To ask how often you get headaches?

[QuestionsAllAround]

I get headaches a lot. Very regularly.
Usually they are manageable by paracetamol, they don't normally stop me living life as normal, they occasionally get a bit worse but I've only ever had 2 migraines and I'm in my 30s.

I've been to the doctors many many times over the years and they say headaches are just headaches and they aren't worried.
It obviously concerns me anyway, it can't be normal to get headaches 3-4 times a week can it?

(I do have an anxiety disorder and someone previously mentioned it could be stress related because of this... but so often? Is this really normal?)

So how often do you get headaches?

Thanks!

Pretty much every day. I too saw doctors a few times and heard the same as you - they can't usually find the cause and all we can do is pop painkillers.

Mine is probably because I grind my teeth in my sleep. I have a mouth guard which has saved my teeth (two of them broke in the space of a week, which is how I realised I was grinding!) but does nothing to stop the jaw tension or the headaches.

I'm so used to it now that I barely notice. I take painkillers maybe once a month when I get a particularly bad one.

People can leak CSF Fluid spontaneously. Some folks go for years undiagnosed/misdiagnosed with migraines or "new persistent daily headaches" etc because it's relatively rare.
Once they get diagnosed and treated correctly they get their life back.
My intention was not to alarm anyone.

Thanks for that - I'm now totally shitting myself. I realise you didn't mean to alarm anyone but I think it was clear that it wasn't going to be helpful for those of us who also have anxiety!

Between your suggestion and the person upthread who knew someone with a tumour, that's really freaked me out.

I do know I grind my teeth but without a dentist I'm not sure of the solution.

I'm sorry, I suffer from anxiety too. I've been basically disabled from having my lumbar puncture. Low pressure headaches and then high pressure headaches when the sealed the leak. I'm on a mission to educate everyone on CSF leaks.......
Next time you get a headache, lie down. If it goes away completely within 10-20 mins then it's an "orthostatic" headache.
Sounds like yours is caused by grinding teeth (I get that too.)
Sorry if I caused you stress xx

Every few weeks, especially when dehydrated.

I think if you come onto a thread like this it is fairly obvious that there might be some anxiety inducing theories as to why people get frequent headaches though. It is helpful to hear of people's experiences - I have a friend with CSF and it is interesting to hear how people deal with it amongst other things. I don't think posters should stop posting about causes and effects as it might encourage someone to get further diagnosis or treatment for something otherwise left undetected. Sorry that you are anxious though.

Livia, you've lived with the headaches for 15 yrs. They obviously aren't due to something terrible that will kill you (they would have done so by now). You haven't even described them getting worse over time.

I'm sure the headaches suck & I hope you find a way to fix them, but you have no evidence at all that your aches are anything but a chronic mild problem. Some people get bad wrists or backs or hips instead. By age 50, most of us have a mild but chronic ill health problem to manage.

(Just tell me if the above is a complete waste of time to say to someone with anxiety... I can't get the anxiety b/c you could be wasting your time on pointless fretting & mown down by a bus tomorrow... I guess the anxiety is a comforting habit or you wouldn't do it?)

I totally agree with lljkk. I have had headaches for 30 years and don't really worry about them as I am still here! I only worry about taking the painkillers but many, many friends at my age (50+) with proper illnesses taking far worse than me. You have to balance out the pros and cons.

I guess the anxiety is a comforting habit or you wouldn't do it?

I understand most of your post but the anxiety is in no way comforting - why would you think it is?

It's horrible and it stops me being able to function properly day to day - nothing comforting about being unable to sleep, crying a lot and generally struggling (I'm not talking about threads like this particularly)

Ironically the only thing that didn't cause me anxiety used to be my health up until last year, so this is a relatively new development

I gave up caffeine completely and my weekly headaches stopped. I did get the mother of withdrawal headaches though but once I was over that it was fine. I was amazed at the difference and am still caffeine free nearly 20 years later.

Livia you can buy the guards direct from a dental lab (disclaimer I have no experience of this but reviews are good and was going to give it a go when I need to replace mine, as significantly cheaper than £200+ on NHS) link heree*

Iam mine got worse before they got better, I think I was biting so hard on the guard it caused additional tension! I just used to get persistent headaches I couldn't shift without eventually resorting to co-codamol. Thought I was just prone to headaches but sure it is the clenching. I don't know if it's relevant but I think my jaw is slightly out of alignment... if I am holding my mouth open for any period of time (at the dentists) my jaw gets incredibly uncomfortable and I have to 'click' it which apparently is my dislocating my jaw...

@lljkk I think you've misunderstood - Anxiety is not something people just do, it's a disorder just like depression, it can't be helped and the worry can be extremely irrational and you even know that it is but it doesn't stop the worrying & the over reaction. This is what makes it a disorder, it's very difficult to 'just control' the same as depression can't just be 'snapped out of' and you can't just 'walk off' a broken leg.

@whippetwoman I tried to give up caffeine a couple of years ago but the withdrawal headache got so so bad and lasted so long that I couldn't cope with it and as soon as I had some caffeine it began to subside.

I have been thinking about when the last time I didn't have regular headaches was and it was when I had a retainer to wear at night so maybe it does have something to do with grinding and clenching my teeth! I think a trip to the dentist is called for!

OP I have regular headaches, have for the past 25 years. I used to get terrible migraines when I was a late teenager, doctor took me off the pill and they improved dramatically.
I still get headaches a few times a week (very rarely migraines now) but I think mostly it is down to painkiller addiction now.
For the record don't use co-codomol unless you have to, I started with them and thought they were great but was popping them twice a day.... it took me a year to realise I was heavily addicted (the warning about addiction never used to be on the packet as I recall). I now only use co-codomol if I have a migraine.
Some people are just more prone than others, my sister for example very rarely gets headaches

I can't get the anxiety b/c you could be wasting your time on pointless fretting & mown down by a bus tomorrow... I guess the anxiety is a comforting habit or you wouldn't do it?)

What an ignorant thing to post.

Anxiety isn't something you do, it's something you have. You can't choose to have it, it just is.

Trust me, if people could choose not to have anxiety, they fucking would.

Almost never. I occasionally, very occasionally (maybe once every six months or so) get a sudden and absolutely excruciating pain in the front of my head. Agony. Then I realise I'm dehydrated and the throbbing stops soon after.

I used to get a lot of headaches and also migraines from mid teens to late thirties. In the end, the headaches were almost daily and the migraines were 2-3 times a week. I'm sure at least some of them were caused by all the painkillers I was taking (they cause rebound headaches).

I went completely gluten free about 7 years ago. I felt horribly ill for about 5 days, but have only rarely had a headache since, and maybe 3 or 4 migraines in the 7 years. I tested negative for coeliac but nevertheless seem to react very badly to wheat and all the gluten grains- for many people, headache and migraine are part of the reaction they get with coeliac or gluten intolerance, although to be fair, it's hard to tell if gluten was the issue or something else related to the change in diet- it worked tho

Op, if it's a tension headache it will be eased by lying with a covered hit water bottle at the back of your neck fit 20 mins.