Will the GP be able to help with these 3-day headaches?

[Meowww]

I've been getting headaches - I know when one is coming for about 24 or 48 hours, then my head throbs for 72 hours. I got one yesterday. I just woke up this morning after a reasonably good night's sleep and it over the left eye which feels sore to touch. There is a vein pulsing on my temple. It was really bad last night. I took paracetamol and aspirin but it didn't have any effect. I'm also drinking plenty of water.

This is the second one I've had in the past four weeks. It was triggered by having a couple of glasses of wine on Saturday and a bad night's sleep due to kids. I've made an appointment but it's for next monday but I'm concerned he'll just say don't drink alcohol get more sleep - surely I should be able to have two glasses of wine without suffering for just short of a week?

I would love some advice.

He should be able too.

It sounds like it could be a migraine. I get loads of migraines (I have Botox to reduce the number), and alcohol is one of my triggers. It came from nowhere, I can't even have one mouthful now without it bringing on a migraine so I don't drink at all.

While you're waiting for your appointment try to get some Migralieve and some Ibuprofen with Lysine. One of the best things for migraine is 3 soluble asprin in a glass of full fat coke.

Do you eat chicken a lot? Or corn ? Some people get bad headaches from these.

The sugar in cxxx is enough to give some people migraines. Do you know there's 9 teaspoonfuls in one tin?

That sounds like one of my milder migraines. I get a lot of headaches which last days. After years of trying different things a new doctor said that some were tension headaches and some migraines. I now take Amitriptylene daily to help prevent the tension headaches and have sumitriptan to take when it is a migraine. The doctor will definitely listen but it can take some time to establish what is causing the problem and find a solution which has suits you. In the meantime try to keep a diary of food, sleep, stresses and any other possible triggers...

Thanks so much.

Fairycaravan I think I may be developing the same sensitivity to alcohol that you describe, and coupled with a bad night's sleep, it tips me over into headache territory. I'm willing to blame almost any other culprit though

pp i suppose we have chicken about every third day. I never eat corn, except those baby sweet corns in stir fries sometimes. Lots of chilli though.

ptraci I wish I had kept a diary because I'm going to be very thin on information when I see the doc on Monday.

I had paracetamol in the early hours but it did nothing. This morning I bought some cocodamol, but I haven't taken it. I had some mint tea and then some spicy tomato juice. I had heard this thing about the aspirin in full fat coke, I'm definitely going to give that a try.

ppeatfruit the 3 soluble asprin in a glass (not a can) of full fat coke is recommended by a professor at the London Migraine Clinic! It has been proven to work as well, but with fewer side effects, than Triptans.

Try cutting out chicken for a couple of weeks then, it's got to better than all those pain killers which are not benign.

Funny how the medics don't think about food isn't it? TheFairy .

I can't bear the thought of taking amytriptilene every day. I was prescribed it once for insomnia and it gave me weird vision.

I will try cutting out chicken. I would much rather give that up than wine anyway..

You can have turkey instead. Pork products are not good though.

Sounds like my migraines - painkillers never helped but was prescribed sumatriptan and it has been an absolute godsend. Take a pill when a migraine comes on and within an hour it has gone. Great stuff

I can definitely recommend the 3 soluble aspirin as they work if I take them when my vision goes (useless when they come on when I sleep) but didn't know about the coke - will definitely give that a go !

It does sound like migraines tbh. I've found any soluble painkiller can take the edge off. Also, with you saying that the skin is sore to touch, there is a chance its a tight muscle causing it (I'm under physio now rather than the migraine clinic and they're working wonders for me) tell your GP as much as you can and ask to be referred to the migraine people

Sound exactly like migraine to me. The co-codamol you can buy over the counter will not be strong enough to shift a migraine. You need proper migraine prescription - easy diagnosis - if it works then its a migraine.

Drink can cause but not 2 glasses - more likely lack of sleep. Mine are hormonal so nothing I can do but I have had preventative meds for years as well as "as and when" migraine drugs.

I have also been down the road of trying to work out if a particular food causes it - in my case slight intolerance to bananas - but frankly you will probably never work it out so I wouldn't bother. Far more likely to be stress or tired related if not hormonal. Keep a diary and try to work out external factors.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone. I've always had severe insomnia (I was prescribed temazepam at 12 ) and I do think that and possibly hormonal changes (am 47) are to blame. The pain is ok now, but my head feels so heavy and I've got nothing done today.