6 month 24/7 migraine - please help!

[texjoann]

I have migraines and get sinus infections too, so sometimes it is hard to find out which kind of headache it is until I go to the Dr.

Usually my imitrex stops the headaches, but when it doesn't work or the headache keeps coming back I go in, and the last few times, I have had a bad sinus infection. A couple of times they weren't able to actually tell if I had a a sinus infection until they did an xray. They do an xray through your mouth with your head tilted. They showed me the last time what it looked like. In the front of my face where I had the most pain the xray was white. It looked like I had a baseball in between my eyes. This was the infection, they told me. I had to go on anitbiotics for a month. Then get another xray. If at that time they would have seen more infection, or I still had symptoms I would have had to take more anitbiotics. They said most Dr's give you a week or two of antibiotics, but a bad infection takes longer to cure. Also they showed me how to irrigate my sinuses and now when I feel a headache that could be sinus related I irrigate and take over the counter sinus meds.

One way I can usually tell a migraine from sinus is that with migraine you want to put ice on your head and lie in a cool dark quiet room. WIth sinus you want to put heat on and it usually makes your nose run. I will also get in a hot shower and stand there a long time letting the steam build up.

The longest headache I had they put me in the hospital and did one of those dhe drips. Also in the ER they have given me a shot of toradol and benadryl together. They said they don't know why it works to stop migraines but it does.

I am followed by a neurologist for my migraines and was even on the study for imitrex before it was released to the public. So get a good neurologist. With my neurologist's help after a few years we were able to find the right combo of daily meds to prevent
me having daily migraines. I take depakote and verapamil twice a day, every day. I used to have migraines 24/7 as well. I would have maybe one or two days a month without a migraine. Some days I would wake up without one but it would come on before the day was over.

Good luck.

[7 Bugsy]

Do these symptoms seem familiar to anyone ???

I've had severe headaches daily since Feb 1st. It feels like a centrifuge with a pulsating light in it is whirling around my head and it feels as if the air around me is heavier. I'm sensitive to light, dizzy and lightheaded. My whole head and neck hurts, not just one side. I generally feel OK when I wake up, but it usually begins about and hour or two later. My doctor feels it's migraine. I mitrex didn't help, neither did Zomig, but I've been on Relpax for the last 4 weeks and it's starting to work a bit faster, when it works, which isn't often. Maybe I'm getting better at recognizing the warning signs and taking it sooner in the pain cycle.

I'm having trouble getting more than 6 tablets at a time by prescription and my co-pay is $40 for a 3 day supply. I have a precertification request submitted to my HMO. I'll let you know how that goes. What are the dangers of taking Relpax daily ???

I would sincerely appreciate any suggestions.

[Katyana]

I used to get 24/7 headaches. I had all kinds of tests including CT scans.

Finally one day after about a year or more, I was at my dentists office and he started to ask me the most bizzar questions; rather he told me what I was experiencing. He wanted to know how I slept at night. If I woke up in the night for no reason. If I had headaches. Did the headaches go away. etc.

I was becoming paranoid that he had a camera into apartment, LOL

I told him that he was bang on and wanted to know how he knew all that. He told me that I grind my teeth and those are the classic symptoms of teeth grinders.

He fixed me up with a dental form that I wear at night and it cured my headaches.

I'm not saying that this is your problem, but it's worth going to get checked out by your dentist. Often times teeth grinding and jaw tightness is the cause of our worse headaches.

Originally Posted by mek918

Hi,

I desperately need someone to tell me they have experienced something similar to this. Sorry if it gets long but I don't want to leave anything out.

I have seen a neurologist (MS clinic where they did MRI of brain and spine), headache neurologist and neuropthamologist. They all think I'm having some kind of atypical migraine/facial pain.

The MRI I had in February of last year showed a small spot - however neither neurologist thought it was anything to be concerned with. A CT scan in August concerned my primary, and neurologist compared with it previous MRI and said it was the same spot, nothing to be concerned with. Yet sometimes I'm still just terrified.

