Headaches.

ANTVGM64

So, I know this obviously isn't the place to ask for medial advice, but I figured some people may have some kind of knowledge about what could be occuring.



Anyway, long story short, sometimes I get really bad headaches. Sometimes they are localed almost exclusively over my left eye, other times they inhabit my entire head. These head-aches occur in a couple of ways.

First, and most crappily, they occur when I wake up. I'm curious if this may be how I sleep, as I sleep with four pillows and and on my side. Anyway, I'll wake up, and sometimes I think the way the sun hits me causes one of these head-aches. However, they have occured when waking up in the dark, with no sunlight in my room.

Second: They will progress over the course of the day if I sneeze, have to take a kind of stressfull Poo (Shut up) or if I whip my head kind of quickly in one direction of another.

Third: Pepper. if I eat a lot of pepper I get a head-ache. Odd.


Anyway, I'm thinking it may have something to do with my eyes, as I technically need glasses, but it's not like I need them to pass a sight test or anything. Also, I read up on cluster head-aches, and this may be what i have, but i'm curious.

So here's the important question. How do I kill it? Medicine recomendations? Sometimes I take advil or Aspirin or Excedrin and nothing really happens, maybe because I'm a big dude, but even three of the pills do nothing.

Sometimes driving in my car at night gets rid of the head-ache, as does falling asleep and waking up about 2 hours later.

So, what's wrong with me!

Any suggestions would be great. Medicine especially.

duallain

You're might very well be getting Migraines rather than simply headaches. I'd talk to a General Practitioner about it, but things I do to reduce my migraines:

Close my eyes when entering/exiting dark areas/light areas.
Watch Movies when it's dark out, or keep the room lights on.
Wear my glasses all the time.
Take frequent breaks from the computer.

Basically, I'm very light sensitive, so I attempt to reduce frequent shifts in the quantity of life around me.

Once you get one I usually do two things,
First take 4 or 5 advil(doctor proscribed, kills your liver, only do it if a doctor recommends it), and then drink a can of soda with caffeine in it.
Sitting some where quiet and dark seems to usually help as well.

Simon Moon

Do you have allergies? I get a lot of sinus headaches from being allergic to, well, everything. From your description, it sounds like that could be what's going on with you. It could be that something as simple as taking a sudafed (the real kind) could help.

If it is, in fact, something sinus related, it may be that you need some sort of steroid nasal spray. That's what eventually fixed me up. Haven't had one of those soul-crushing headaches in about a year.

Also, just as an aside, I'm pretty sure tylenol is the one that kills your liver. The stomach is what taking too much ibuprofen can damage. Plus, I've been told by a both a doctor and a pharmacist that frequent ibuprofen use causes, among other things, headaches. Now that's one to grow on.

ANTVGM64

Well, I don't have any allergies, although oddly, when I get these head-aches, I yawn a ton.

Dalboz

I'm actually going to go with the sinus thing based on what you described. Especially the pain localized to your left eye, eating a lot of pepper worsening it, etc. That and having it really bad when you wake up makes me think it's sinus pressure.

On the other hand, do you know what your blood pressure is? This seriously might be something to check with a doctor about. If it's sinuses, that's not something to screw around with (I knew someone who died in her sleep from what appeared to be a minor sinus infection). And if it's some kind of pressure building, or you have high blood pressure, that's obviously not something to screw around with either. Not to sound alarmist. I just thinks it's better to rule out the worst first as a safety precaution. As mentioned, it could also be migraines, but the specifics and localized pains you're describing make me think it's not, but I could be wrong. I do know migraines have appear in odd and specific ways (I get painless migraines, where I sometimes see sparkles floating through my vision like I'm looking at the world through a glass of champagne, but I get no pain).

One other question which could affect this: How's your posture? Pressure on the neck can sometimes manifest as headaches, which I also get.

Lerage

This may not exactly be the best cure, but it sure helps, do you drink enough water? When I was younger, I used to drink a lot of fizzy drinks, and get a lot of headaches. I was dehydrated. Now I only drink water, and loads of it, and I'm fine. It's worth a try, even if it's not the only cause.

LewieP's Mummy

ANTVGM64 wrote: »

First, and most crappily, they occur when I wake up. I'm curious if this may be how I sleep, as I sleep with four pillows and and on my side.

Far too many pillows, your neck will be bent, putting pressure on it. 2 pillows max for sleeping on your side.

ANTVGM64 wrote: »

Second: They will progress over the course of the day if I sneeze, have to take a kind of stressfull Poo (Shut up) or if I whip my head kind of quickly in one direction of another.

Get your BP checked out.

ANTVGM64 wrote: »

Third: Pepper. if I eat a lot of pepper I get a head-ache. Odd.

Sounds obvious, but just don't eat a lot of pepper - I love teryaki, but it irritates my stomach, so I just don't eat it.

ANTVGM64 wrote: »

Anyway, I'm thinking it may have something to do with my eyes, as I technically need glasses, but it's not like I need them to pass a sight test or anything. Also, I read up on cluster head-aches, and this may be what i have, but i'm curious.

If you technically need glasses, wear them!

ANTVGM64 wrote: »

So here's the important question. How do I kill it? Medicine recomendations? Sometimes I take advil or Aspirin or Excedrin and nothing really happens, maybe because I'm a big dude, but even three of the pills do nothing.

Don't mess with pain meds - aspirin can damage your stomach lining (all NSAIDs can), go to your doc's for advice.

Fantasma

If you have medical insurance, use it, headaches could be a sign that something is not right in your body, such as high blood pressure (Hypertension).

I used to suffer of really bad headaches, specially when climbing stairs, I got checked by a Neurologist, and everything was fine, then he checked my blood pressure and I was sent to see a cardiologist. I was diagnosed hypertension.

Unless you do a lot of eye stressful exercises, like playing unreal tournament 2004, I would not consider problems with your glasses.

Do it soon, strokes are common in people with problems like this.