Constant headaches 5 months plus

[TripleTipplePipple]

Hi, I posted in General Health earlier but hoping for a bit more traffic by posting here.

My husband has had a tension type headache since April of this year. We've tried everything and are desperate to try and sort it, we're waiting for his appointment to come through from the neuology department. He's been seen by ENT, it's not sinus related. He's had a CT scan which didn't show anything. He's having accupuntcure (3 sessions so far), sports massage, osteopath sessions, tried amatriptalyne and felt dreadful and has now started taking topirimate which isn't much better and isn't helping. General painkillers don't touch it at all. We are trying to get an appointment with a hypnotherapist to see if that helps.

There's nothing new or different about our lives, no obvious triggers. He's always suffered a bit with headaches and more frequently over the 12 months before this constant one kicked in. We have a healthy(ish) diet, he doesn't drink much alcohol or caffeine or smoke etc drinks plenty of water. He's fit and healthy in all other respects. His blood pressure has been checked, he's on beta blockers for a hereditary tremor.

It's now just awful, he's exhausted, depressed and starting to struggle to hold it together, his mental health is taking a serious battering as he tries to keep going with normal family life. We are all starting to seriously feel the strain. I feel awful for him because I can't do anything and I'm as supportive as I can be but am out of ideas to suggest.

Has anyone else suffered like this with headaches and did you manage to fix it?

Have a read through all of the Motivationaldoc videos and see which one might be suitable to watch.

I was in agony from a blocked Eustachian tube and he helped me tremendously.

Thank you, will have a look!

Oh blimey that sounds miserable. I have no idea (especially as in men it won't be menopause migraines!). It definitely sounds like it needs neurology looking at it though, push hard for the appointment. Poor guy

My teenage nephew has suffered from debilitating cluster headaches since the unexpected and unexplained death of a friend. He has had every physical exam going and is in excellent physical health; the conclusion is that he is suffering from some form of PTSD.

I appreciate that things haven't, on the surface, changed much for your DH but if you look back over the last few years and see if there have been any big changes, and then add in the stresses of Covid with the uncertainty it brings to most peoples employment, the constant switching of the rules, the health worry (particularly if he or anyone close is CV), then that could well be a trigger for anxiety related headaches. Which of course then becomes a self fulfilling cycle as they then get anxious about how the headaches are affecting their lives. for you, it isn't easy shouldering the burden of another adults physical and mental health along with all the usual responsibilities of life.

Did he have his Covid vaccine before this?

Is it food related? Something that he is eating that is triggering them. We can get food allergies as we get older, might be worth writing a food diary .

Thanks all,

@evilgiraffe thank you :) we are just waiting for the appointment. I'm going to ring next week to chase.

@EllieSattler I do think there might be something about the stress of the headaches adding to the pain. Other than covid we've had a fairly settled few years, there's been nothing that we can think of. Although he does worry about money and work and losing his job if he's off sick or having to isolate, we've had some real rows. I wonder whether we should look at some lifestyle stuff. Your poor nephew, I hope he's able to find something that helps.

@BrilloPaddy they started before he had his vaccine. About 3 weeks earlier.

I know someone who was ultimately diagnosed with long term headaches - Botox injections in the head and neck were the only thing that helped him

Never heard of that @PrincessesRUs thank you, will have a look

This sounds awful for you all :(

I have always struggled with tension headaches and have had years of having them constantly. I’ve found that the thing that clears them up best is massaging tiger balm into the nobbly bits at the back of my head and my neck as firmly as possible for as long as possible and then lying on the floor with a reasonable sized book (normally a good couple of inches thick) under my head to ease the pressure for 10 mins. I got to the point where I think the painkillers were causing more of the pain than relieving them as I was living on ibuprofen to take the edge of and parecetamol wasn’t touching it. I now very rarely take either and so if I do get a headache I do the tiger balm thing during the day and if I need to I only take them at night to help with relaxing into healing sleep. Probably sounds a bit woo but it really helped me more than anything else so it’s worth a try?

Thank you @fabuluce we've got tiger balm, I think it helped ease it a bit but we were sure whether it was just the massaging it in that helped more than the actual balm. He had problems with painkillers a while back and was advised to stop them. He was getting through packets of paracetamol and ibuprofen a week then a GP on the phone advise to add in co-cocodomol then when he saw someone face to face they told him to stop them all because he was taking far to much so for a while we clung to the hope that it was medication over use but he stopped them a couple of months ago and it's made no difference

Poor man. I assume he's had his sight checked by an optician?

