Please someone HELP me - HEADACHE AND MORE

Hi to anyone reading... Im 23, male, in good shape, never hit my head hard etc.

From last November not sure when/why it started exactly but ive had a headache/pressure constant, every second of the day. Along with the pressure i have the feeling i need to pop my ears all the time, fatigue and general tiredness (bags under eyes when didnt before), i find myself always staring into nothingness like im not really connected properly?, my vision is sorry of fuzzy like when you look at a bright light them look away but i have this all the time, ringing in my ears and dizzyness, get tingly feelings in hands and feet... wow thats a pretty long list when i type it out

I have no nausea or sickness, ever.

So i went to the doctors and explained and i went for a CT scan which came back fine, i got a second opinion also fine.

Now 9 months on from then i still have all the same symptoms but all worse and its pretty much ruining my life, ive been back to the doctors numerous times, tried all the sinus reliefs, stopped pain killers, tried amitriptyline, nothing has helped.

Ive asked for a MRI cause im worried sick but the doctors said cause i had a CT 9 months ago there is no need for a MRI which i think is utter rubbish cause something is clearly wrong with me. So im currently waiting to see a Headache specialist but thats not til October and im literally going out of my mind with worry that this pain has developed into a brain tumor of some sort. The main worry is because of the fuzzy/double-vision.


Can ANYONE shed some light into other possibilities apart from a tumor?



Thankyou

Hi there. I'd trust the doctors that you've seen that your life is probably not in immediate jeopardy. When you see the headache specialist you're likely to have an MRI ordered anyhow.

I guess the most important thing to say here is that none of your symptoms are particularly unusual. I don't say that to diminish how upsetting or difficult they are to live with, only to encourage you to try your best to stay calm and not further stress yourself out by worrying and speculating. You're doing the right thing in seeing a headache specialist and you should have a better idea of what you're looking at once you get set up there. Depending on their evaluation of your symptoms you might want to discuss whether you ought to see any other specialists like an ophthalmologist (rather than an optician) or an ENT.

Again, many of the symptoms that you're listing are typical of aura that can accompany migraine or accessory symptoms that can be exacerbated by frequent headaches (for example, my jaw frequently gets quite sore when I'm having a bad headache and my mental acuity and focus often drops off before and during a bad episode).

So, hang in there until you see the headache doc. Try to keep your stress down and be as healthy as possible. Also, if you can, it always helps to document your headaches (even if they are constant you can still note when they are worse and when other symptoms occur).

Best wishes,

Ben

have you been checked for Chiari Malformation

As an almost 40 year old with a 25 year history of headaches I understand your frustration. Although tedious I would suggest rating your pain each day and noting that number in your daytimer/calendar. This can help you at your next visit and to be able to look back to see what else was going on at that time in correlation to a terrible headache. That would be step 1. Next, again tough and tedious, reduce the salt intake in your food and that you add at the table. Try as best you can to reduce additives when possible and replace with fresh fruit or veggies. Do not do it all at once, try one thing or two to get used to changing your daily routine. That with 100 mg of Nortryptiline daily has made a big difference. Neurologist cannot explain what nortryptiline does but increasing the dose to get up to 50 then 100 mg is what helped me. For breakthrough headaches I use Fiorinal and a cup of black coffee. They were ruining my life, and threatening my job performance. I wish you luck with this process. One key item for me was definately the salt aspect. Something to think about.