Extreme headache for 4 days. Should I be worried?

[WonderWomanIsTired]

I've had a headache for 4 days, I'm exhausted but it's so painful that I only fall asleep exhausted for an hour or two before the pain wakes me up again.

I do get migraines but my prescription triptans aren't touching it.

I've been taking regular paracetamol and ibuprofen (sometimes swapping the ibuprofen out for aspirin as I have found that this can be more helpful for migraines).

Occasionally I've taken codeine firstly for the pain just so I can get to sleep and secondly to help with my IBS symptoms that's what they are prescribed for.

I can't see well and it hurts to wear my glasses.
It's so painful it hurts to touch my face and head.

What else can I do to alleviate this?

I would have called 111/the GP two days ago. What's holding you back from seeking medical advice?

I get vile migraines, but they tend not to last more than a day or two, and will fade with sumatriptan, paracetamol and codeine.

ring 111. or go to a hosp. this needs checking out. all the best

What's been holding me back is that I keep thinking it will just pass, my migraines usually do.

This pain is debilitating, I'm struggling to make decisions then sometimes - like now - I'm more lucid and think I shouldn't bother anyone.

It's difficult to get a GP appointment in my area and at times it's so bad that I can't drive to get myself there.

Thank you for your kind wishes.

You need syndol (original kind with the muscle relaxant)

Or Pizotifen from GP to just knock you out and break the cycle.

I had a migraine/cluster headache for 12 days and that was the only thing that got me back on track.

Good luck OP.

Called 111, they called an ambulance and I'm waiting in A&E, I've been here 2, hours and haven't been triaged yet.

I just want to go home and I'm very tempted.

It's very bright, incredibly noisy, worse there is building work going on. My head is spitting, I've been given paracetamol which has been no help at all and there is loud drilling coming from the wall next to me. It is excruciating.

I know that this is how the NHS is now but I just want to go home where I'm warm, it's quiet and I can draw the curtains.

I'm looking at the price of taxis.

Sorry you're feeling so terrible OP. I was in A&E a few months ago with the worst migraine of my life. The pain was so unbearable I passed out.

A&E did nothing to help really, there isn't much they can do. They might take your obs and prescribe you some triptans but they just sent me home to rest. It made me feel a lot worse going to the hospital. You know your migraines best. If you're sure that's what this is then just get a taxi home, get yourself in bed with the room as dark as possible and try to sleep and wait it out.

I hope you feel better very soon!

Please wait it out, OP. You've had a four day (so far) unusually painful headache - you need to be checked over.

I'm still here, being triaged now.

I'm not sure that it is a migraine this time, it could be.

The difference this time is that I'm in my 5th day of it, my thinking and speech is confused l, I'm dizzy and wobbly on my feet and no amount of rest or analgesia is helping.

With my normal migraines I do sometimes experience visual disturbances but this is so bad that I can't see and wearing my glasses hurts my face too much. Just touching my face & head causes pain.

I hope you managed to get some help, OP. It sounds debilitating and definitely worth getting checked over for.

Stick it out in A&E. it'll be the only way to get an answer to be honest, or a signpost to elsewhere for an answer, especially heading towards the weekend

I'm still here, cannulated so I'm committed! Fluids first, then waiting for the results of blood tests and see from there. I still want to go home mind!

Believe me.... you will be sent home as soon as they can safely do so.. unfortunately they need the beds for further patients, so won't keep you longer than needed!

It'll give you some peace of mind knowing the results to all the tests (pun not intended)

Glad you are being seen now and hope you're doing OK @WonderWomanIsTired

Hope your ok op, that sounds awful

Hope you feel much better soon.

Get well soon

Oh you poor thing. A friend had similar and it was diagnosed as a thunderclap headache which I'd never heard of. You did right being taken in. Sending get well vibes

I had similar, it was a cluster headache, I got fluids & an injection of something and was better within hours.

Hope you are doing better, WW 🎉

How are you OP?

Hope you're ok op, sounds awful.

Hope they have treated you op

Apologies, I got home late last night.

I was given IV fluids which helped, even though I wasn't dehydrated.
The Dr had suggested giving me IV Chlopromazine but the pharmacy was closed and the only way they could get me some would have been to get it from the surgical department and that would have taken 6 hours. I would have been fine with that but the hospital just wanted rid of me. So I went, I could have argued but the hospital was stacked out and I wasn't dying so they just wanted me gone.

They went with the idea that it was a migraine but I've been having migraines for over 20 years and I've never known anything like this. I couldn't speak or process my thoughts properly.

It was suggested that I leave off the triptans and painkillers, I've done this in the past with no difference at all. I saw a neurologist a few years ago who told me not to stop taking the drugs again, he said current thinking had found that refraining from taking the drugs rarely helps, it just leaves a patient in pain and with a nasty migraine and makes no long term difference.

My migraines are hormone related and they've ratcheted up as I get closer to the menopause. Originally I was prescribed Evorel Sequi patches, which worked and brilliantly and really helped to reduce the migraines. Then in November you couldn't get Evorel patches anywhere in my area for love nor money and believe me, I tried both. As my IBS is so bad I can't be prescribed oral hormones in case they have a detrimental effect on the IBS and because I experience severe diarrhoea anything I take might well go straight through me this was what my GP said so I'm not taking any HRT at the moment and I really think that would help.

I've got a GP appointment next week where I was going to discuss HRT again anyway.

In the meantime I'm home, in bed and...I've still got a migraine.

BTW I haven't had an alcoholic drink since last March, I don't smoke and I maybe have caffeine once every week or two.

Little Pot Of Magic Headache Balm and Temple Balm can provide very temporary topical relief for my headaches headache balm but it's only a short term relief.