Help! Constant tension headaches/neck pain

[sweetkitty]

Everyday it feels like my head is caught in a vice. Back of my head/neck throbs as does temples and front of head.

I take tramadol for fibromyalgia and suffer from chronic migraine (am on preventers which have got them down to one a month).

I’m wondering if it stress/tension or just another lovely fibromyalgia symptom? Anyone else feel like this and have you found anything that works to get rid of them?

Try a warm hot water bottle on the back of your neck. I find it helps when I get these kind of headaches (which are almost certainly tension, in my case). Also, a shoulder massage might help.

The exercises in the video on this website really help loosen up my neck, and with easing headaches due to chronic neck pain; worth a try:
leadingedgephysicaltherapy.com.au/common-conditions/headaches/
Try doing them gently every day. Also, magnesium supplements might help? Best of luck

You definitely need to do specific exercises too. Perhaps see a physio.

Thanks I used to have a microwave wheat and lavender bag until it burst! Take magnesium already and have seen physios quite a lot over the years. I’ll have a look at those exercises thank you.

Just up band it’s already hurting like crazy

Hi, I have a chronic pain condition, and also get this sort of headache. Mine is from tension in my neck causing spasms and tightness, and feeling referred pain in my head. What has helped has been trigger point injections and an occipital nerve block. Sometimes specialist physios do the trigger points, but I get mine done by Pain Management.

Would it also be worth a medication review? I know some painkillers can cause rebound headaches (although of course you then have the joy of finding a new one if that is the cause!)

Massage is the only thing that 100% works for me.
Stretching also useful between massages but I need a massage every eight weeks or so.
Try this one m.youtube.com/watch?v=X3-gKPNyrTA

I have Fibromyalgia too & have had awful neck/headache pain for years.
After lots of research & trial & error, these things have left me virtually pain free:

• osteopath appointment to crack neck & do magic things around occipital nerve
• mouth guard at night because root of issue is clenching teeth / jaw in sleep. Dentist says this sometimes happens if you take amitriptyline.
• use small hard massage ball / tennis ball to release tension around occipital nerve. See YouTube for loads of videos to help

Hope this helps

Have you been to an osteopath? I really rate them, I go to one who is fantastic, doesn’t just treat the obvious symptoms but underlying causes.

How many pillows do you sleep on? I see a neurologist for tension headaches, migraines and arm migraines. He says the single biggest thing you can do to prevent symptoms is to only sleep on one pillow. That and topirimate.

I also see an osteopath but he just does very very gentle stretching and movement to release and soften the tissues.

If you do go down that route, please take great care if anyone tries to manipulate your neck or 'crack' it. See here: www.nhs.uk/conditions/osteopathy/safety/ Although it's rare, there are risks associated with manipulating necks.

I’ve been to an osteopath and hated it it was far too painful I was in tears. I went to a private physio who worked on fascia and that helped a little. Thanks for all the suggestions I’ll try them out because I’ll lying here in agony.

That's awful from your osteopath OP. They should be incredibly gentle with a neck, I can barely tell mine is doing anything but he makes a huge difference to my pain levels afterwards. Hope you feel better soon.

@SkelterHelter I’d never go back to him I have a very low pain threshold due to the fibromyalgia, I have really bad trigger points in my neck and shoulders and he was so rough with them, kept telling me I needed to relax! The private physio was better but a bit woo in that she talked about painful childhood memories being carried in our bodies and had me in tears.

This weekend was tough ended up having to take two sumatriptan as the pain was so bad on Saturday I was scared I’d get a migraine.