to be freaking out about these headaches

[cherrychapstickk]

hello,

for the last week I have started getting severe headaches on the right side of my head within twenty minutes of waking. they are much worse when I've not had a good night sleep.

They cause me to have numbness in my arms and vomiting from the pain.

I went to the doctor on Friday who prescribed sumatriptan for now, these have worked for the last couple days after half an hour or so.

However, I am more concerned at why they have suddenly come on like this and at the pain level they are. I cannot think of anything different I have done.

does anyone have any experience of this? it's frightening.

You poor thing, that sounds awful. It may be worth making an optician’s appointment, there may be something they can help with. I do hope you feel better soon @cherrychapstickk.

it's been so frightening as I have two children under 5 as well, I thought the one I had this morning I was going to faint

Bless you, sounds awful. I’d get an urgent referral to neurology, just request one with your gp and don’t let them fob you off. Chances are it’s just migraines due to hormones, but you won’t relax until you’ve had a CT scan so best to just get on with it.

they've said to check in again in a few weeks but if they stay at this intensity and frequency to come back beforehand. I've had it every day on waking for a good week now

Not a chance based on current criteria. Urgent neurology appointments in my area are still over 8 months of waiting. The criteria will need to see multiple attempts at treatment fail and that's not the case here.

OP, I have chronic migraine of multiple types and have done for 30 odd years. They frequently include paralysis, numbed sensation, blindness in one eye, dizziness etc. I totally understand the terror!

The fact that the attacks respond to sumatriptan absolutely confirms them as migraine, as triptans don't work on anything else.

Take sumatriptan as soon as you recognise your symptoms - the earlier the better as the longer an attack goes untreated, the harder it is to finally eradicate it.

Do you have any family history of migraine? Anything else changed in your health recently? And head injuries?

There's a lot of misinformation about migraine so stick to reliable sources like The Migraine Trust. My neurologist wrote much of their guidance!

Have a really good read of the NICE guidelines for treatment of migraine: https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/migraine/management/adults/

Also there's a good Facebook page to speak to others in the same boat - https://www.facebook.com/groups/cmauk/?ref=share Its aimed at people with chronic migraine, but lots of new migraineurs pop in looking for advice and support.

Oh, and keep a diary of the attacks! Severity, times if you can, and whether any treatment worked. Absolutely essential to whack a GP with - I'd been complaining for years and he didn't listen until I colour coded a large calendar with pain free days, mild attacks, and the ones that leave me in bed (green, amber red) and he was horrified.

I'd used words and numbers of days to describe it and he wasn't hearing me. Colours on a sheet was like a punch in the face it appears...

i do encourage you to keep a record of what’s going on, particularly as to how they respond to taking the triptans! It does sound excessive in the number of attacks you’re having, but what you’ve described is almost exactly what happens to me with hormonal migraines. For me they start (the obvious part anyways) with slightly obstructed vision that swiftly becomes totally/mostly obstructed vision on one side; progress to numbness/clumsiness on the same side; then an excruciating headache typically follows along with nausea. It is terrifying - particularly when you have small children!

Learning your warning signs will buy you precious moments to take that medicine. The faster it’s taken the better it works. Do not even think about driving; use voice text to contact someone to watch your children if you can. And I agree - keep after your doctors for more assistance. An eye doctor, your GP, try getting into an OB/GYN if you think they may be hormonal given their abrupt start.

There is such a thing as an optical migraine as well. I know someone for whom those are sparked by high stress coupled with large amounts of screen time. My own hormonal full-on migraines are hormonal BUT stress triggered in general.

Keep contacting your GP and know that you have my sincere well wishes and sympathy as I do understand how horrible the entire thing is!

hi,

they have gotten worse and worse. I am getting them constantly now with a few hours respite in between. the one I had at 5 am this morning caused me to pass out.

I don't have a doctors appointment again until the 22nd. I don't know what to do.

Hi, have you checked your blood pressure?

I unknowingly had extremely high blood pressure that causing vomiting migraines

Once I started taking blood pressure pills they almost instantly stopped

Honestly I know Mumsnet can be anti A&E but a headache that has that frequency and pain level that you passed out sounds like it needs urgent investigation

I would be calling 111 who I think would advice hospital

my blood pressure was fine when they checked it on Friday. all obs okay apart from higher heart rate but imagine that was the pain

I'd get on the phone to 111 this morning and describe how is has increased both in frequency and pain

Yes. If you pass out this is an a and e visit.

I’m a life-long migraine/headache person so some things to think about:
Keep a diary to monitor headaches.
Keep a food and drink diary. Lots of things trigger headaches and a food you’ve eaten for years can suddenly cause them.
If the Sumatriptan worked its most likely migraine. I’ve taken them for migraines - stopped it within 20-30 minutes. Took Sumatriptan when headache not a migraine caused weird feelings and didn’t stop headache.
Sinusutis? Causes horrible headache and can be triggered by breathing in cold air. Use lots of steam and talk to pharmacist if you think it might be sinusitis.
Book an eye check. Optometrists are very thorough in checking the back of your eyes so should rule out any problems there.
Check for neck pain, carrying a heavy bag on one shoulder, sleeping awkwardly.
It can take time to work out the cause, and there can be more than one. Mine were hormone-related migraines, food intolerance migraines , sinusitis headaches and worst of all wonky neck out of alignment headaches ( absolute hell, lie in a dark room for 4 days type , cured by a brilliant chiropractor)

Ask your GP for an urgent same day appointment. Don't let the staff fob you off.

I'm wondering if you have cluster headache - a variation on migraine, it does respond to sumatriptan - but it's hell on earth.

I've had two bouts lasting a month or so each time and it was just horrific.

https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/headache-cluster/

Are you pregnant? Severe headaches can be related to that

I'm at the doctors now. they have told me I should have rung 999 after passing out

I've got an iud so unlikely but will check just in case

You should go to a&e as it sounds like status migrainosus. Easier said than done as I’ve been told and not gone multiple times myself.

Have you been taking painkillers every day? You might have gone into medication overuse headache too.

I had something quite rare but sounded similar when I was late 30's - came on abruptly with attacks over 2 weeks - eventually lead to strokes. It was called RCVS 'reversable cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome' - look it up as there are a number of predisposing factors such as hormones, pregnancy, Decongestants, SSRI anti depressants among other things. It's an under diagnosed condition - go to an A&E at a larger teaching hospital where they may be more clued up.

Hopefully it's not that, just wanted to make you aware because it was awful and I was very poorly treated and dismissed 5 times at a small A&E before I got very unwell indeed, take care

@Nameychango that's interesting as I am on anti depressants

just to update, I have been told its presenting very much as cluster headaches.

have been prescribed verapamil as a preventive. have also heard good things about high dose vit d3. fingers crossed for some relief

@cherrychapstickk ok, a diagnosis is a good start. Oxygen also helps - it has to be prescribed by a Dr in any real quantity but I have a 15l canister I bought on Amazon for my last round of attacks.

ClearO2 15L Oxygen Can with Inhaler Cap | Pure Breathing Oxygen in a Lightweight Aluminium Canister | Made in Britain https://amzn.eu/d/8h337OZ

Proper advice here: https://migrainetrust.org/understand-migraine/types-of-migraine/other-headache-disorders/cluster-headache/#page-section-6

Huge sympathies - there's a reason cluster headache is known as suicide headache, it's just awful to experience. Hope your bout is short and doesn't happen again!

I am really struggling with them.

making me feel extremely low, have just had a bad one and wondering how I'm going to cope with this every day.