Can anyone shed a light?

[Seekingguidance22]

Hey- these are my symptoms.

Head pressure headaches for almost a year.

Mainly right sided around my temple/above ear. Will post a picture below. Left side isn’t as often, but noticed they’re more painful if on the left side. It feels like a pressure, it isn’t 10/10 painful it’s more of an ache, a dull ache that goes with ibuprofen for a couple of hours. Sometimes can be felt around nose and eyebrows, I find that rubbing in between my eyes at the side of my nose can sometimes help but not always.

Also if I touch the right side of my head or brush my hair it tends to increase and make the headache worse?

Neck and right shoulder seem to go tense a lot but massaging the area doesn’t seem to help.

Right eye only waters, and sometimes hurts, deep at the back - been to the opticians twice in the last year, and my right eye does need a bit of help.

Headache will go down to my jaw sometimes, and also feel a kind of pressure in my right ear with it too.

Left sided facial and arm numbness- when I say numbness there’s always feeling in them, and I’ve tested my strength in my left arm when it happens, and it’s unaffected- I’m still as strong. It just feels weird, like a weaker feeling? But I’m not any weaker. My facial numbness tingles and just feels weird?

Pulsing and whooshing in my left ear only.
Whenever I’m laying down and lift my head up this will happen, and if I stand up, does also happen when just sitting down, sometimes it can be stopped by moving my head but sometimes it can’t.

Whenever I stand up really quickly to do something I notice my hearts beats harder but slower? As well as some PVCS that I can feel - no evidence of these though.

ECG is always clear and blood pressure is fine.

This has been happening since last year, I’ve been to my GP at the end of 2023, I got told it was all anxiety, I’m in a state now though where I’m spiralling and the fear are all coming back, where I feel like I need an MRI.

I’m in the UK and neurologists are very long waiting times, and it’s hard to get referrals.
My GP makes me feel like it’s all in my head and I’ve seen 4 different GP’s.

Has anybody else had anything like this?

This is where it's located.

All those symptoms together sound like migraine.

Look at allodynia for the skin pain / sensitivity.

Eye watering is fairly common.

Single side feeling of numbness sounds like a form of migraine called hemiplegic.

Also have a look at POTS for the whooshing and heart beat sensations, but tbh are both frequently associated with anxiety so hard to make a direct link.

Can you pay to see a headache specialist neurologist?

@PinkFootstool Hey thanks for the reply, not really in a situation to pay for private route unfortunately.

The whooshing isn't constant but when it happens it is fairly unsettling. And without cotton wooling it I do suffer with anxiety, and all this started fairly quickly after a close family member had a stroke last year.

But it's at that point where doctors are telling me it's more than likely this but then there's no support to deal with the issues, I'm understanding they're overworked and that's why the last 5 months I didn't return to the Gp.

But it's now piling on top of me.

And in regards to the heartbeats, my age I think is a reason I'm not being taken seriously, I'm 23 this year.

Do you keep a diary of symptoms? If not, start one. Just a calender with notes on it is all I used. After a few months I took it to the GP with MASSIVE COLOURED IN sections to show when I had a migraine v headache v day off pain.

Ge said "but that's more days migraine than anything else!" and I had to bite my tongue not to say THAT'S WHAT'S I'VE BEEN SAYING.

Big, simple coloured in charts seem to grab more attention than words at times..

Ask them if it could be migraine and can you have proper medication for that.

How many days of head pain a month are you having? Any medication you're on now? How often do you take ibuprofen?

Have you had your iron levels checked? That would explain some of your symptoms.

It could be more than more thing causing your symptoms.

@PinkFootstool

It's almost every day, but it comes and goes this is what I find odd. It's rarely extreme enough to take ibuprofen, I took some yesterday as it was in my nose and eye more than anything and I couldn't concentrate with it.

I'm also thinking of taking my partner in the room next time so they can hear it off someone else aswell!

They offered me medication, but the one they wanted to put me on was anti depressants.

@Partytastic

I had bloods done last year which showed vitamin d and folic acid deficiencies. But both was given medication for.

Was it amitryptiline they offered you? In low dose it's not an antidepressant, it's effective for pain disorders of all sorts of types.

