Lyme Disease and Headaches

Anyone else have bad headaches since contracting Lyme Disease? I suffer with them really bad. It's not the "usual" headache, it is very intense and causes me to pretty much lay down for the day. Advil sometimes isn't enough. I usually get a really intense pressure/pain at the base of my skull, right above my shoulders....where my neck meets the bottom part of my skull.

I've tried so many things to ease them when I feel them coming on and nothing seems to work. Once they start, I'm done for the day. I'm assuming it's the inflammation that Lyme causes that brings these headaches on?

Does anyone else get these bad headaches? What do you do/take for them? Does changing ones diet help?

Any suggestions appreciated.

Hi All!
I have a particular issue with headaches as well - they seem to come in all shapes, sizes, & colors!! Depending on what type, I have learnec a few things that can help - at least some of the time.

For the ones I can, I just try to get through the day. Sometimes for the moderate ones, ones that interfere when I need to think, sometimes advil will help, only I need to take them @ or near prescription strength.

For the more severe ones (usually at the base of my skull &/or just very sharp pains), sometimes ice wil help.

If I believe it is from a tension headache (which is the case more than we really know a lot of the time, since we Lymies don't do stress) I will use heat.

Understand though, these only work some of the time for me **roll eyes** - too many times nothing really helps but going to bed or sitting quietly (NOT easy for me!!).

Hope this helps some.
~Trav!

Headaches. The ones I get at the base of my skull often involve neck and shoulder pain. Those are best relieved by a visit to the upper cervical chiropractor. I've also used alternating hot/cold compresses to get some relief. Accu-pressure can help. I've never tried accupuncture. No pain killer I've tried will make enough of a dent to bother with.

What I now think of as my Lyme headaches are sinus based. I'm working very hard to keep those from getting bad; they can reach migraine intensity. Using a netti pot or other sinus rinse product daily helps a lot. I also use a steamer. If I must resort to meds, sinus medication containing an expectorant and sudafed work best for me.

The surface of the skull headaches are probably the most intense headaches I get. I have thought they originate from TMJ. For those I see a physical therapist. He uses an electrical pulse machine to disrupt the nerve pain. Again, heat/cold alternating can help.

I'm not willing to take a narcotic pain reliever, and nothing else I've tried takes away the pain, so these are the things I've learned to do. Sometimes warm or hot water running on the headache spot feels good, too.

Finding out I had Lyme and coinfections at least gave me some hope that I will not suffer with all of these things forever. It will sure be nice to get rid of some of these painful conditions. Sometimes I think having a body isn't much fun at all.

Rose

Hi CG,

It's possible that the headaches are caused from an overload of ammonia in your body..   Ammonia causes more havoc than anyone could ever guess..   I don't know for sure if that's the problem but it just may be possible..

What helped me was taking Dr. Jernigan's Neuro-Antitox CNS/PNS formula..   If you decided to use alternative medicine then you have nothing to lose by trying that product to see if it helps you...

Denise

Thanks, Traveler. I've put that on the back of my neck sometimes, but never thought to put it on my jaw joint.

Rose

WCB,

I've been wanting to try Excedrin. I will look it up to see what ingredients are in it. I can't take anything with acetaminophen in it.

Thanks:)

my worst headaches are at the base of my skull. When I get them if I turn my head my neck crunches. I have one of those pads you can put in the fridge. Don't think it makes them better but the change in temp makes me feel ok. Hope this helps. Those headaches got worse for me when I started mepron to treat possible babs.

I have a lot of pain at the base of my skull - my shoulder muscles always seem 'easily aggrevated' - I get stabbing headaches  - I am getting to the 'end of my tether' with all this pain - I think I have tried just about every 'therapy' going - do you folks think I should go back on antibiotics - LLMD said I should go to my doc. and get 'inflammatory' response checked or something like that?!  I am running out of the energy needed to find something to stop all this b........! pain.

Tiger Balm on the temples always works for me. Doesn't fix the dizziness, but always helps with the headaches and almost immediately.

Hi julymorning -
This thread is pretty old - not sure if you saw the date on the most recent post - from 2013.

But it's a good topic to discuss - we can continue it here or you can start a new thread with the same subject. Here are a few suggestions I have for you -

First, I am so sorry you're suffering those painful headaches. I know you're in a lot of pain so I hope that we can get you some relief.

Last week I was dealing with swollen lymph nodes at the base of my skill and around my neck - most have gone down but the ones on my head haven't. And this weekend I had 3 different types of headaches at the same time - a dull pain on the top of my head like someone had hit me with a 2x4, a pressure pain at the back of my head like I was lying on a pillow of concrete, and stabbing pains throughout the top right side of my head. It was excruciating. I drank lots of water, took my detox herbs and my binder - and this helped tremendously.

I shared most of the following with another poster here so sorry for the repetitiveness but there are a few possible reasons for headaches that are common with our treatment:

The sensitivity to light and nausea is common for migraines - do you have a history of migraines? I sometimes get migraines and sometimes I get different kinds of headaches that include migraine-like symptoms.

The dead debris and toxins are trapped once the abx hits them until they can be released so detoxing is critical. What are you doing for detox? A binder is very helpful to pull the toxins out of the gut and there are some good herbs to help detox the brain - I use Pinella and Parsley quite successfully.

You also might have a little swelling too - Japanese Knotweed is good for swelling.

Headaches are often triggered simply from dehydration and abx can be naturally dehydrating - so drink copious amounts of water throughout the day, have it next to your bed at night. Embrace the additional trips to the toilet - peeing is very detoxing.

The pain in the facial area is commonly sinus pain - this could be from a sinus infection or swelling/inflammation. The infection could be bacterial or fungal. Are you prone to sinus infections?

Another culprit of headaches is yeast/fungal overgrowth - the y/f creates neurotoxins including acetaldehyde and other toxins that cause headaches. You mentioned you were on Nystatin - if it is the pill or liquid form, it's pretty weak and might not be a strong enough amount of the Nystatin (they are manufactured with mostly fillers and a little bit of Nystatin) so you might not be on a strong enough dose. Do you have any other symptoms that might indicate an overgrowth? If so, try switching out to Pure Nystatin Powder 500,000 units (let me know if you'd like more info to share w/ your LLMD).

You probably need to step up your detox as best you can but you are also on a pretty intense quantity of abx. You might also talk w/ your LLMD about stepping back your treatment if the headaches continue much longer. A minor herx is to be expected as we incorporate new components of our protocol or increase doses, etc... but major herxing and for long periods is not conducive to healing - you have to measure the pace at which you are targeting the infection with how well you are able to flush the debris out of your body and try to match them both. Sometimes it takes a little experimentation with both.

Hope this is helpful - let us know if you have any other q's -

Again - if not enough people respond you might want to start a new thread. Hopefully you can get some good feedback.

-p