Posted 11/18/2014 4:16 PM (GMT 0)
For about 4 years now I have had on and off issues with horrible headaches. The headache usually surrounds one eye (on either side but more typically my right side) and radiates out into my temple, nose, ear, and/or jaw.
Back in 2011 I started seeing a doctor for the headaches that were occurring multiple times in a week and bringing me to tears. At first he just *assumed* (without any testing and only after seeing me once) that my headaches were migraines and he put me on medication typically used for seizures (Topiramate, I believe) to make the headaches stop and another (I believe a painkiller) to take when I got one. The first barely helped and I found I was taking the second quite often because I was still getting the headaches. After taking it for a couple of months, I found my feet and hands were getting weird tingling/numb sensations, which frightened me (which was a side effect of the meds). I immediately stopped taking the meds and went back to the doctor. I told him it did not help and I was worried by the negative side effect. He then began actually listening to me and wondered if my wisdom teeth had something to do with it (since my pain seemed to be centralized around my jaw, sides of my face, and ear at the time). I went to the dentist and come to find out all four of my wisdom teeth were impacted. In August of 2011 I had my wisdom teeth surgically removed and shortly after my headaches seemed to have stopped.
In just about the past year or so, my headaches have seemed to reappear. When they first started again they were pretty tolerable and not occurring very often and I just strugged them off as regular headaches or headaches from stress (I work in a mental health hospital...gets extremely stressful at times). But as time goes on, they have become worse. The pain is now more centralized around my eye, nose, ear, jaw, and temple and gradually becomes more intolerable. It feels like a sharp, stabbing pressure. Sometimes it will be on my left but is more often on my right. I also tend to have them most of the time when I wake up in the morning. I take Excedrin Migraine, doesn't touch it. I take ibuprofen, acetaminophen, or aspirin, doesn't touch it. I try laying down, doesn't help. I eat something, nothing. I stay hydrated and usually get plenty of sleep.
Today I woke up with one and began researching different headaches. I don't believe it's a migraine since I do not have sensitivity to light or sound, nausea/vomiting, exhaustion, or weakness and isn't throbbing. It doesn't feel like a tension headache since it is not in my neck, shoulders, or back of my head. But when I read about cluster headaches, a lot of the symptoms seem to relate to me. It's stabbing/pressure, I usually get it around the same time, I've had remission periods, lying down usually doesn't help, it's centralized around my eye and on the same side.
Has anybody experienced the same thing or can someone who suffers from migraines or cluster headaches shed anymore light on this? I know I have to see a doctor and I plan to make an appointment for when I'm available. I just would like some help in possible remedies or more insight so I know what to tell the doctor when I go.