93 0]

Hi Moonoriquit,

I myself am going through the same thing as you right now! its stressful, confronting and scary! My anxiety has snow balled since I broke my ankle in November. My health anxiety has been chronic since the start of December even impacting on my Christmas.

It all started with a lump I found in my groin, then I had bad pains in my stomach, then I forced my doctor to give me a full blood test to check every thing. My results all come back fine, except for a B12 Deficiency which I already knew about.

 

I started having a head ache on the 16th of December, that was because I was stressing and slight food poisoning, so I had a head ache for 4 days that would come and go due to dehydration and not eating from stress. Then the 20th of December rolled around, I had a constant head ache for a week, I felt like It was never going to give in or go away. All those thoughts that you are having, I had. "what if I have a tumor, what if it is something more serious, what if It hasn't shown in my blood tests, what if the doctor was wrong". 

 

I went away for Christmas holidays on the 25th, and returned back home on the 2nd, my constant head aches were nearly gone. They would come and go but were not sticking around ALL THE TIME like the previous week. My head aches were effecting my vision, but I realized it was me over thinking.

As soon as I got home from Holidays, BAM. Anxiety kicked into over drive, head aches were back in full swing.

 

I phoned my grandma as she suffered from chronic anxiety when she was younger, she was admitted to a hospital and given shock treatment. She is the only one I can talk to when it comes to my anxiety who understands what I am going through.

 

The pain I have been experiencing has been across my fore head, under my eyes, back of my head, in my neck & my shoulders. Its all Tension. I didn't think it was possible for you to have a head ache for this long, because surely right, if you are experiencing this much pain you must be dying? Wrong. You're brain is SO SO SO Powerful. All my other symptoms that I had, the pain in my groin & leg, stomach pains, feeling sick have all gone away since I have conjured up this new symptom.

 

The Doctor wont give you a CT just to clear your mind. It is far to much radiation exposure for an unnecessary cause. I know this because I to was thinking of having one, until my Best friend who is a Nuclear Medicine student and nurse told me that they would not do it unless you had other symptoms.  

 

And another fun fact, my pop had a brain tumor, he didn't even know he had it. Its really rare that brain tumors give head aches & if they do it is only in one spot, not all over your head like we have been having. They found his brain tumor because he was having funny smells.

 

As hard as it is, you just have to relax. Its not going to go away until you do. My head aches are the worst at night time before I go to sleep, its like a little switch in my brain that goes off and tells me to go into panic mode. I only had two hours sleep last night, I had a panic attack and the medication I take to get me through didn't work because I was so wound up.

 

My grandma gave me some tips on how to relax your body. Tense your body parts as hard as you can for 10 seconds, then release and let your body go floppy. start with your feet, then work your way up through your body. You can also close your eyes and imagine that youre head ache is stranded on an island and you are on a boat sailing away from it.

 

It is extremely hard to get control of, I am still in the very early learning process, trust me. You just have to keep youre self occupied and distracted and re assure your self that the doctor is the doctor, head aches VERY Rarely relate to anything serious & the pain you are having is caused my stress and tension.

 

Feel free to message me if you want to talk more