Recurring Pulsing Headaches in Temples, and other strange sensations

This past winter I stayed up really late several nights in a row playing a video game in the dark, and suddenly I felt an intense pain in my right temple unlike any I've ever felt before. Its not just that it hurt bad, its that it was a new kind of sensation that I've never experienced before. It felt like something had ripped or popped loose, and it instinctively put me into a state of panic/shock. Touching it it feels like there is a big pulsing bulge there, which I assume is an artery, and the sensation of touching it resembles the pain of touching a bruise. although pressing it flat causes some momentary relief.

I decided to go to the ER. However, they found nothing. Over the next few months I continued to have similar pains in both that temple and the other temple at random times. I had doctors look at it, even getting an MRI on the area. But they could not find anything. They said it sounded a bit like temporal arteritis, but they ruled that out because I didn't have any of the other symptoms, and I am too young (I am 36). They also said they saw no sign of anuerism, which would have shown up years ago for a previous MRI I had for unrelated issues.

Back in my 20s I had a whack to the right temple by a foam sword wrapped in duck tape, which I remember feeling similar to this afterwards, so I suspect that may somehow have been a catalyst to the current situation. But, again, doctors don't see any sign of damage.

Since that late night incident I have started a job as a produce clerk. Its pretty fast pace and involves a lot of lifting and repetitive moments, and this seems to be squeezing the nerves at the base of my neck, which leads to tension headaches and general unpleasant sensations. I have also noticed that I am now getting the temple/vascular pains more often now. Lying down on my back can exacerbate it, so when it flares up, I will try to sleep sitting up.

I have some concern about blood pressure because many of the people on my father's side died of cardiovascular problems, and I had one or two blood pressure checks back in 2021 where my reading came back abnormally high and I was told to keep an eye on it.

I'm basically just trying to figure out what this thing is, and what I should do in response to it. I don't just want to numb the pain, I want to understand the issue.

I have not recently been to an opthamalogist. I have had an eye exam from an MD in the past couple years (I am nearsighted and wear glasses and contacts).

I did see a neurologist. She was the one who ordered the MRI. She couldn't find anything.

I was prescribed a muscle relaxer (10mg generic cyclobenzaprine tabs) by an NP in my PCP's office as she was unavailable. I agreed to try it as an experiment for the purpose of isolating the source of the problem. The first night I took it, it eliminated all pain (however I could still feel tightness in my temples) and I was able to get a good night's sleep, although I feel asleep so fast it actually startled me and I ended up waking up in a mild panic after an hour, feeling very drowsy, like I do when I've had too much Nyquil.

I did not take it the following night. But the night after that I was feeling that bruised/aching pain in my right artery again, so I took a cyclo. It did absolutely nothing at all, even after waiting 45 minutes. There was no noticeable impact. The pain did not go away. I didn't feel drowsy. It was like I hadn't taken it at all. But then I went to sleep and feel asleep unusually fast like before, with a drowsy/mildly dizzy sensation like before. I didn't notice the pain after I started to fall asleep.

I told the NP that the cyclo had no effect the second time I tried it. She responded by immediately prescribing Meloxicam and sending it to my pharmacy without discussing with me first. From what I can tell, it is an anti-inflammatory used to treat pain caused by different kinds of arthritis. Besides the fact this wasn't discussed with me first, this doesn't seem like the right approach. The pain I am having is clearly not an arthritis issue. There are no joints in the side of my temple, and I don't have any kind of noticeable joint issues elsewhere in my body. I am not going to take the new med without further discussion with my doctors and analysis of the risks of taking this medication.

As a side note, there is evidence that some of the pain and sensations I've experienced may be related to or caused by migraine. This is because I have recently started seeing sparks appear at the edges of my vision at random times, and I notice that the uncomfortable symptoms I've been getting seem to lessen when I'm in a dark and quiet room. I also talked about the symptoms with a relative who is a retired nurse and she also thought it was migraine. Also the fact that I've been getting overloaded with sensory stimuli over the past few weeks. That being said, I do NOT think that this is the source of the bruise-like pain and pulsing in my temple artery. That specific pain clearly operates separately from the other symptoms.

Post Edited (BurntToast) : 5/21/2024 12:37:36 PM (GMT-8)