Posted by Jon Toelke on November 20, 1998 at 11:22:55:
I have a question for thoose of you suffering from these headaches.
About 4 or 5 weeks ago, after haveing a bad sinus infection, I developed a bad headache that I couldn't shake. I had bad Migranes as a child but not so many as a adult. However, these headaches are unlike anything I have ever had. I would describe it more as head pain vs. a headache. I have had all types of headaches in my life, but nothing like this. The pain started at the base of my neck and shot up over the left side of my head. Sometimes it hurts behind my eye, sometime it hurts around the back of my head. Sometime it doesn't hurt at all. Then all of a sudden it comes back. I wake up in the middle of the night with pain all over my head. Sometimes it is enough to make me nasious or physically ill.
Then all of a sudden I'll have a good day with no pain......then the next day it's back.
Somtimes even when the pain is gone, I can cough or shake my head and feel the pain still in my head.
I have had a CT scan of my head and my sinuses and everything looks OK. My doctor gave me some Migrane nasal spray, but it doesn't really touch the pain, it just makes me sick.
Like I said, this has been going on for 4 weeks or so, and I am really begining to get frighted because I just can't shake it. One doctor thought it maybe a "stagnateing migrane" but that's about all i have to go on so far.
I guess what I would like to know is, does this sound like a cluster headache to you, or just a really long migrane. I am haveing a hard time buying the migrane theory because it feels so different then any headache I have ever had. I need some advise and maybe some ideas on what to do or where to go from here. Should I see a headache specialist?
My biggest fear is that I am doing this to myself. I have always been kind of a stressful person and I have had some problems with anxiety in the past, but it has never manifested itself like this.
Please let me know what you think, I am getting very worried.