Tension Headaches SUCK!

[Phoenix79]

Tension headaches really suck. I've had one since 3am this morning, and it is not letting up at all. I have 6 hours and 15 minutes left of my shift . . .

CMK is on vacation this week, which means I'm stuck here no matter how bad I feel.

I just needed to whine a bit . . .

Thanks for reading!

Phoenix

[wagegoth]

You have my complete sympathy. I'd rather have lower back pain than a headache.

I have a standing prescription for muscle relaxants. I get migraines, and often the muscle relaxants (Norflex, it's not nearly as debilitating as some others I've tried) will short circuit the headache as I feel it coming on.

If you have these regularly, you should see a specialist. I hope you have decent insurance at your employer.

[SuperDan]

I have a CT scan scheduled for noon tomorrow to find out if I'm experiencing the onset of migraines or if I'm experiencing internal bleeding inside my head.

I'm secretly rooting for the internal bleeding. If it doesn't kill me, I have a surgery and it's taken care of forever.

[Phoenix79]

I get both tension headaches and migraines.

I take midrin for both, but I can't take it at work because it has a muscle relaxant in it and it makes me sleepy.

Much better today, though. I just needed a good night's rest, I think.

I have crappy insurance, but I have seen my doc about the headaches. I'll have to ask her about the Norflex (thanks wagegoth!)

Glad you are getting things checked out, SuperDan. I totally understand, migraines suck more than tension headaches. I hope everything turns out okay for you!!

Phoenix

[protege]

Glad you are getting things checked out, SuperDan. I totally understand, migraines suck more than tension headaches.

Yes, they do. Migraines suck ass. Usually though, I can tell when one is coming, and can control it with either caffeine or Relpax. Usually, that, along with a nap, is enough to make the effects go away. However, I do get some nasty ones now and then. These ones screw up my speech, and sometimes distort my vision--it's like someone took a white magic marker and scribbled over my eyeballs

[NightAngel]

Ooh! I'm part of The Migrane Squad.

I had a headache last night and I didn't even realize it was a tension headache. I mentioned to my hubby that my head was hurting and he reached up, squeezed my shoulders and I almost went through the roof.

Then commenced the neck/shoulder and foot rub that got rid of the headache and made me go, "ahhhh" and, "zzzzzz".

I love my hubby.

[MadMike]

Another migraine sufferer here. They range in severity from feeling slightly run down and hurting just a bit, to full-blown sunlight sensitivity, near-hurling, zero-energy, and feeling like my eyes are being pushed out of my head from inside.

Sometimes I can get rid of the lesser ones with caffeine, but other times they turn into severe ones. Usually, they only last a few hours and I can sleep them off, but recently I had ones that lasted 24 hours or more, including one where I was about ready to cut my own head off.

[Phoenix79]

Then commenced the neck/shoulder and foot rub that got rid of the headache and made me go, "ahhhh" and, "zzzzzz".
I love my hubby.

HOOORAY FOR HUBBYS!! Mine does the same thing for me, I just wish his work was closer to mine so he could come help me out when I get those damned tension headaches at work (he leaves before I do in the mornings, too). He's the only person that manages to get rid of the pain . . .

Migraine wise - I get the fun psychedelic ones where you see tracers and get tunnel vision. I get very dizzy as well, and am very sensitive to light when I get them.

I actually hardly ever get a headache throughout the day - every time I've had one, tension or migraine, I wake up at like 3am with it and have to fight it all day long. Anyone else have that problem? My doctor said it could be because I stress a lot before I go to bed at night, but we aren't sure. I've had MRI's and they didn't find anything wrong. I usually get one or two bad headaches a month.

Phoenix

[wagegoth]

When the muscle relaxant and/or caffeine doesn't do it, it's Imitrex time. Bad ones take two pills.

[Foxglove8778]

I'm another migraine sufferer.

Problem is I also have an angioma the size of a golfball in my head. I can't take things that are *meant* to treat migraines because they could hemorrhage the angioma.

[NightAngel]

- every time I've had one, tension or migraine, I wake up at like 3am with it and have to fight it all day long.

