Posted by Dan on March 18, 1999 at 06:03:52:
I don't know if I'm getting a cluster headache or not. My doctor won't be happy until I admit that it is a stress-related tension headache. I've told him time and again that I have no particular reason to be stressed. I love my job, I work regular hours and my boss is a great guy. Maybe you guys can help, because you seem to be the only ones who really appreciate the excruciating pain of a very big headache.
So ... from the beginning ...
I first noticed something was amiss about 4 weeks ago. Bending down to look at the bottom shelf of a bookcase I felt a slight pain in the head. Within a few days this went on to become a constant but very mild headache.
After a few days of this I took my first pain killer - I think it was Advil. The headache then got worse. As the headache got worse, I took progressively stronger painkillers ... paracetamol, nurofen, ibuprofen and finally co-proxamol (by prescription). It was like throwing gasoline on a fire.
By the end of week 2, I had a constant mild-to-moderate headache punctuated by 3-5 daily attacks of extreme pain lasting from 30 minutes to 3 hours.
The first couple took me by surprise. I had never felt anything like it before and I was sure that it was an anurism or brain haemorrhage. I raced to the emergency room and by the time I got to see a doctor the attack had passed. So they are no doubt writing me off as a hypochondriac.
These are my symptoms during an attack:
- I have trouble looking at my computer screen.
- I feel extreme pain, typically on the left hand side and more often than not towards the back of my head.
- The pain is not particularly throbbing or pulsating, but I do feel excruciating stabbing sensations now and then. That is what I previously mistook for an anurism.
- I also find that applying pressure with my hand intesifies the pain and sometimes triggers one of these stabbing sensations.
- I find that the only thing I can do during an attack is pace the floor. I CANNOT sit still or lie down.
Does any of that sound familiar. If so, what do I do? How long does it last? How do I convince the doctor that this is not stress?
I am at my rope's end. I'm going into week 4 and I'm fed up with it.
Any suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks for reading,
Dan