Please please please someone help me

[Fedupwithallthis2]

I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is ruining my life. I really need help from someone but I don’t know what to do or where to go.

ive been getting horrendous headaches for the last few months and I actually think I’m going to have a breakdown about it. I’ve been to the doctors and been told different things each time, migraine, stress, tension etc but regardless of what it is, nothing is helping. I’ll describe the headaches below and I’m praying that someone recognises a feature and knows what it is and how to stop it.

1. it started off a few months ago and at first the headaches were occasional and it got worse and right now it’s everyday or every other day.
2. they start around lunchtime/afternoon and get worse throughout the day. By dinner time they are unbearable and by night time it is horrific
3. The pain is almost always on the right. It’s a throbbing ache around my right temple and right eye area. It feels like someone is actually drilling through my eye
4. random things make the pain worse- sneezing is horrific, as is coughing, moving in general but especially bending down or moving my head down eg to tie my laces and then bringing it back up. The other thing that makes the head so much worse is lying down, the light, touching my right temple/eyebrow area or physically passing stools , it honestly feels like my head is going to explode.
5. Nothing helps- I’ve had stuff from the doctor and OTC and I’m currently chewing painkillers like sweets and it barely takes the edge off it
6. I feel sick and occasionally dizzy with them. I’m not always physically sick but sometimes am from the pain
7. im not tired, I’m not stressed, I’m not dehydrated and I can’t think of any reasons this is happening
8. ive been to the optician and I don’t need glasses
9. i get really irritable with them. Little things annoy me and I want to scream and cry or explode all the time
10. lying down and sleeping for a little nap or a few hours makes it so much worse afterwards. But lying down and sleeping for 12+ makes it a bit better but then it starts to come back at lunchtime after I wake up anyway

please, if anyone has any advice or ideas I’m actually desperate this is ruining my life. My doctor won’t do anything and said even if I do get a referral it will take well over a year anyway and I can’t afford private. I’m really struggling and honestly feel like I could smash my skull with a hammer to get relief

please someone help me😢

this!

you're describing me when I had severe sinusitis.

Do you grind your teeth? In your sleep?

Have you tried soluble aspirin? Works so well for my migraines when nothing else could. GP advised taking double the dose on the packet.

It's amazing how many of us are affected by awful headaches. Mine are hormonal, through low blood sugar, if I ever try to come off coffee, when I used to have a glass of wine (not even a full small glass), sinuses (had bones drilled and wash ours). Nighttime teeth grinder too (I've lost teeth through this). I would be concerned about the sweating. Definitely back to the GP and ask for referral as others have said. I private scan if you can afford it but I know not all of us can afford that. Good luck, hope you get somewhere.

My daughter is 24 and my d want to be helping you with this if you were her

Have you told her? Can she help advocate for you at the doctors? The squeaky wheel gets the oil so you really do need to be asking for more help with this

My other suggestion which is easy for you to try is liquid tabs - ideally the green anadin ones but nurofen red tab will do.

15years ago my husband had what sounds the same, although his was sudden.
The headache, dizzying, pounding etc
Went to gp,( gp saw him that morning when it started ) gp rang me as he didn’t even want my Dh to wait for an ambulance

Gp said it was the first ever text book case he’d seen in his entire career, he retired 2 weeks later
If your gp is doing nothing, I wouldn’t risk waiting I’d go to A & E

I had / have something similar… mainly relate to the being worse when bending down laughing coughing etc… After endless doc visits and a&e - I ended up goong to a London hospital who finally gave me a CT scan and found I had chiari malformation. I had to hace 3 ops in the end and have a VP shunt. Not saying its that of course but I wish they would just do you a scan to rule anything like that out :( Caffeine always helped, it coming on in the afternoon may reflect having low celebral fluid after you’ve been upright for a while and caffeine does help that. I hope you get some answers soon xxxxx

I had this for a long time, turned out to be an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)

these sort of headaches can be hormonal too, are you on any contraceptive or peri/menopausal?

I had exactly what you describe. Especially as you say worse when lying down and in evenings. I went for an MRI thinking I had a brain tumour and the MRI showed changes which are constant with IIH. I am just awaiting my ophthalmologist to do the back of the eye scan to check the pressure and will go from there. Insist on the scan. I went to A&E on a bad migraine attack and they did it there and then.

I have simply skim read the tread so sorry if has been suggested before. Have the Gp tried any prescription medication on you or simply suggested over the counter painkillers?

That sounds awful 💐Are you on any medication? When I was on the combined pill I suffered with horrendous migraines that lasted for days.

Definitely get on the list at least.

@Fedupwithallthis2 what pain meds has the GP prescribed? Was it Amitriptyline?

I meant to say CT scan not MRI

It sounds like cluster headaches to me OP, please ask to be referred and ask to see a different GP if you don't get anywhere x

Go back to the GP - a different one in the practise if you can. Take your Mum. She can advocate for you.
Make a list before you go - symptoms when jts worse eg when going to toilet. Severity of the pain, your usual activities have stopped.
this needs to be investigate.
The treatment you have had is not acceptable.
The issue with your periods also needs investigation.
Im sorry you are getting such bad medical care

If your in that much pain do what I did and go A&E and they will CT scan you I defiantly would not wait a year with all of those symptoms for this length of time.

in my case i was very lucky I did go in.

I don't know much about GCA, but I know it manifests with one sided headaches. I've included a link, it's an autoimmune condition www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/giant-cell-arteritis-gca/

I get this and I have photophobia. Worse in afternoons after screens/flouro light for hours.

I know you've said the pain centres around your eye but does it go up and over your head, towards your neck at all? I had bad headaches that sound similar in some ways to what you had, and a neurologist gave me an occipital nerve block injection in the back of my head/top of my neck that really helped.

I've had bad migraines with pain on the right side of my head and my eye. Not quite the same as it only happened for a couple of days every 3 weeks when I had a period. As well as taking painkillers as soon as I got a hint of it I'd have a sweet drink, so like a pint of Coke or something. I knew if my sugar level was low or I was dehydrated it would be so much worse. I did learn that if I woke in the night with a hint of it and went back to sleep I would wake up in agony so I would get up and have the pain killers and drink.

I hope you get it sorted.

Haven't read all the replies so not sure if mentioned but have you tried aspirin?
I had horrific headaches to the point I couldn't move without being sick. Aspirin was the only thing to help.
Turns out I have seriously high blood pressure! Maybe worth a check x

As a GP myself I would advise going back to GP to reassess things in view of some of the symptoms mentioned in your OP and you may need imaging. Hope you can go back and discuss it again with them, have a look at the head smart website ahead of it.

it is worth reading about medication overuse headache which often develops after the primary cause of various headaches, secondary to frequent (understandable!) painkiller use. You may find some aspects improve a lot if you can avoid regular painkiller use, aiming for less than ten times a month, whilst any other tests or referrals are underway for the original problem. If you do get referred try and do this whilst waiting or you may wait over a year only to be told the same thing! Hope you get it sorted soon from a fellow headache sufferer.

So sorry this is happening to you. Please ask your doctor for a d dimer test.

Hi there. I’ve had something similar and described the headache like you do, with the drill through the eye . I don’t know your age but for me it was the onset of peri-menopause. Hormone plaster have relived it completely.