Current headache is sinus pressure-like. I wake up with it, and it never goes away. More of facial pain than head, although frequently my forehead and temples hurt. It's a feeling of pressure and numbness, particularly behind my eye. The pressure gets so intense as the day goes on that I feel like my head is in a trash compactor. I've also seen eye doctor countless times and all is normal. I have been to the ER on several occasions and was given steroid/painkiller injections but they didn't help.

It as not AS intense as it was back in July thanks to xanax. I don't know why that helps, but so far it is the only thing that gives me any relief at all.

I actually had sinus surgery last year bc I was convinced I was having chronic sinus infections (I used to...). After surgery I felt great for two months. But then this headache came on, which is different from past headaches, and aside from two Weeks in early December, it has never let up.

We have tried:

All triptans
all painkillers, including Actiq (morphine)
zoloft/wellbutrin/paxil
decongestants/expectorants
acupuncture
chiropractic/massage
Short course of Depakote - but I was having problems with that.
IV of magnesium

I've tried diet - no dairy, no sugar to see if that makes a difference and it does not.

One thing of note - I went of Birth control pills after 12 years in February. But my doctors don't think this is hormonal.

We have not tried topomax bc I am trying to get pregnant - they are convinced that I will feel better. I hope so, but in the meantime the wait is just so difficult.

Last week doctor gave me an IV of ketamine. Apparently, it worked! But I don't remember anything - can't really live like an amnesiac!

I used to have severe neck/back pain which was thought to be fibromyalgia by some docs but not all. Well, since the headaches started in January, I no longer have back/neck pain. Which is why my pain doc things there may be some kind of problem with the pain mechanism in my brain.

I don't know if I am making any sense here, but I just feel like I'm going to lose it. I only take small amount of the xanax daily and it gets me by okay for now. But my whole lifestyle has changed. ANY alcohol - even a few sips, makes things 100 times worse. I almost never go out anymore bc work takes everything out of me.

Oh - heat and ice do help.

Sorry for rambling. I just wonder if anyone has similar experiences or thoughts.

[jacksinn]

I recently started corgard for my 24/7 headaches. I had- pain behind the eyes forehead and temples. Better in the morning and progressively getting worse as the day goes by often turning into a full blown migrane and having to take Maaxalt to relieve it. Corgard by the way is a blood pressure drug- helps to stabilize the blood vessels and has been very effective! Good luck!

[kelker11]

I have to agree with a previous poster about the dental device.

When I was twenty three, out of the clear blue, I started having headaches so severely and so frequently that I thought I must have a brain tumor. After countless trips to the doctors and a CAT scan, they finally concluded that it was stress headaches.

I suffered for almost 17 years with those "stress" headaches...some so severe they left me in tears. Nothing helped. I alternated between Tylenol, Excedrin, and Naproxen pain relievers, easily using around 150 pills a month. When I say I had multiple daily headaches, I'm not exaggerating. I frequently took twelve or more pain pills a day...and with Tylenol, I was taking the extra strength variety, six pills at the time. Nothing worked.

Then I started going to a new dentist...and she asked these questions:

Did I wake up with headaches? Yes
Did I have daily headaches? Yes
Did my pillow seem to bother my neck? Yes, I was changing pillows every few weeks.
Where were the headaches located? The most severe headaches were in the back of my neck...they were the hardest to get rid of. But they also appeared in the temples, the forehead, the top of the head and behind my eyes.

When she suggested the mouth guard for my teeth...I scoffed at the idea of me actually having a grinding/clinching problem...but she assured me I did. Reluctantly, I forked over the $300 dollars for the device. Within a week, half my headaches were gone...and within a month, I was almost headache free.

I can't believe for something so easily corrected, I had to suffer for 17 years. While it may not be everyone's problem, its certainly worth checking out.