How do i cope with this kind of headache

hello all,

            am new to forum and internet. please if i make a mistake do correct me.

  I am a 31 years female and have this chronic persistent headaches that leaves me helpless.i have been having this headache for more than 22 years. the pain moves from one part of my head to the other. sometimes its at the back sides or the front of my head. sometimes i feel as though i have a wound and ants are moving on the wound. other times its pulsating. i must climb stairs slowly if not i feel my heart beating in my head with this much force that i feel like am going to have a blackout. as soon i pick up a book to read it starts. i cant do anything. i strain to see under the sun or flourescent lights. when its extremely cold or hot i start feeling the pains and it takes hours. i sometimes forget things and this is wearing me down. i wear glasses but its not helping.i have gone for medical checkups but my results are always negative. been placed on several pain killers that i cant even remeber the name no change has been seen i dont take coffee, soda, or anything that might stimulate me. i stopped taking the pain killers because they were not helping. i get tired alot and sometimes i fine it difficult to sleep especially when am having the pain. i dont know how to say this but when am having the pain i always hit my head on something hard to relief the pain so i was told.

 pls if anybody has ever felt this before can they help me, i will be very grateful. Thank You all 

Post Edited (Beloved) : 9/23/2010 7:33:28 AM (GMT-6)

Hi,

I really would like to help you.  First of all, do not ever hit your head against something.  This could definitely cause your pain to worsen or lengthen the amount of time your headache will exist.  Doing this can cause post-concussion syndrome and several other very severe and annoying head pain ailments.

I would agree there are times medicines don't work (even powerful meds) and you just want to sleep...  Not really having a lot of information, I will just try to give you a few basic ideas to start with.  First of all, a warm shower, or a cold pack of peas wrapped in a shirt or towel can work wonders.  Another thing you need to do, is take note of everything you eat, drink, length of pain, and pretty much every detail of your life you can imagine.  Consider a blackberry or some cellphones have recorders built in and you can just record what's going on in your life.  You can refer to this information for analysis to try and figure out what may be causing the pain.  There may not be a quick or simple answer but in order to regain control you need to start somewhere.

There are a lot of different drugs.  I have been on over 45 prophylactic (preventative) and I am still trying more.  Never give up.  Some of the Doc's you'll meet are morons.  If you don't like them, or if they have a "God Complex" drop them, and find someone else. 

There a couple of drugs that can assist you with sleep: One of the better drugs is Trazadone (its generic and very inexpensive).  This is an anti-depressant that works fairly well with insomnia.  If that doesn't work you can try other anti-depressants.  If you find side-effects etc, you can try diazepam.  However, this drug can cause depression and can cause dependency syndrome.  You can try a hypnotic such as ambien.  I have tried all three and all are effective.  The problem with ambien is I get headaches with use.  But everyone is different and therefore, no one-size fits all with migraine pain.

From what you describe another medicine I would prescribe would be Lyrica.  Lyrica helps with sleep, and is very good at controlling nerve pain.  I have used this medicine for a protruding disc and for Chronic Daily Headache.  This medicine works very quickly and is very effective.  It is non-generic and expensive, unfortunately, but it does work.  Something to try.

Would you please post what you have tried, including a list of medications, what does help (other than banging your head on the wall) and maybe I could be of more use.  I'm sorry for the pain.  I hope you find relief.  The hardest thing to deal with when it comes to head pain is your doctor, because sometimes they don't believe or understand, unless they have suffered the ailment themselves.

Hope this helps.  I look forward to hearing from you.