Back of head pressure, lightheaded, and fear of fainting...

Hi I suffered from headaches and dizziness all my life. 5 years ago I discovered that I was Salicylate Intolerant, allergic to aspirin and all foods containing salicylates. Aspirin is a salicylate that comes form the bark of the willow tree. All plants produce salicylates as a natural insecticide. It is in things likes fruit,most vegetables, tomato sauce, olive oil and many more. Theres a good list of foods in the book,"Salicylate Intolerance and The Healthier I Ate the Sicker I Got."

Right before I hit bottom I had such a pain in my right eye that I went for a CAT scan to rule out a tumor. Once I went on a low sal diet I got rid of my headaches,sizziness, nausea, neck pain, arthritis, asthma, dry eyes, nosebleeds, swollen glands and a foggy headed feeling.
Check out sickfromsalicylates.com

My headaches always used to start in my eyes and moving them back and forth was very painful and nauseating. This food intolerance really affects the muscles of the eyes as well as the ears, causing clogged pain and sometimes ringing in ears.
No one should just accept a diagnosis of Migraine Headaches or Fibromyalgia when they can prevent them by finding out whats causing them. Its usually a food intolerance. Unfortunately there is no test for Salicylate Intolerance because it isnt an allergy. You have to go off the foods that are high and very high in sals and see how you feel. Good luck, Joan

I just read through this post. I have similar problems which only started recently. I am pretty healthy and walk a lot but I have been very stressed recently, but that is not the first time I have been stressed. Life has stressful times for all of us! These will pass.

I have no anxiety issues that I am aware of. I did pass out a month or so ago whilst out at an event which was a first - but I had not eaten much that day at all, I am naturally skinny and that is probably the reason - no great mystery, if you don't eat and keep pushing yourself then by 10pm you may well feel dizzy and pass out. It seemed a logical reason although it had not happened before.

Since then, however, I have felt very dizzy most of the time. It has gone away for the odd hour but then it is back. I also feel exhausted, but then I am very tired as I am setting up my own business and have the normal stress and lack of sleep whilst lying in bed worrying about various matters and a lack of money!

But other than almost constant dizziness and tiredness, I cannot personally relate to many of the things written in this post, although I genuinely sympathise.

I have just read elsewhere that sitting in a position all day, or for many hours, with tense shoulders can cause my symptoms. This is what someone posted elsewhere 'The symptoms I had were off balance feeling, head pressure, headaches, dizzy spells, concentration problems, terrible memory problems, I felt like I was losing it.'

http://www.healthboards.com/boards/brain-nervous-system-disorders/857979-if-you-dizzy-lightheaded-1-thing-docs-miss.html

This can be all be down to bad posture and tense shoulders which affects the blood supply directly to the back of the head and causes the above. I am going out now to buy a decent chair to sit on and work from home on. I have also done these neck stretches sitting here ([head] forward hold 10 secs, back hold 10 secs, hold left side of head and take head down to relaxed shoulder hold 10 secs, then same to the right). These have helped a little bit but I am sitting here tense again, its become a default posture sitting here all day. I need to sort it out.

I think this is often about how we are sitting, so many of us working on computers nowadays. If you are working in an office, demand a proper chair (its a legal right in UK anyway) and set it up properly. If, like me, you are perched on wooden chair that is too low and sit with permanently hunched shoulders, tensed up (and without thinking much of it), I think (and hope) that is your problem. Nothing more.

Hope this helps someone. God Bless.

Post Edited (sassym) : 9/26/2013 5:44:58 AM (GMT-6)

Is there anyone with info on Intractable Migraines, I was recently dx. My neuro said I was 1 she is going to have really look @ all test. I started having pressure on left side base of head and entire left side traveling pain in 10',  many drs & tests.  1 dr was a neuro for migraines said I'm sorry but there's nothing we can help you with you don't have migraines. If I have Sinus pressure or inflammation in my head my pain level starts climbing from 7.   had very low Vit D 9, b12 xtrmely low (didn't get what it is) vit D 50k iu 1xwkly my foot cramps are gone I can move my toes without cramping which would last for 5-10mins.  b12 now down to 1xwkly injection 1mil for 1mnth.                            

BaByGaBe said...
I have been getting this pressure in the back of my head, for like 2 months now, not constantly, but mostly everyday. There was one week where it totally went away, but it csme back. Some days I get it so bad, the only thing that makes me feel a little relief is when I lay down. The sooner I get this pressure or tightness in the back of my head, I get nervous, and start to think bad things like what if I pass out, and what if I panic and get a panic attack... (I also have anxiety disorder) the first thing I feel like doing is going to the ER, but I have been there already twice last month is the same week for this head pain, and they did CT scans, cat scans, EEG test, chest x-rays, head x-rays, blood tests, you name it. Every single test and scan, and x-ray they have done to me came out negative. They all say there is nothing wrong with my head, sinuses (even though they are constantly clogged and I can't breathe through my nose), or heart.

I am very distraught about this, because in the back of my mind I am thinking terrible, that maybe I may have brain cancer, or a tumor that is causing this. I doubt it, but it terrifies me. I am also terrified to pass out. Sounds kind of stupid, I know, but I have fainted several times in my lifetime so far, usually when I see a needle coming towards me, and I hate that feeling of passing out. I also recently read somewhere that some guy can't look at an LCD tv, or a Plasma tv for more than a few minutes otherwise he gets a migraine. I have an LCD computer monitor, as well as a Plasma screen in my bedroom where I spend all of my time. Could that be the cause? My doctor is sending me to a sleep apnea specialist to do a sleep study on me on March 9th, as she says may be the cause of my headaches and other issues. I will let everyone know how that goes. I take Paxil 12.5mg for my anxiety, and my doctor said that I should take Tylenol if I experience a headache/head pain. I have been doing this, but not everyday. Some days are worse than others, and the amount of pain I feel changes all day long.

If anyone has any experience in this field, please let me know what I can try to make this go away. I go to a Chiropractor, and it works occassionally, but it won't last all day. I also have had someone suggest I make a journal of the time I wake up if I have pain or not, to what I eat, and how much I eat, and the times I eat and if the pain gets worse, to write it all down. I am going to attempt this this week to see if there is anything that is triggering my head pain. I read an article that some foods like cheese, and too much bread triggers some headaches and other things. I will let everyone know what goes on in the course of the week