It is 6:44 a.m. and I was awakened this morning for the third morning in a row with an excruciating headache. I'm not sure what type of headache I'm dealing with here because I seem to have symptoms that could relate to several different types.

My symptoms started Sat. morning. I woke with a sore neck. Later in the day, I had an episode of intense dizziness that lasted only a few minutes and it was followed by some nausea. I had a mild headache, but nothing severe.

I often have the sore neck upon wakening and blame it on sinus, because I am an allergy sufferer. It is often accompanied by a mild headache in the lower back of my head.

However, this time, things have advanced beyond my wildest dreams. By Sunday night, my head was splitting. A deep throb was going up the left side of my head and sometimes up the back of it. Sometimes the pain would manifest itself right in the crown of my head. Seldom ever does it reach to the right side, but if it does it is only for a couple of minutes and right over the right eye.

I went to my PCN doctor and he diagnosed me with tension headache, prescribed something called Butal/Acet and sent me home. This medication is about as effective as a drink of water for my headache. If it works at all, it only relieves the pain for maybe an hour, possibly two and I can only take them every six hours.

I do have a cough, and when I cough, the pain is always in the upper left back area of my head. This makes me wonder if it isn't sinus related. I also sometimes have a roar in the right ear.

All I know, is that nothing seems to be helping. I am in almost constant agony and I cannot live my life. I can't work, I can't think, I can't go on like this much longer!

Does anyone out there have similar headaches? Please, PLEASE let me know.

Thanks!

Hi Neenie,

Sorry that you are here with headaches, but welcome!

My headaches have always been one sided (left side) and very very seldom get to the right side of my head.

The medication that he gave you is either Fiorinal, Fioricet or Esgic. It was actually the first thing that I was rx for my headaches over 25 years ago!!

It's a med. that is blamed for rebound headaches alot AND a med. that a certain percentage of users start to abuse. They like the 'feeling' that they get with it or the energy and start taking more and more of it. I think that there are some meds. that are much better than that and if it doesn't help you then why take it.

I would think that the first thing your Dr. should do is to get you in for an MRI and maybe a CAT scan to rule out the 'bad' things that can be causing your pain. A trip to a neurologist usually comes with the MRI as well.

You need to start keeping a headache diary. Each day jot down;

-how much pain you are in (use a scale of 0-10 with 10 being the worst pain you could ever imagine - or can't imagine)

-what meds. (both rx and over the counter - OTC) that you have taken that day. Also rate their effectiveness.

-food you ate.

-amount of sleep you had.

-weather conditions

-how long the pain lasted

A headache diary is an excellent tool that you and your Dr. can use to try to find a pattern to your headaches.

Depending on how often you are getting these headaches your Dr. may Rx a preventative medication (something you take every day to prevent the headache from coming in the first place) as well as an abortive medication (something to 'abort' the headache when it is there).

Have you tried any of the 'triptan' type medications? Imitrex was the first but there are many others now. These meds. do have side effects and should be taken with caution.

It's my opinion that opioids, barbituates and that type of medication be taken as a last resort when other things have not worked.

One thing to be cautious about is the amount of analgesic meds. that you are taking. These include the medication you were prescribed as well as aspririn, tylenol and other meds. along that line. If you are taking these meds. more than a couple times a week then you may be getting what are called 'rebound' headaches. It's something unique to headache patients where your body gets used to this type of med. and gives you a headache just so you will feed it some more. It's a pretty weird thing but there is a certain percentage of headache sufferers that experience it.

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention treatments like chiropractic, accupuncture, homeopathic, massage therapy. Some people have had success using these to battle their headaches. Make sure that you get the name of a good chiropractor if you go that route. And no matter what anyone tells you, be careful when taking ANY supplement, herb or whatever. They DO have the potential to cause your body harm and to ignore that possibility is dangerous.

Hope that this info. helps!!

Good luck - Woody

Since you mention sinus problems I would suspect that since you have had some dizziness etc. See your doc and get a set of sinus x-rays to rule out a sinus infection. Also it is possible to have a sinus infection and a migraine headache at the same time so that could also be a possiblity too. Fiorinal is one of those meds that either works real well for some or not at all for others as you have found out. Call the doc and see him today.