Has anyone else had whatever the hell this is? How do I get rid of it?

[pigeononthegate]

Bit of an odd one, but if anyone can relate/help, I'd be very grateful.

I had an 8 hour journey on a National Express coach yesterday, with an hour's break in the middle.

Got on the first coach, and within 10 minutes I started to experience an immense pressure in my head and face, pain in ears and upper teeth, numbness in places, pain in neck and shoulders, dizziness...it kept getting worse and was horrendous. I thought it was a migraine coming on. But it can't have been, because within a few minutes of getting off the coach at the rest stop the pain had started to clear, and by the time I got on the second coach I felt almost normal with a bit of residual soreness/stiffness.

Got on the second coach and the same thing happened only worse. By the time I got to the end of the journey I was in agony and could hardly see. Not travel sickness as no nausea. It did improve a bit once I was off the coach, but I had a really bad night with pain in neck and shoulders and I'm still feeling sore, dizzy, pressure in face and head etc. It's not a full-blown migraine, those are much more debilitating. DH gave my neck a bit of a rub last night and it was crunching weirdly under his hand so he stopped. It didn't happen on the same journey in the opposite direction four days ago?

Has anyone had this happen?

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The seats are not the most comfortable. Did you have the seat behind the front one on your outward journey? It has more legroom than the others so maybe you relaxed more.

Thanks for replying. No, I was near the back on both journeys. I travel quite a bit and never had this happen before. Still feeling absolutely rotten now, and quite confused!

The only thing I can think of is maybe they have changed the toilet chemicals? Or maybe the heater?

Odd that it happened on two different coaches.

Or maybe you are coming down with something and the 'fresh' air at the stop revived you slightly.

Sounds like how I feel when I have a bout of sinusitis

Sinusitis

Another vote for sinusitis. I have chronic problems with it and get the symptoms you’ve described on and off, sometimes daily. It comes on as and when it pleases but various things can irritate it, perhaps one of yours was the weather/chemicals on the bus/perfume of a passenger/exhaustion that day.

Could sinusitis be made worse by being on a coach? I have had a cold and been very snuffly so it could be that!

Thanks for replies!

My sinuses react really badly to air con on planes. I don't think I've ever been on a coach but imagine their air con systems are similar. Having sinus issues with a cold would definitely exacerbate my symptoms.

Is grab some tiger balm and try to clear your head. I always get headaches on buses and trains if I have a head cold.

Air con could be the deciding factor if it is sinusitis. The aircon 'blows' from the front and back of the coach.

BTW not a coach geek but I did work for them one summer.

Sounds like sinusitis to me too. When it’s bad it’s like that for me. Air con triggers the head and face pain for me but it’s very distinctly different from a migraine.

Tension headache brought on by anxiety.