this is really getting on my nerves. several years ago i was told i had hormonal migraines. well i'm way past menopause and i'm still (more than ever i think) getting these headaches. they are ALWAYS the same. always on the right side, always in the morning, always starting in my shoulder, going up my neck and then sore spots in the back of my head and in the temple. i'm on maxalt and if i can take a pill when i first start feeling the "stiffness" in my shoulder, i usually can lick it.....however, if i don't get the maxalt in me rather quickly, i have a full blown headache that can last sometimes 2 days. when i have the "stiffness and tightness" in my neck, if i lean my head to the opposite side i can feel "pulling" all the way up my neck. i've even bought a new mattress thinking that might be the problem. as long as i have my maxalt i can get through them, but gosh i wish they would stop.

anyone have ANYTHING similar?

Yes I have something similar. I get headaches/migraines and have been for years.

Some of it is due to foods and some to the weather, but , like this morning, I woke up like you.

I wake up with a headache....sometimes accompanied by a suffy nose. While the pain is in my head I also have a neck ache. When I pull my head to the side it feels like an elastic band that can't stretch anymore! When a headache specialist examined me he found 'it' before I said anything to him to indicate this situation. There is 'somethign' in the base of my neck..can't remember what he said. But he kept insisting that I must have bumped my head , been in a car accident etc....He said that a high percentage of patients with migraines or headaches is caused by some kind of trauma.
I said 'no', I've neve been in an accident...but then remembered a very minor fender bender. I mean so minor that no one even got out of their car. BUT my body was thurst forward a bit and I think that I've been getting headaches on and off since that point...??


I am supposed to be doing these exercises recommended by a physiotherapist, but I haven't been doing them all of the time. They include an exercise to stretch those muscles on my neck/shoulder area.

If I go to massage , this helps for a day or so, then it's back to normal. So there is something in the massage that helps , but only temporarily.

Sorry to are going through this...it is awful!