Dull throbbing pain on both sides of my head lasting 1 week!!! Aibu to go to a hospital?

[OrientalDaisy]

I am really worried at this stage. I developed an ice pick headache over a week ago which was just annoying and would strike out of nowhere and lasted a few seconds each time. It had happen quite a few times but then the following day I was back to normal. However last Tuesday so exactly a week ago I woken up with a very very heavy feeling in my head. I was exhausted. My head was hurting and spinning. I am still with this constant dull ache on both sides of my head (feels like its really really tight and the tightness is not going away ! ) . No painkillers have been helping tried aspirin with paracetomol one, paracetomol and Iboprufen. Nothing helps with the feeling. It is not as bad at night and I can sleep but it is always there. I am getting very worries as DH needs to be away this weekend and I will be with 2 kids. Any advice? Aibu to try and get emergency appointment tomorrow morning ,with GP? I've never had headaches/migraines before even with colds and flu so I have no idea if this even a normal duration for a headache. Any help will be very appreciated !!!

You've said that BOTH parents had migraines.
It's a migraine that is being exacerbated by your worries about it.

I was going to suggest sinusitis, I have had it come on with bad hay fever and it makes your whole face hurt certainly - something to consider. Though I also got a noticeable 'off' taste in the back of my throat, I don't think everyone does.

Migraine is a weird thing - I get the sickness and exhaustion, and visual disturbance, but no headache: Migraine medication still shifts it though. it's a very individual thing I think and doctors can be a bit bad at identifying a condition if it doesn't look like the textbook version.

But it might also be something else - certainly worth getting your eyes looked at properly. y I do hope you get this sorted, it sounds completely miserable.

My bro had a headache over a few days that would not go with painkillers, he went to a&e eventually and it was viral meningitis, the Dr there said always seek medical attention with unexplained headache that is not going away and especially if not touched by painkillers. The Dr said it was never a waste of time and better to be safe.

Ps bro was not vomiting

And sod the ooo dr, they are GPs only, go to a&e, give all these symptoms and say you can't cope with the pain anymore.

@OrientalDaisy I agree with going to A&E, you've tried everything suggested and it's not helping. The eye pressure is worrying.

Have you tried an ice pack on your forehead and heat pack on the back of your neck, along with a sudafed? If it is sinusitis this will shift it. I suffer from both migraine and sinusitis and often struggle to tell which is which until I get the aura. I find steaming actually makes my sinusitis worse.

Thank you for your message it sounds exactly like me at the moment. No one took anything, my GP just told me to try aspirin and triptan spray which seemed to help I now got prescribed the sumatriptan pills to try. Its bloody dreadful and I will try and push for neurologist referral. I think my GP wouldn't do anything even if one starts bleeding in front of her.

Sounds absolutely awful. I don't have any other symptoms of meningitis to be honest like at all. I wasn't very sick with anything viral as well recently. Sinusitis is more common because of hay fever as I do have a stuffy nose. I didn't know though you get that with hay fever (meaning sinusitis that might require treatment). DH will grab Vicks spray along with my prescription today.

Go get checked out. Best case scenario it's nothing and you go home reassured. Worse case scenario it's something and you ignore it....

My husband had headaches that didn't go for a week, he rang the doc and even during the height of the pandemic the doc wanted to see him fave to face the same day. It turns out it was stress induced and nothing more sinister thank goodness. But the gp took it seriously.

If this is unusual for you, get it checked.

Ask for full bloods and if they fob you off try and get a private test (£90 online)
You need it regardless so you've a baseline to work from.
You can also get a ferritin test from Amazon(£7) but it will only tell you if you are low and not the numbers.
I'm only guessing because of the exhaustion plus twitching (I can't get out of bed 1/3 days, even a wee is like an expedition and 2/3 I'm weak as a kitten) it's worth checking just in case it's an easy fix.

May I ask everyone who's got diagnosed with migraines/tensions headaches any other conditions did you get a brain scan to first cancel out all the possible sinister things?? Or were you are least referred to the neurologist? What i didn't like is that both my GP and the out of hours GP asked me 'what do you want to get out of this appointment?'. I felt like they thought I came there with fake symptoms and am just wasting their time because I had googled brain tumours and now believe that's what I got.

I only ever got proper assessment whether for myself or kids from the A&E. And one other GP who is really lovely and understanding but again I guess their first line is to push for all kinds of tables and see if you stop coming back.

