Posted 10/14/2010 4:33 AM (GMT 0)
Hey all! The past couple of weeks(at least, maybe close to a month+) I've been getting these nightly headaches. There is no specific time, two nights ago it started at 1am, last night around 8-9, tonight around 10-11ish. The headaches aren't excruciatingly painful, on a scale of 1-10, 1 being barely anything and 10 barely being able to move because of the pain, I'd say about 3-5ish. Usually I'll just be doing something and then out of nowhere my head will start to hurt. Most commonly the headaches affect the left side of my head, but sometimes both(never just the right side). They normally last quite a while(a few hours) and as far as I can remember, I've never had a "short" one. I've looked/read about cluster headaches and how they are usually very painful, so I'm somewhat convinced this isn't the case for me, as I can continue about whatever I'm doing. Taking ibuprofen/acetaminophen does NOT help these headaches(unless it kicking in 3-4 hours later counts as helping).
A few other symptoms I've been exhibiting are phlegm and my throat burning, as well as a fair amount of lethargy. The phlegm that I cough up is generally in very small amounts(once a day, maybe once every few days), and it's "crusty", almost like a small chip covered in more.... "snotty" phlegm, if I may. The whole phlegm thing has been happening on and off for almost, if not over a year now, and I know that because I remember it happening shortly before I came home from winter break last year. Possible sinusitis? The burning throat I'm fairly convinced is completely separate(I think I may have acid reflux or something like that, but I don't worry too much about it because it mainly only happens when I wake up in the morning, sometimes throughout the day but not very often), but just in case there's something out there that shares these 3 symptoms I figured I'd throw it out there. With the fatigue, again, it's not stopping me from my daily routine, I can work through ALL of these symptoms when I do work, but it feels as if I'm constantly tired with a cloud over my head and could just lay down and fall asleep at any time.
The main reason I'm coming here before going to a doctor, is the first 6 months I had the phlegming issues I wasn't too worried about it, with it being over winter and all... and then it stopped for a few months over summer and just started back up within the recent months. Plus, since I took a year off from school, I'm not entirely sure if I'm covered under my parents medical still(plus my mother thinks that anything someone has wrong with them, is just in their head, heh), and it hasn't been 30 days at my new job yet so I can't apply for any coverage myself until then.
Thanks for taking the time to look through and give your input/recommendations/comments, and sorry for the long post!