Yes that was the one they offered!

That and propranolol.

Both of those are highly effective for preventing and treating pain, migraine and headache.... Maybe go back and discuss them again as it sounds like they offered you the right medication. They are the first line prescription for that kind of thing, they are not offering you them for depression.

By way of example, here's the NICE migraine guidance for doctors:
https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/migraine/management/adults/

It's entirely possible you have an alternative conditon as per a PP, but the medication would work for multiple possibilities.

Actually, the pulsing and whooshing sound like pulsatie tinnitus. This can be symptomatic of abnormal blood vessel formations in the brain. I think you need to talk that bit up and demand an MRI/contrast CT scan - especially if you have a family history of sudden stroke.

@Fraaahnces

Hey, it was my grandma.

It was her second mini stroke - first in 2015.

I did tell the GP about pulsatile tinnitus.
But was again told it was anxiety.

I asked 4 doctors to be sent for a scan - they all said no, one of them actually said he wouldn't risk it if he thought something of it as he would lose his job if it was something that was neglected.

But it doesn't help I'm not being told what it is, I'm just being told anxiety.

The tinnitus comes and goes- most of the time is positional, other times it just happens when I'm sitting down.

Sorry, what is PP?

PP is Previous Poster.

I still think the pulsatile tinnitus is worth mentioning by name. Also let them know about your grandmother. You would also not be unreasonable to go to A&E next time it happens.

Unless you suspect it is a sinus problem. Chronically infected/impacted sinuses could also cause these symptoms. And due to the nature of sinuses, antibiotics have almost no effect on anything in that area. You could try steam inhalation and frequent irrigation (hourly) with saline or bicarbonate soda to see if that makes a difference and relieves the pressure too.

@Fraaahnces

I did tell them everything.

I will see how it goes today then book an appointment for tomorrow- it whooshes more than it pulses, I do feel like that is worth mentioning.

This has all been happening for around a year at this point now.

I'm unsure about the sinuses, I did think this, but would it have lasted this long?

I feel like it is worth mentioning

If I'm fully occupied then all these symptoms are 90% unnoticeable.

But at the minute I'm currently not working- and googling it hasn't helped me at all.

Also June last year also just before all this started we all came down poorly - what we assume was Covid- we couldn't get tested though as they'd not had any of the delivery tests available.

Since then my partner also has had seperate issues, so long covid has been in my suspicions as well but without knowing if we ever did have it, I can't guarantee it's that.

Could I just be losing my mind?
Could it be stress induced anxiety, I suffered with health anxiety in the past but that was before my daughter, I didn't have someone to look after last time.

I have head pressure, in my case mainly in back of head, shoulder and neck pain, weak right side, mainly in my leg and weird facial burning sensations at times as well as pins and needles in feet- saw a neurologist as well. . A lot of this is totally intermittent- one day my head is more bothersome, another it's my right leg feels weaker and a bit wobbly- I've had tests galore , bloods 3 times, ended up on low dose beta blockers etc - these are all incredibly common symptoms in long covid- see the long covid support forum on Facebook and is due to many peoples nervous system being completely out of kilter post covid and/or vaccine. I'm not saying it is that but if nothing else turns up there is a fair old chance it can be this- many people on that forum still having this 3 years later- I've been 8 months- some things improving- some much the same

it could be bruxism

Like a PP, this is how migraines manifested for me.

Mine were diagnosed after an MRI showed small calcifications in my frontal lobe, which are harmless but coincide with vestibular migraines.

My neurologist said 'migraines are not a headache, they're a neurological attack' and that helped me contextualise it, because I've never had one of those pick-axe headaches you'd associate with a migraine.

Your symptoms are exactly what mine were - except for the whooshing.

Mine started over 20 years ago and was caused by the work I do. I work manually, always with my dominant side, so the muscles around the shoulder blade, shoulder,spine, neck, jaw, temple, eye, brow, nose, all eventually knotted up causing blinding migraines. I used to describe the pain in my eye/jaw as someone pulling my eye out through my ear.

Was given amitriptyline which I took along with painkillers to knock me out, it was so bad, and I also see an osteo, and have adapted my work style. Because of these adjustments I've not had an attack for several years.