Severe headaches, back of head...never go away?
I have had severe headaches in the back of my head since March 2nd. They are not considered migraines by doctors. I have seen an immunologist, 2 neurologists, an allergist, a rheumatologist a chiropractor, plenty of ER doctors, an optometrist, and opthalmologist, a neurosurgeon and countless other doctors. Pain medications like Vicodin and codeine do not affect it. I have had a CT scan and 2 MRIs, all of which were normal (I have considered Chiari malformation, but my MRI/radiation tech doesn't see it in my film. I have had many blood tests, all returning normal(negative). I wore a neckbrace and took muscle relaxants for a week on the demand on my neurosurgeon. I have also had an angiogram to rule out artery damage. My mom wants be to try Botox injections, but they aren't proven so I'm not sure. Any suggestions for help?
Public Comments
1. Maybe you pinched a nerve in the back of your head. Or maybe there is a problem with your lymphnodes in the back of your head/ neck area.Have you just tried regular medicine like advil or tylenol to rule out a migraine? Have the doctors tried imitrex (migraine medicine) for it?
Do not visit an ER. Those doctors don't help much. You need to seek advice from your primary care doctor. Tell them how bad the pain is on a scale from 1 to 10. 10 being so painful you want to die and 1 being just a minor annoyance.
2. You may be under stress, keep an headache diary and try to avoid triggers for your headache. From http://aches.in/headache.html
3. I can relate! The only other things I can think of to try are forms of relaxation, in case the headaches are due to stress. Even if they aren't, techniques like self-hypnosis (which you can learn from a pain psychologist) often help with chronic pain when medication can't. It sounds kind of pointless, but I did a lot of self-hypnosis to try treating my chronic headache (different from your in that it varies in location and intensity, but I have had it constantly for the past 2 years), and while it didn't allow me to get rid of it completely, I was able to move it at will to different areas of my head. Self-hypnosis can really work, though--the psychologist who taught me it no longer needs Novocaine at the dentist because she can make herself not receive pain from her teeth during dental procedures out of pure focus. Other than that, biofeedback and acupuncture are also said to be helpful. Good luck! That must have been a really difficult series of tests and such, and I hope you find a cure.
