Headache, neck ache, brain fog, anxiety.. I've had enough!

[Chloejane1986]

A bit of background..
I'm 37. Had my 2nd baby 8 months ago and I haven't felt 'well' since.
I've been back and forward to the Drs having multiple tests done everything always fine apart from
Vitamin D- 49 (taking a supplement everyday)
Ferritin-14
B12-189 (Dr said fine but I know it's on the low end)
Constant fatigue, aches, brain fog and anxiety.
I had all the autoimmune blood tests and all normal.
Fast forward to now and for the last 3 weeks I've had a constant headache that will not go. Won't respond to any painkillers. I've tried everything.
I went to my GP who fobbed me off with migraleve tablets which did absolutely nothing.
Waking up with pain in the back of my neck feeling exhausted and all I want to do is sleep. The headache then moves to the front of my head mostly around my eyes, jaw and sinus area.
Gave in and went to urgent care who sent me for more bloods and a CT scan. Again.. all clear.
I'm at my wits end because I feel like I have no quality of life at the moment. My neck and head are in so much pain.
I have another Drs appt next week and I just feel like I'm going to break down because I need to get to the bottom of what's wrong with me.
TMJ was also mentioned by the Dr as it aches when I chew sometimes and I'm very clicky but that can't be the cause of all this surely?
Any advice is much appreciated

Stress? Lack of sleep? Poor diet?
these are all more likely than anything organic now given you have been thoroughly investigated.
also be sure you’re not overusing otc pain relief as you can get medication overuse headache and get your eyes tested if you haven’t already

Your ferritin is low. Nice guidelines say to treat under 30. Low ferritin causes anxiety, amongst other issues. Levels need to be above 70 for healthy hair growth and most women would feel better towards the 100 level.

Vitamin D should be 50 at least, preferable above 75 for bone protection.
You would likely feel better boosting both of these.

B12 levels are set really low in the U.K. so you may feel better boosting that too.

You can get headaches by overusing medication (medication overuse headache) so if you’ve been taking things for 3 weeks you might be better to stop.

Have you had a sight test recently and had a dental appointment?

Eyes have been tested. All fine apart from a very slight change to my prescription which is very weak anyway.
I have been under a lot of stress this year. My brother has been battling leukemia and my dad passed away a couple of weeks ago but I've never had anything like this before and it's not normal for a headache to be constant for 3 weeks. I wake up in the night and it's there.
My partner is not very supportive either and I hate moaning that there's always something wrong with me.
Could it be fibromyalgia?

Neck pain could cause a lot of this. Perhaps see a physio as you might have a disc issue.

Could be TMJ. Might be worth trying Sudafed.

Osteopath is next on my list

Boost your low iron, Vit D and increase your B12 levels and see if things improve, I wouldn’t jump to fibromyalgia tbh.

Also how much exercise are you doing?

I don't drive so I do walk quite a bit but other than that not much. To be honest I feel too ill to get out and do anything.
My health anxiety is terrible and I'm feeling so so low at the moment.
I just want my life back. I break down in tears most days because I have no support.
I can't carry on like this not knowing what's wrong and why I feel so terrible

I’m so sorry you’re suffering it sounds like you’ve had a hell of a time of it. I think you’ve answered your own question though, sounds like perhaps time to focus on improving your wellbeing with whatever helps you - time socialising, alone time, time spent doing a hobby, exercise etc etc. It sounds like you’ve had very serious things ruled out so try and let that reassure you.

You need to try Sudafed if painkillers aren’t working. A lot of that pain can be referred from the sinuses.

Have you tried Ibuprofen Lysine? Much better for headaches and migraines than normal Inuprofen. Paracetamol is a waste of time and don’t go near any codeine-based medication as it makes persistant headaches worse long term. Soluble aspirin can be more effective than tablets.

If you’ve been taking painkillers for more than three days a week you probably need to go cold turkey now to rule out medication overuse headaches.

May also be worth looking into cervicogenic headaches as they originate in the neck. The treatment for them is physiotherapy.

Keep pulling your tongue of the roof of your mouth to relax your jaw. You might need to do this dozens of times a day but it does work.

Anything minty should help. Rubbing white tiger balm wherever it hurts. Kool n Soothe patches on your forehead.

If your doctor thinks it’s a migraine, ask about triptans.

Hi OP I'm sorry you're struggling so much and sorry for your loss. I have health anxiety too and it's so awful. I have chronic migraine and in the beginning I had a headache for several months caused by overusing painkillers especially opiates which I only later discovered should not be taken as a migraine sufferer. Obviously I have no idea if that's the case for you. Migraine is poorly understood by most people so can present very differently to how people expect. It can be genetic. Neck pain is a common symptom. Stress can be a trigger. The Migraine Trust has lots of useful fact sheets and they also have an excellent podcast. One of the episodes is about Medication Overuse Headache.

How's your diet? Are you vegetarian?

Thank you. I do take some sort of pain relief everyday but usually only once a day and not every 4 hours. They don't do anything to help anyway so I think I'm just going to stop all together now.
I will have a listen to the podcast.

I am a vegetarian yes. Have been since I was a kid. Never had problems before, only since I had my kids.
My diet isn't terrible though. Could be healthier but I do eat lots of veggies and beans, lentils etc.
And I've been taking supplements for months now but levels don't seem to rise 😩

Is there any chance that you might have sleep apnea? I ask because when I had it, I always woke up with a horrible headache round the front of my head and in the back of my neck which did not respond to painkillers, only to deeply breathing cold air and drinking a pint of really cold water. Ask your partner if you snore in the night or stop breathing. Might not be this just want to rule that out because that also makes you feel exhausted all day long because you're not sleeping properly.

Thank you for your reply.
The Dr said my sinuses were clear on my CT scan. Do you think it still could be sinus related? My ears feel full and pop easily.

I wondered this as well.
My partner sleeps before me and wouldn't wake up to a bloody earthquake so he would have no idea.
How would I find out? I occasionally wake up gasping for air and it really scares me. But that's usually just as I'm falling asleep.

@Chloejane1986 for medication it's number of days that counts, not number of doses. If you are taking it daily this is likely to cause problems. There is an episode of Heads Up (the migraine trust podcast) specifically about Medication Overuse Headache.

Set up an experiment. Ask him or someone else to stay awake in a chair or something whilst you sleep, and find out if you snore or stop breathing.

How are you feeling now?
im 6 months postpartum and feel similar to this!