headache and left sided weakness - Headaches & Migraines Message Board

bully2 · 12-20-2002, 01:18 PM

Hi, I am a 24yr old female. I have never had headaches really in my life and about 2-3 weeks ago I started feeling very tired. Then shortly thereafter I would get a dull pain the back of my head but it would go away within a few hours. Then about 8-9 days ago the headache came and never left, it is in the back of my head and it sometimes makes my ears feel hot or my scalp feel hot. It was waking me up at night so finally I went to the doctor, I am a student with no insurance so I went to a walk in clinic. They saw my blood pressure was high and that is unusual for me as mine is always low, he checked my eyes and listened to my heart, told me it was a tension headache and gave me some medicine and sent me on my way. The very next day I noticed my left eye felt swollen and my left arm felt very weak in the muscle, later my left leg muscle felt tired also. It is a feeling like when your limb awakes from being asleep and the muscle feels very fatigued.
I stopped taking the medicine because I felt the weakness could be related. It has been two days off and the weakness is persisiting. My headache is still present and very bad I also have had a fever off and on and stomach upset including nausea off and on.
Has anyone ever had symptoms such as these? I have always been in good health, workout, never do drugs, smoke, drink very occasionally, take vitamins. I have never experienced a constant headache or especially this weakness in my left side, it is not my face only my arm and leg. I am also exhausted and could stay in bed all day long.
I have had a large amount of stress since november including a legal situation and family problems but I do not feel that it could be causing these symptoms-I am worried about tumors or a stroke or something of that sort. Please if anyone has had similar symptoms and can shed light please let me know.

Thanks,
Kim

Sycamore · 01-18-2003, 01:57 PM

We have a son, who had a stroke at 24, he had complained of headaches off & on. We thought it was due
to school,work & etc. Then one day he was driving & had the stroke, stop in the middle of the road. His friend said the day before they were playing basketball
& one side of his face was red & the other was white.
He lost the use of his right side & his speech. Look up
stroke symptoms & see if any apply to you. Hope it isn't. Good luck.

bully2 · 01-18-2003, 06:24 PM

Hi, and thanks for your reply. I had been very sick and having the symptoms I described in my topic. I had went to the doctor twice and they gave me medicine for a tension headache and it didnt help, I went back again this time with the weakness in the left side. They gave me a neurological exam of testing my strength, balance, and pain sensitivity. The physician then said it could be a stroke, a tumor, MS, or it could be as simple as stress, tension, or a virus. Told me to get to a neurologist ASAP. Of course this was during the holidays-so that would be hard.
I was feeling so badly that my boyfriend and father said I needed to get to the ER and get this figured out, so on the 22nd I was in the ER. I did recieve another neuro exam and a CT scan of my head and neck, along with blood work. They found that I was OK, and that my brain looked completely normal. My bloodwork came back fine, and I had equal strength in both sides, and my eyes show no pressure. All very good news for me. Turns out I had a viral infection, such as the flu and it settled in my muscles and made it "feel" weak when in fact both sides were of equal strength.
I have been going through a lot of stress since November, both legal and family, along with working and being a full time student and I have been overwhelmed. So that looks like what happend to me. I must admit a clean bill of health was my best Christmas gift ever.

I am so sorry to hear about your son. I hope that he is doing better and will be recovered soon. And I thank you for thinking to reply to me.

thank you.