Tension headaches

 Hi, I have been experiencing chronic daily tension headaches for over 2 years now.....does anyone else out there suffer from these?

I have had headaches my entire life. Everyone in my family has suffered with headaches. I wake up with one almost daily. Most I can live with but some I can't get out of bed with. I have migraines, tension and sinus headaches. I have had several tests and have tried many different medications. Some work, some don't. I hear people comment on NEVER having had a headache and I always thing 1. I can't imagine a life like that and 2. I hope they realize how lucky they are. I have had people tell me, what do you mean you can't do so and so, you only have a headache. Only someone who suffers with headaches can understand the effects it has on your life.
I have no suggestions, I have just worked with trial and error on my headaches, but it does help to hear from others.

Oh thank God...... I thought I was the only one. Not that I want anyone else to suffer with daily headaches or anything. But please, is there no rest for the weary? I actually have a headache right now. I usually try to ignore them in the hopes that they may just go away on their own. On rare occasions they do. 800-1,000mg of Motrin usually does the trick, but the nausea that comes along for the ride is sometimes unbearable. I work with a bunch of nurses who swear that proper hydration is part of the key. Drink lots of water..... Sometimes that helps a bit. But waking up with a headache usually means my day is shot. As for the migraines, mine are visual, usually triggered by bright light, sometimes by nothing at all. I get the sensation of a flash-bulb going off in my face. There are "fuzzy" or "greenish" spots in front of my eyes so I have to keep re-focusing to see. The migraines seem mostly to come during PMS so at least the rest of the month is virtually migraine-free. Wow, it feels pretty good knowing that I can talk to other people who know what I'm talking about. Thanks for listening......

i, know how you all are feeling, i have suffered from headaches all my life, started as a child with migraines, found out recently my mom was giving me glycerin for them, made me throw up every time. they sided a little as i grew older but when i had them, they were horrid, the past year i have been having problems with having to take ibueprophen for the headaches that lasted about 2 months, at a time, maybe a break every now and then if i was lucky, then i got sick of taking something all the time, and one day drank a coke and it went away, now i dont drink alot of caffene so i cant really say why the coke helped, now when i get a headache if ibeuprophen dont help i drink a coke.
I have seen my doc about them but she said it was tension headachs and it was due to lack of sleep because of the fibro, so she gave me ambien to help me sleep, well that dont work either, so i take one day at a time, and try to stay away from things that would cause a headach. im not the type of person that has alot of self disapline, i hate that. self disapline that is. lol
but i have to in order to keep from having the headaches.
Hope you have better luck then me, i would not wish it on my worst enemy. (((()))) Penny

Hi all,

I have suffered from tension-type daily headache on the left side of my head for the last six years. The three MRI's, cat-scans and a lot of other tests revealed nothing. Among various high-powered medicines I tried(neuronton, elavil, remeron, endomethicin, lamictal, barbital etc.) elavil helped me about 15-20 per cent. Needless for me to say that it no fun to live with constant headache. Going to high places of medicine has proved of limited help. After I had urine infection last March, the headache specialist told me that now I cannot take Elavil because of its side effect of frequent urination and urine retention. At present I am still struggliing to find a medicine comparable to elavil.

Hope this information is helpful to my fellow headache sufferers. I know what you are going through and it is a very nagging problem. And I will be very grateful if anybody has some helpful ideas and suggestions.


Jay :

Hi,

I've heard the just a headache, too. Well when you can't walk across the floor , because it feels like your head is going to explode, its more than just a headache. Yesterday and the day before thats the way mine were. After 2 Maxalt yesterday I got some relief. So far Today its just a dull ache, think maybe its just rebound.

Trace, I have a dental splint. I paid almost $500 for it and I don't use it. I didn't see that it worked and it made my teeth very sore. Right now my TMJ is not real bad. Just my jaw pops real bad and I have trouble opening my mouth real wide.

I hope everyone has a better day today. I am supposed to go to a funeral today. I don't know the person. She is the mother of a friend of my stepson's. He is a really nice young man. Its a really sad situation. She was a really bad drug addict and died in a car wreck.
I know I should go, just don't know if I can stand the heat. It can really make the migraines worse.

Ethel

paulagarcia

I just read your post and boy does it hit home! I know exactly what you mean about other's attitudes. I have suffered with sinus and tension HA all my life and with migraines for the last 5 years. I too had an MRI and it came out ok. I am sure yours will too. All we can do is keep trying all the med combinations and hope we eventually find a comb. that works.

Good luck to you!

Hi,

Suesea, before you undergo allergy tests, there is a list of foods that trigger migraines. I'm just not sure where to find it right now. A friend of mine used it elimanating everything on the list, then adding them back one at a time until she would find one that caused a migraine. That sure would be cheaper and a whole lot less painful.

Good luck.

Ethel

I get a left sided headache (tension type) that comes on as the day grows.  I never wake up with it.  Mine started in Nov 2004.  I did have various MRI's but they were abnormal.  I show lesions similar to MS, but no DX because I have no other symptoms or findings.  The neuro also tells me the type of headache I have sounds muscle related and lesions or demylelination don't cause headaches; at least not like mine.  It's like my temple is attached to a string behind me and some jerk is pulling on it .  When this happens, my left eye seems to get whacky.  My eye looks ok from the outside looking in, but the inside looking out is just a tad strange.  Like it's not working as hard as the right eye.  If I don't have the eadache, I don't have the eye problem.

Do migraines typically feel deep?  This feels like it is right under my skin an the muscles are sore to touch.

I was tested for temporal arteritis and do not have that.

Thanks

TCB

Jon

My usual migraines don't feel deep either. I feel surface pain on the back of my head, left side, like a swollen nerve that I can massage, but not very hard or it just makes it worse. I also get the pain behind my left eye and intense throbbing in my left temple that eventually causes me to see my heartbeat around my eye.

On the days when my body decides to treat me to a really severe migraine, I do get deep pain. I have a big increase in the usual pain areas, plus it feels as though someone has put their fingers into my eye socket. The one above my eyeball comes first. As the migraine progresses the next finger goes into the socket near my temple. By the time the third finger gets inserted along side my nose, my eye and nose are watering and I'm in my dark room with ice under my head and on my face.

I've recently increased my Topamax dose again. I'm up to 150mg twice a day.  I'm not sure how much more time I'm going to give this stuff before I decide it's just not going to work for me. But I'm still taking the MigreLief and I know that takes time. I'm sticking with it!

~~Pegasis

I have never experienced numbness with a migraine? In what part of the body do you experience that?