Has he tried migraine medication? I had a headache for 3 weeks about ten years ago. The doctor gave me one tablet to try, saying if this stops it it's a migraine,if it doesn't, come back. It instantly went away. Of course it meant I'm now a migraine sufferer but at least I have medication to help me with it.

I had a family member who suffered with headaches for years who was finally diagnosed with Chiari Malformation. The headaches it causes can mimic tension headaches, but it’s usually accompanied by other symptoms like dizziness, loss of balance, numbness and tingling.

What pills does he take for the headaches, OP?
I had a permanent headache as a teenager, referred to neurologist etc etc, they couldn’t find anything wrong. Then one Doctor told me that the side effects of painkillers for headaches are......a headache. He told me to lay of the aspirin/paracetamol/whatever else I was taking for several weeks and sure enough my headache disappeared.

Hope your DH finds out the cause soon, they are bloody miserable.

I have had daily headaches since I was about 11 (so 40 years). I did speak to a GP once who just did the test where you have to follow their finger with your eyes but nothing has been done since,

They are getting worse at the moment so following with interest

Sorry to here others are having to out up with headaches. It's really horrible and totally exhausting.

@shmashing yes he's had his eyes thouroghly checked a couple of times and he had a new glasses recently to see if it helped but nothing.

@Aliceclara not sure anything he's been given yet is specific for migraines. The two I've mentioned him trying are supposed to stop them happening rather than ease the current pain but they don't seem to be doing anything.

@notyouGuillermo I've not heard of that condition, thank you will look it up!

@WitchBaby he has stopped all the traditional painkillers a couple of months ago because a Dr suggested medication withdrawal. It doesn't seem to have made it any better or worse.

@LukeEvansWife definitely start pushing for some answers, I really feel for you. It's just exhausting.

I've just removed all the house plants this morning in the hope that might randomly have triggered it but I'm not sure it is them to be honest. Will to try anything right now!

I had permanent severe crippling headaches after getting off all my meds when my illness was finally correctly diagnosed. ie withdrawal effects.

So suggesting stopping pain meds is a no brainer. That will exacerbate the situation.

Always left sided. In addition to separate severe migraines.
Nothing helped.
Gradually that has eased

But the migraines were and are helped by Immigran Nasal Spray almost consistently. Only one really bad one in nearly two years. Instant relief.

Maybe worth trying? Migraine can be very variable. Mine were often triggered by low blood sugar when I did not eat enough. Glucose in water helped that.

And try ordinary painkillers again? There has be to some relief.

One dr suggested anti convulsant meds?

Thanks @SoloISland will get hold of some of that spray. He's a bit nervous to take painkillers again in case it triggers something or makes it worse now he's off it. I'll get him to look into the anti convulsant stuff too.

@Vintagechick43 food is something we've thought about. He's cut back on dairy but we've had a look at allergenic food and we don't think there's anything that might be causing it. Might be worth looking at a bit more closely though.

Did your Dh give the glasses a good chance? My DH had daily headaches and it took a few weeks for new prescription to even take the edge off but then they cleared up. Also have a friend who suffered long term daily headaches and Botox helped him.

Has he got any other health problems? I have headaches at some point nearly every day and have fibromyalgia. Just worth thinking about

Has he been tested for temporal artiritis?

Me. I've lived with them most of my life. The last year they've been constant. Triggered by tiny things. Constant pain. I've been through doctors, including pain management specialists, cat scan, MRI, horrible treatments & all they can offer is amitriptyline which made me gain weight & feel like a zombie & I refuse to take them again. Maxalt isn't working anymore so I'm living on ibuprofen.

I've turned to a chiropractor who uses modern methods like x-ray & is medically trained. I can't say if it's going to work yet as I've only had one session on Thursday but my headache reduced by about 50% within hours & I feel much less trigger sensitive. I'm starting an 8 week treatment program & am hopeful of some relief. Might be worth a try.

Did you get to the bottom oh your DH's headaches? 🙏

@TripleTipplePipple - did you get a diagnosis? I would really appreciate it if you have any updates. I really hope things improved for your husband and your family.

My partner suffers from tension/cluster/migraine headaches. He has headaches nearly 4-5 days of the week.

We have done all possible tests, painkillers don't help, regular exercise helps a bit, diet change barely helps (although we know that uncooked tomato, a few fruits, chocolate tends to make things worse).

Please be careful with paracetamol, high doses of paracetamol can cause liver toxicity. It's probably true for other painkillers too.
Painkillers tend to help a little bit, but when the affect wears off it is a lot worse.