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Posted 1/5/2009 12:01 AM (GMT 0)
i am wondering if this is a lyme symptom? i get periods of really really intense pressure in my head and neck. not pain, but a feeling that all my blood is collected in my head and that the blood in my neck is like tar, all clogged up barely moving through the veins and arteries. it often causes a lot of pressure and pounding of my heart beat in my ears as well.
this symptom is sooooooooooo unbearable to me.
interestingly, also, i had moved from california to maryland in september and october. i noticed that in maryland, on days that were cloudy or rainy, the pressure in my neck and head was unbelievable. i am not sure if this was due to humidity or barometric pressure, or both, but it was ridiculous. so bad, in fact, i had to pack up my bags and move back to california. there was no way i could function feeling like that.

i am wondering if anyone else experiences this? i am also wondering if anyone else has strong reactions to rainy days in a more humid area, like the east coast? like really really strong reactions?
Posted 1/5/2009 12:18 AM (GMT 0)
Gracie: I am originally from the East coast and have been in Texas for three years and have been almost allergy-symptom free. I have the neck and head pain that I blame on the Lyme, but as far as the weather affecting me, I am much better here in Dallas. I would say you  were not used to the humidity and possibly reacting to some fall pollens and molds as they are high in the fall in the East. D
Posted 1/5/2009 10:23 PM (GMT 0)
This is my #1 symptom.

Chief
Posted 1/5/2009 10:24 PM (GMT 0)
Then again, its all about how one describes their pain. Head and neck pressure, headaches, stiff neck, etc...

Chief
Posted 1/6/2009 1:39 AM (GMT 0)
My doc thinks the intense pressure I get in my cranium, which IS exacerbated sometimes by weather, but also comes by during my Lyme time of the month is actually due to Babs. But either way it IS the disease. I am sure the stress due to the shift in barometric pressure, just as the change in hot/cod temps sets off my facial flushing and ear burning, has something to do with toxin release. My two cents, but my headaches are now my worst and most persistent symptom, which after 3.5 years of treatment makes sense since the skull is probably the hardest place to eradicate whatever bacteria is lodged there.

John
Posted 1/6/2009 1:56 AM (GMT 0)
Of course allergies can exacerbate the symptom too. BUt again, what is probably happening is, if you have allergies, you are getting a double whammy--the allergen is producing some inflammation, but setting off , through the immune response, toxic waste from the bacteria too. The immune response is a stress response in the human body and a healthy body can take it much better than a sick one.

If you have allergies you are better off trying to avoid them, as you would any stressful circumstance. I do not have allergies, but I feel crappier in the winter due to being exposed to hundreds of viruses that set off my immune system. even the viruses that we have been previously exposed to, which normally would not make us "sick" set our immune response off and thus we have an exacerbation of Lyme/Babs/Herpes or whatver bacterial or viral load we are carrying.

John
Posted 1/6/2009 5:29 AM (GMT 0)
Interesting. The pressure I experience is definitely not pain. It feels like blood. It feels like the blood vessels in my neck are clogged and the blood is fighting to get through. But it can't, so it becomes all backed up in my neck and head, creating this pressure, like water trying to burst through a dam. Never any pain though. When this happens, I also hear the blood whooshing really loudly in my ears, and it feels as though my ear drum will bust out of my ear.
Is this similar to any of the head issues anyone else experiences?
John, I also experience intense facial flushing, which came on very suddenly one day at the same time I developed all kinds of other symptoms. I went to a dermatologist, who simply told me I definitely do not have rosacea, which my doctors also do not think I have, however I have no other answers for it. It is not normal for a person to go from one day never turning red or blushing ever, to the next day turning bright red for up to ten hours with intense burning.
What is your facial flushing like? You believe it is due to toxins? Mine is triggered from cold to heat. Sometimes anxiety.

also, I have noticed that when I have such intense head pressure, I also have really rapid heart rates. The barometic pressure changes from flying and from living in Maryland triggered pretty much constant PSVTs - paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardias - where my heart rate was in the 220s.
Posted 1/6/2009 5:30 AM (GMT 0)
Oh, one more thing, I don't have allergies. The pressure was honestly DEFINITELY not an allergic reaction. I have a very very high tolerance for discomfort and pain, and this was EXTREME.
Posted 1/6/2009 6:08 AM (GMT 0)
thanks, derek.
you have encephalitis, i assume? can you describe your symptoms? does it feel like a vascular problem, if someone were to ask you how to describe it? can you hear the blood whooshing in your ears, and do you have a ton of pressure in your neck, as well?
i just can't seem to find anyone or anything that relates to the kind of pressure i describe. doctors have no idea. mine is definitely correlated to barometric pressure changes, though it can happen anytime, just not as severely as when the pressure is low. do you find that as well?
i also have found that my beta blockers help it a great deal, when it is not its most severe.
i have often thought this is norepinephrine and blood vessel related. but it just doesn't make sense.

what is a spect scan?
Posted 1/12/2009 12:01 AM (GMT 0)

I have also had this symptom for 5 months or more, I have "moderate" encephalitis, it is one of the side effects.  A spect scan will show if you have encephalitis or not, encephalitis is just a way of saying your brain is infected and swollen.  Sever encephalitis can be serious and fatal.  Anyhow, you should be targeting your brain infection.  I finally got my doctor to agree to put me on IV next month because of this encephalitis.  I can't wait, I feel like I have been wasting time on oral abx for 5 months getting no where.

gl

Posted 1/12/2009 1:12 AM (GMT 0)
thanks, i am just wondering what encephalitis feels like, if you wouldn't mind explaining your symptom?
Posted 1/14/2009 9:26 PM (GMT 0)
I had what I described as "feeling like I was wearing a too tight turtleneck sweater" feeling on the right side of my neck.  Lately it hasn't been as bad.  I have no idea if it is Lyme or something else.  I asked a few months back and noone here seemed to have the same thing.

KO

Posted 1/15/2009 3:54 AM (GMT 0)
hmm pretty interesting. my pressure is overwhelming. debilitating, really. sometimes it can last for hours. that hasn't happened in awhile to that intensity, but i am pretty much constantly aware of it. it feels very much like blood to me, but that also doesn't really make sense. but i feel the pressure in my neck and head pulsate like with my heart, and i can hear it roaring in my ears. i have noooooo idea what this is, but it is by far the worst of my symptoms.
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