Headaches

M

Megss

New member
I have asked this question before, but I am like at my wits end here.

A few months ago I began having cluster headaches. I will have a splitting headache for a couple of weeks, and then I am fine for a period of time. This cycle keeps repeating itself. When I am having the headaches, they vary in intensity and can become very severe, and are usually only on the left side. Nothing I have access too will make them go away, not any over the counter med, vicodin, sleep, muscle relaxers, only time.

I really believe they are tied into my spinal issues because A) the headaches are left sided which is the side I have the majority of my sciatic pain, and B) the onset of this cycle coincides with the onset of my back and leg pain. At one orthopedic appointment I mentioned the headaches to the PA and she said they were probably caused by the vicodin. I know this is not the case. I called again today because these headaches are seriously debilitating, and the PA says they cannot possibly be caused by my spine issues. What do you all think? The spine and nerves connect to the head so to me it would make perfect sense for the headaches and my back and leg pain to be related. Anyway, I asked if there was some perscription headache medicine that might help me and she would not call anything in since "we are an orthopedic office and do not treat headaches". :mad: She also rudely said that "Your condition will only cause a back ache and sometimes leg pain." Ummm.... lady, I have knives in my back and my leg pain is constant!!!!

My back issues are as follows:
Grade 1 Spondylolisthesis of L5 on S1
Disc Disease with an annular tear and bulge at L4-L5
Herniated Disc with loss of disc height at L5-S1

Any input would be appreciated!
 
I would like to see answers on this as well....My MOM has the same symptoms....She had back problems and surgery years ago...She dont have any back issues any more other then the ole tired back from time to time.


Devon
 
Hi! I totally sympathize with your headaches! I have bad arthritis in my lower lurabar area (left side), and have had many cortisone shots, and radiofrequency (nerve burnings). I have bad migraines, mostly on the left side, and they do respond to treatment. You might ask your general doctor for some samples of migraine meRAB (Imitrex, Zomig, Maxalt, Frova, etc.) and see if they help. I often get migraines that go on for a couple weeks, but I can keep them from getting severe with the Zomig. Anyway, just an idea. Hope your headaches get better! BTW, I have been on painkillers, too, mostly Ultram, and I know they don't cause my headaches. In fact I take Ultram sometimes to help with a super bad migraine. Take care, Kera4
 
Well I wound up going to Urgent Care today. The headache started on Thursday and just continued to worsen over the weekend. When I woke up this morning it was very severe. At urgent Care they gave me 2 shots of Imitrex. It took 2 to work, but the headache is gone now. I have a prescription for it too,, so next time I get the headache I will have something that will work!
The Dr. I saw today also thought it was highly unlikely that the headaches are from my back problems. He called them cluster headaches, just like I thought. He also wants me to follow up with my regular doc.

I still believe they are tied in with my back problems despite what the Dr.'s keep saying!!!!!
 
Have they x-rayed your neck at all? Or at least ran a test that looks at the arteries and blood vessels in the brain? Is is possible you suffered a whiplashed neck at some point in your life? If so, surely that could cause those symptoms.

I had horrible headaches for years. The doctors did tests, but nothing showed up. They kept giving me pain pills. It was so hard to go to work every day. Then I saw an ad for a chiropractor (this was about 30 years ago), and they did an x-ray and showed me I had suffered a very severe whiplash in childhood (they said otherwise the impact would have broken my neck so the bones must have not have been fully hardened yet) and that every nerve going into my head was being pinched. Because the injury was so old and hardened now, they said they could just give me pain control with the adjustments. I was suddenly going a whole week without the headaches after the adjustments. I also will get the one-sided headaches you are talking about. They are very severe and last about 4 days. I could not move a cell during those episodes. If you have a torqued atlas or axis vertebrae at the very top your neck, that could cause that one-sided head/skull pain. That's what happens with me until the chiropractor pops it out and give me relief. Does ice help when you apply it to the back top of your neck during one of your headaches?

I also want to say that doctors just looked at my x-ray of my neck and shrug and say, "I'll give you pain pills if you want them." To them, it's not a big deal so they don't even talk about it. Yet I suffer tremendously because of it. Sometimes doctors are the answer, but for me for this particular issue, the chiropractor is the only one who has listened to me and taken care of my pain. So I'm wondering if the doctors aren't also not paying attention to what is really going on in your neck as far as pinched nerves and torque'd vertebrae go.

But I also think they need to do one of those tests -- what's that called -- Encephologram? -- just in case it might be something going on with the vessels if they haven't done that already.
 
Hi Diane!

Thank for all the info. I have not had any x-rays or tests, but I have not sought medical care regarding my headaches until recently. The headaches started 3-4 months ago, and it finally occurred to me that it is a problem that neeRAB attention. So I have mentioned them to my orthopedic surgeon, and have gone to urgent care once. ***REMOVED***I am thinking about calling my regular Dr. tomorrow and scheduling an appointment. I didn't fill my Imitrex prescription because my insurance company will only allow 4/ month and it was $50 for just those 4. I want to ask for something else that will help me but not as expensive. My headache came back last night, but luckily it has not gotten out of hand yet.
I am also wondering if they could be from stress. My back pain causes a lot of stress, being on disability causes stress, and we found out Friday that my husband is loosing his job (he is a manager for Circuit City), so that might explain why this headache got out of hand. Headaches also kind of run in the family. My mom and sister both get migraines. My sister's are extremely severe. She has had a headache for the last 3 years straight, and about once a month they get to the point that she neeRAB to go to the ER. I just think it is weird that mine just started out of the blue. Oh well. Hopefully I will get this figured out!
 
Hi Meggs!

Wow, that sure is a lot of reasons to feel stressed. Stress sure does tighten all the muscles. That Imitrex sure is super expensive. So many drugs seem to cost a fortune these days. I was just on Exedrin Migraine, the only thing that even touched my pain, but my digestion was shot from it. So now I use a homeopath. I guess I can say it here since we can say the names of drugs. It's Dr. Frank's Joint & Muscle Pain Relief. Its a spray under the tongue. It keeps me off of the Exedrin. It managed to kill my headache today after about 3 times of dosing myself. Tastes like cherries, too, for some reason.

I do hope the doctor will consider a neck x-ray for you. If that looks good (with NO pinched nerves or bulging discs), then, at least, they can rule that out and look at your head. I had 2 frienRAB who also got those once-a-month hormone migraines. They didn't let up until both of them got hysterectomies (for other reasons). Your poor sister. I think headaches are some of the worst kind of pain in the world. I hope they can find a reason for you so it can be addressed.

I used to want an arabulance when mine got so bad. That was when I didn't know about Exedrin and the chiropractors all stopped doing manual adjustments and were just doing soft tissue work. That doesn't cut it when the bones are sitting on nerves, so all the chiropractors went back to doing the manual adjustments after a couple years.

That's interesting that these headaches started for you 3-4 months ago. Sometimes we had some kind of injury that we've forgotten about until the pain finally starts up from it. So the injury could have been earlier, if that's the cause. Our bodies are such puzzles. They start complaining, and we have to figure out what's wrong. Good luck, Meggs, I hope one of those doctors can help you.
 
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