This could be caused by the way you sleep as in the position you sleep in, how many pillows you have under you head, etc. I know it sounds weird but there are right ways to lay when you sleep and wrong ways.

When I lay the wrong way I wake up with either the headache from Heck or back aches, etc.

[Horsetuna]

Hearing the symptoms of tension headaches, I am sure that's what I get.

Especially here in CAlgary. I wont be able to digest food - it just sits in my stomach if not brought up - and I dont want to sit still, move about or do ANYTHIng. one time I beat my fist against the wall it hurt so much. I found out invoking vomiting SOMETIMES helps (maybe the reverse peristalsis causes the muscles to loosen?), but usually a REALLY hot bath works best.

[CurlyLocks]

I feel everyone's pain. I suffer from both frequent tension headaches and occasional migraines. The last few migraines I had I woke up with and then you know your day is gonna suck. I have found Axert to be helpful for the pain and the nausea, and taking Flexaril (muscle relaxant) with it is even better. Since I started doing that I haven't had any more migraine-related ER visits. The last time I did have to go to the ER was the first time I had actually vomited from the migraine so hard that it left patychial hemorrhages on my face, not to mention how much more excruciating the headache became from the force of the upchuck. And I'm sorry to be even more disgusting, but since that time I've occasionally had other intestinal disturbances concurrent with the migraine and vomiting.

DisgruntledBadger PM'ed me an aromatherapy mix that she uses for headaches. If anyone's interested you could PM me or her.

Oh, and I'm with the other gals who expressed appreciation for hubby's massages. Mine is really good at helping work out the tension in my neck and shoulders and that can be very soothing with the tension headaches.

[Buglady]

Headaches suck, and I can say that with authority from getting 3 different kinds (tension, sinus and true migraine) on a fairly regular basis. I live in Calgary too, and between the dry air, the rapid weather changes, the dust, and the pace of my job, there are days I feel like the walking dead.

Things I have found that help all three headaches:

1. Neck health. My tension headaches come from my shoulders and neck when I start to hunch up. So I am VERY careful to stretch my neck and shoulders frequently, and I go to a chiropractor and a massage therapist every couple of weeks for a tune up. I also am careful about my pillows and sleeping position, and I try not to slouch down on the couch too much (that one's hard!).

2. Nose health. This is for the sinus crap. I take a washcloth soaked in hot hot water and put it over my face, breathing 10 times through my nose, every day (I should do it twice a day but I can never find my facecloth in the morning.) I also take a mild antihistamine every night at bedtime and spray my throat with Chloraseptic. This is supposed to stop throat irritation from post-nasal drip and alleviate snoring. I don't think I snore, but it does seem to make a difference. I am looking into Neti pots/sinus rinse stuff because I hear these can be very helpful.

The sinus headaches are set off by allergies and weather changes and feel almost exactly like a migraine, with a stabbing pain behind my eye and a complete body exhaustion, but I don't get the cognitive or visual aura effects of a migraine.

3. Migraine - since my migraines have two specific triggers, falling barometric pressure and a food dye, I keep an eye out for both. If I see on the weather webpage that the barometer is falling, I take some Advil right away, and I have some coffee. I still get the visual sparklies and wooziness of the migraine, but I can usually avoid the pain. It's really annoying when my eye twitches, though.

If I'm too late for prevention and get the headache itself, I find Lavender essential oil on my temples helps, as do icepacks on my neck and forehead. (With the food dye, I just read labels really carefully so that one hasn't hit me in a while.)

Horsetuna, I think yours might possibly be true migraines. Can you get checked out by a doctor? Calgary is sometimes said to be the migraine capital of Canada, because of the crazy-ass weather changes.

[MadMike]

The sinus headaches are set off by allergies and weather changes and feel almost exactly like a migraine, with a stabbing pain behind my eye and a complete body exhaustion, but I don't get the cognitive or visual aura effects of a migraine.

Hmm, I wonder if that's what the last really horrible one I had was. It started a couple weeks ago when the temperatures shot up into the 70s, and then got worse when they dropped back into freezing two days later and we had that snowstorm. Yes, that actually did happen -- summerlike the one day, blizzards the next.