It is just that I seen both of my parents suffer form headaches and head related conditions all their lives and it was excruciating to watch. They were suffering without proper support, dianosis, life style recommendations. I don't want to be in the same boat 😔

I didn't get a brain scan for over twenty years after my migraine diagnosis. And only then because I developed a series of hemiplegic attacks which mimicked strokes.

The way a classic migraine attack progresses is below - but ignore the time frames, as many of the elements are holy specific to each person. One monster attack can take weeks to developed, go through the pain element then recover from.

The fact that your pain has so readily responded to triptans suggests strongly that you have migraine. It does not work on anything else - not even a normal headache responds to it.

That's not to say there aren't underlying issues on top of a migraine attack.

At my worst I had 27 attacks in a month.

What did the OOH GP give you this time? What makes you think you were fobbed off?

Neurology referral is a last resort, absolutely not a first requirement. Migraine is the most common neurological condition in the world - neurologists couldn't cope. GPs are able to prescribe appropriately for migraine.

However, you'd do well to acquaint yourself with the NICE guidelines - I find it useful to discuss treatment options with GPs.

cks.nice.org.uk/topics/migraine/management/adults/

Thank you so much for all your messages. It helped me a lot to understand how complex migraine attacks can be . I am so sorry to hear about all the pain you go through and I very much appreciate you sharing this with me.

New update ...

It seems like my migriane type of throbbing pain has finally shifted however I am still left with pressure in my forehead (upper nose area) and still a lot of it behind my eyes. I will be calling my opticians tomorrow and see if they can see me ASAP. It is normally a 2 months wait to get an appointment I don't think I could wait this long.

I feel like both of my eyes are pulsating even when I have them closed up. They are not red but feel very tired/exhausted and dry and heavy . Its one thing after another 🥺 I don't want to go back to this GP because she starts to think that its my anxiety and I am not actually struggling.

Please push for a scan.

My toddler had headaches, and for her it was a tumour (sorry...)

There was also a post on here months ago with someone worried about their child who had headaches. I strongly suggested they push fir a scan after what happened to my daughter, and people thought I was scaremongering... It was a tumour.

The vast majority of headaches will not be tumours, but it's essential to rule them out ASAP.

I'm not saying this to scare you, and it's almost certainly not anything sinister, but because you don't screw around with heads. And frankly, you're going to be worried that its a tumour until you get it checked out properly.

This is so sad. Sorry it happened to your child... everything to do with children and illnesses is horrifying to me. I will try and see a different GP as I don't want to carry on this way thats for sure.

I pm’d you but don’t think you’ve seen it.

please go to a and e and mention the condition in the PM. Please don’t drive and please don’t minimise this.

We can't scan everyone with headaches. That would overwhelm the system. You can diagnose a lot of things by good history taking. I am very aware of brain tumours, I'm a GP, my husband died of a brain tumour, I've been on many committees dealing with how to diagnose headaches.
I will scan someone who is very worried even if I am convinced they don't have any sinister symptoms or signs.
I've been a GP for 31 years. Had about 6/7 brain tumours in our practice in that time. That is now 8000 patients. I see a lot of headaches.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/cavernous-sinus-thrombosis/#:~:text=Cavernous%20sinus%20thrombosis%20is%20a,sinuses%20away%20from%20the%20brain.

Thank u so much for the link. I believe the out of hours GP did test me for some of those symptoms and I do not have a fever nor feel sick. So that was eliminated.

I am so sorry to hear about what happened to your husband. This thread is absolutely not trying to undermine GPs and I've met fantastic ones . I also met a GP who advised me 'not to go to A&E because they got more important things over there' when my son had a fever of 39.6 that lasted for 15 days. She told me he was dehydrated and prescribed the narrowest antibiotics for his red throat. In 1.5 days we were at the hospital at 6 am and he was diagnosed with serious chest infection (liquid in his lower lung), strep infection in his throat and burst ear drum in one ear. It took A&E pediatrician 5 mins to find all of those things. In 1.5 days he was completely better. She missed all of those things and advised me against seeking further help!

Of course you cannot get a scan for everything but some GPS that I've met just seem to think everything is stress or anxiety related.

I’m glad they considered it but you don’t have to have a fever and a couple of days ago you did feel nauseous.

I hope you get seen soon. You shouldn’t have to be in pain like this and all things should be ruined out.