Headaches

[ZenSojourner]

I've had a killer headache for three days running now. At first I attributed the onset to the whole "Adventures in Foreign Finance" thing (having my debit card info stolen and used to empty my account).

But this is day 3 and I'm not functioning very well. It's got to be more than just stress at this point, but what? I'm not having any other symptoms, just the headache.

[Tuckervill]

Go to the doctor. A severe headache for 3 days can be many things, and some of them are bad.

Hope you feel better soon.

Karen

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yep, definitely doctor time.

Hope you feel better soon!

[OakLeaf]

+1 on the doctor, but in the meantime, have you considered dehydration? Try slamming a couple of liters of your favorite electrolyte replacement beverage and see if it helps.

[Jones]

Try a decongestant. Sometimes the sinus are clogged with no symptoms except for the headache. Hope it goes away soon.

[Skierchickie]

I also say GO TO THE DOCTOR. I get headaches that last anywhere from 3 to 7 days. After an MRI, ENT doctor, allergist, a variety of migraine meds, my doctor sent me to a neurologist. He set me up with a couple of different prescriptions - sometimes one works, sometimes the other works, sometimes neither one helps. My doc keeps threatening me with a preventative, which I'd have to take every single day. NO THANKS! Oh, and my chiropractor tried, and a friend lent me a magnet neck wrap.

Anyhow, get it checked out. Especially if it has happened more than once. It is allergy season now, so maybe that will be the issue. It is far better to rule out the nasty stuff, and find out that it is something minor.

Also, +1 on dehydration. And the sinuses.

The neurologist told me that there is an entire spectrum of headaches, ranging from the classic tension headache to the classic migraine, and most people fall somewhere in between.

Good luck.

[ZenSojourner]

Decongestant is working, I should have thought of that before. Unfortunately my brain hurt so I wasn't thinking that well.

Hopefully there's an end to it.

I used to get headaches all the time when I was late teens to 20-something, but they went away. So this was pretty unusual. I should have known from the pressure-right-at-the-crown-of-the-head thing, I always get that when it's a sinus headache.

Sorry! Silly me.

[tctrek]

Be careful taking a decongestant and thinking it is helping. I did that years ago and it ended up I was masking high blood pressure! I had moved from New Jersey to Florida and started having headaches and everyone said it must be a pollen or something that I wasn't accustomed to. A year later, decongestants no longer worked and I finally went to the doc and found out I had h.b.p. One of the dumbest things I've ever done in my life.

Not saying that's your problem... just be cautious about self-treating too much :-)

[Tuckervill]

Now see, this is something I don't understand. Medical professionals have told me that there are NO symptoms to high blood pressure. YET, the only time I have had HBP, I felt ill and had a headache. Others I know have said they felt ill.

What's the story on that? Anybody know?

Karen

[ZenSojourner]

I don't know, I've only ever had LOW blood pressure. So low in fact that when I was younger I had an EMT tell me to get an emergency ID bracelet for it, so in case I was in an accident they wouldn't automatically put me in shock pants.

How low? Well it was 90/65 when I was 5 months pregnant, LOL!

It's nominally "normal" now, which means high for me but normal for most folks. Because I'm carrying so much extra weight.

Gotta get back on my bike somehow.

[tctrek]

Now see, this is something I don't understand. Medical professionals have told me that there are NO symptoms to high blood pressure. YET, the only time I have had HBP, I felt ill and had a headache. Others I know have said they felt ill.

What's the story on that? Anybody know?

Karen

I probably had high blood pressure for at least 5 years before I knew it. By the time it was bad enough for me to know it, I was on the verge of a stroke. Since then, I know what it feels like and I do have a strange feeling if it goes up... kind of a disconnected, foggy feeling. But for the most part, I am "normal" now at 110/70.

Glad to hear that ZSj has LOW blood pressure!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well ZenS,
If you are not going to see a doctor about your ongoing headache, then you could take your blood pressure several times over the next week or two just to make sure about that. Most large chain drug stores seem to have blood pressure machines now- even some supermarket pharmacies do. I'd still suggest a Dr appt though.

[ZenSojourner]

Yeah, I've actually got one for my dad, it has memory for two people so I occasionally check my blood pressure when I'm checking his. Mine's been pretty consistently high-for-me-normal-for-most-people for a long time now.

I'm not being stubborn about the doctor, I have no health insurance. I'm on hiatus from my doctoral program until my dad doesn't need me anymore so not even student loan "income" either. There are 40 million people (probably more now with the economy in the crapper) who muddle along the best we can without affordable health care options.

Oh and it's been largely gone since I hit it with the decongestants. A little mild thing going once in awhile but it responds to rest and ibuprofen, not like before.

[Tuckervill]

kind of a disconnected, foggy feeling

Yes! That's the feeling I was having a year ago when my bp was up, and everyone said I was imagining it. But my BP was just borderline high, like 139/100. Maybe I'm just extra sensitive. I never took medicine. It was about a 3 week period where I just felt like s**t, but I wasn't sick. I charted my BP. It stayed in that range, and when I went to the doctor she gave me three months to get it down, and I did, by being diligent about my diet.

Now it's normal again, and since then I've lost 20 more lbs.

Karen

[Cataboo]

short term - anything that increases circulation to your brain will probably help.

Peppermint tea and/or caffeine.

But go to a doctor as well