I will try to make this as short as possible but I'm sorry for the long saga.
A month ago, June 8th, I got a sudden onset headache on my left side. It was mostly in the back and top of my head. My head hurt for about
9 hours that day, despite the multitude of OTC meds I took.The next day I woke up and as soon as I got up I got a headache. But it was mild and only on the top of my head (left side). Basically, from that day on I kept having the same headaches all day but it only seemed to come about
when I'd be standing, moving, or bending. As soon as I'd lay down and stop moving my headache would go completely away. They lasted a few minutes at a time but I'd get many of them a day. On a pain scale they were between 1-4.
After a thorough examination by my pcp he said it is most likely a pinched nerve. I was not exhibiting any other neurological symptoms. After I saw my pcp I started noticing tingling and an overall weird feeling in my left arm. Like it's falling asleep but it wasn't numb. I figured it's probably the tramadol. I called my doctor and he said it's probably because of the pinched nerves in my neck. The NEXT day I woke up and I felt tingly all over my body. My head, both of my upper arms, my hands, my torso and my legs. This kept happening every day for about
a week but with less intensity. I stopped taking ibuprofen and was getting the same headaches. I finally got freaked out and went to the emergency room. At the emergency room they did a full blood count, took my urine, did a CT scan AND an MRI of my head and neck w/wo contrast. The neurologist said that they weren't sure what it was but suspected MS. The tests all came back normal. For about
a week, my headaches really started to let up and some days I could barely even feel them! And like 90% of my tingling went away.
Last Friday I noticed my hands were shaking a little. I notice the tremor when drinking while holding a glass of water. I went and saw one of the acute doctors in my pcp's clinic. When I told him all of this he assured me that there was nothing to be worried about
since all of my tests came back normal, especially the imaging tests. He attributed my tingling and shaking to stress.
Other than little headaches that would be primarily on the top of my head, only a few times I've had a bad headache. But when it's bad it's DEFINITELY coming from the top of my neck on my left side and starts radiating to the top and sides. This headache is continuous and I've let it go up to about
a 7, at which point I took OTC. When the medication wears off, the big headache is gone but my little ones are still there.
Other notes: my head doesn't hurt when I sleep. I've noticed that one of my big headaches came after I fell asleep on my side on the couch, and one was after an hour in the MRI, which made me keep my head in one position without moving at all. Also, I got a big headache yesterday after pushing, pressing and massaging the top of my neck/back of the head. I don't drink caffeine.
I'm still freaked out despite 3 doctors telling me I'm "fine". At least not anything life-threatening. This has already changed my life completely. I don't want to clean the house for the fear of getting a headache, I stopped going to the gym and I had to bail on my sand volleyball team for the rest of the season. I'm sad and I'm scared and the thought of this never getting resolved is throwing me into a panic. I just want to know what it is. I've spent so much time on the internet researching every aspect of this and the only thing that sounds like what I have is a cervicogenic headache.
Any thoughts?
Post Edited (akp314) : 7/15/2013 11:13:08 AM (GMT-6)