Pressure in head

[cloudbusting123]

I am trying to avoid going to the doctors as I feel like I have recently bombarded them with a myriad of complaints and they are sick to death of me. So I thought I’d bother you lot instead.

Life is quite stressful at the moment, we have two young children, one with autism, DH has elderly parents with serious health conditions who live far away and need support, resulting in him having to visit them for 3/4 days at a time.

I run my own business which is busy and stressful resulting in me working till 10pm most nights and not a lot of support.

I’ve also recently had some bad news about my own lovely mum (who I’m very close with) and have been repressing the need to be upset about it because I’ve not got the time to have a good cry.

We have poor sleep due to autistic daughter waking frequently through the night and having meltdowns (we’re under the sleep clinic).

I also have ADHD and am medicated, and have been taking it for over a year. I also take Citalopram for anxiety.

Ive been feeling like I have a pressure building in my head, it’s not physical and not painful but just feels like a mass of pressure in my head. I had a bit of a cry on Sunday night and woke up with an absolutely splitting headache yesterday and couldn’t do anything. I’ve also noticed a change in my eye sight over the last few weeks which I put down to eye strain for working long hours. I had a lie down for a couple of hours after the headache came on and fell to sleep and woke up feeling a bit better but the pressure was still there.

Today I’ve woke up with a headache (not splitting) the pressure and my eyes feel swollen and I just feel completely out of it.

Do you think this sounds like a stress headache / eye strain? Or could this be something more sinister I really do not want to bother the doctor again. I’ve already sent them a message this week about a mole that has changed colour.

If you’ve got this far, thank you and your advice is much appreciated.

What a lot you have on!
Changes in eyesight shouldn't be ignored. Can you get an opticians appointment today? Or soon? They can tell you if it's an eye problem or if you need to see a GP.

Good idea. And also if you have a home blood pressure machine thingy do that as these symptoms sound like when my DH had really
high BP.

@beamurthanks so much, I can try and get one. I’ll try and get in somewhere today.

@qotsayeah I do, I’ll try and dig it out now! Thanks so much.

I had something very similar a few years ago after going through an extremely stressful time. I'd also been a frequent visitor at the docs the year before with various abdominal issues. However, I went back to the doctors and they took me seriously. They arranged blood tests that day and a CT scan of my head a few days later, both of which turned out to be clear. I was then put on amitriptyline (Apologies probably spelt that completely wrong) which I took in the evening as and when needed. I also went to the opticians and paid extra (about 25 quid) to have a really in depth eye scan. The optician picked up high blood pressure but not to a serious level (I then did a blood pressure chart at home via GP which showed high blood pressure but at the level that was helped by dietary and lifestyle changes) I then forced myself to slow down and make time to relax. I still occasionally get the symptoms in my head when I'm stressed and have overdone things, it's a warning sign to me that my body is struggling. Please go back to the GP.

@Bridget57thanks so much for taking the time to reply, I’m sorry you went through this. I do think I need to slow down a bit, I just have no idea how I can at the moment. Life is so bloody full on.

{mention:cloudbusting123}there@cloudbusting123there is nothing more important than your health. Everything else can wait! I've learnt that, sometimes you have to put yourself first and these headaches are probably your body telling you it's time to slow down. I actually have one at the moment feels like my head is going to burst there is so much pressure in it so I'm to lie down and force myself to relax. Book an appointment with your GP but also book an indepth eye test, it's amazing what the Optician can tell about your health during one. Also, as a previous poster said, get a blood pressure monitor and start doing regular readings (obviously, don't become obsessed). I hope you feel better soon.

@cloudbusting123 any updates? Hope you’re ok

It could be a tension headache. I second getting eyes looked at though.
Try and get someone to give you a deep massage on your neck and shoulders or do a self massage. Or yoga for a tension headache. All found on YouTube.

Really feel for you. Stress is the pits ♥️