headache

[SFAOK]

Hi there folks. I've been having headaches on and off for about 2 months now. I recently read that people with a brain tumor have habitual morning headaches, that get worse when they rest their chin on their chest. And guess what? That's what I have now! Every morning for the past couple of days!

Is it normal to feel pressure in your head when you do this? Almost like being held upside down? Perhaps I'm just imagining things, and that what I'm feeling is completely normal, but still I'm worried!

[Mcched]

Hi SFAOK

I have bad headaches/migraines. They come and go and this has been happening for a while. It could be your vision, have you been to the opticians? It could be the tension from your anxieties that are giving you the headache as well. I had a headache for a week and went to visit GP on Monday. Was told that it was a tension headache through worrying and stress.

Have you tried Migraine ice or migraine kool'n'soothe. Its a pad that you attach to the area that is giving you pain and it cools and numbs the area. They are fab and I use them at night if I still have my headache or during the day when it gets worse. These are great when the pain starts to pulsate in your head or you feel a lot of pressure. You can keep them on for up to 6 hours.

[Meg]

**I recently read that people with a brain tumor have habitual morning headaches, that get worse when they rest their chin on their chest**

The power of suggestion is strong in you, your thoughts are running away with you .. whatever you read is deeply flawed. It is far too general. Meningitis patients also get headaches when tipping forward and stretching neck - do you now think you might have that too ?

Hopefully not as you know meningitis pts also have a fever, rash and a whoe host of other clinical symptom. Its the same with a tumour - one symptom does not make a tumour.

It is true that a common symptom of anxiety is a headache and of stress too. Try to keep factual and not with worse case scenarios. If you have reocuuring headaches as has bene mentioned its prudent to visit an optician, review what sort of light you work in, what situations cause them, whether they respond well to simple paracetamol etc . Also if they do continue to persist do visit the GP for assessment.



Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Watch your thoughts, they become your words...
Watch your words, they become your actions... Watch your actions, they become your habits... Watch your habits, they become your character... Watch your character, it becomes your destiny...

[SFAOK]

With me, the headaches are my worst symptom, because of their alien nature really - I pretty much had one headache a month at most prior to my first and only real panic attack, now I have several every day. for the last two months.

The problem for me is that anxiety symptoms and sinister things (brain tumor symptoms) are pretty vague. For example, I get headaches pretty much every day, combined with occasional dizzyness, feelings of unreality (derealisation), jaw pain radiating to my ear and temple, one pupil bigger than the other, a period (a few days here and there) of leftward deviation when walking and a percieved feeling of weakness in my left leg. This is combined with obvious anxiety symptoms like neck pain, shoulder pain, trembling, butterflies in stomach, overbreathing, chest flutters etc. But I keep on thinking to myself - yes, I am anxious, but it doesn't mean that there's nothing wrong with me...

To me, its worse when you've actually seen several GP's (and two oncologists in my case) and they all reassure you that 'its just anxiety'. Are neurological exams they love doing so much really that accurate? Its more and more difficult to go back each time, and you can't help but wonder if they are really looking at your symptoms from a neutral light, or do they become more and more apathetic each time you visit?

For example, I noticed that my headaches seem to get worse when I bend my neck forward - but is this a good enough reason to set up yet another appointment with the GP? Its a pain in itself this health anxiety! :(

[Meg]

SF

Have you looked in the mirror and seen where your shoulders are ? Are you Yogi bear in disguise ?

Are you doing active relaxation / yoga / Tai chi or something .

You hold your tension in your shoulders neck, jaw it seems, so you need to take great care of yourself and try not to let it build upo. An Indian head massage or a normal shoulders neck massage may help these symptoms.


Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Watch your thoughts, they become your words...
Watch your words, they become your actions... Watch your actions, they become your habits... Watch your habits, they become your character... Watch your character, it becomes your destiny...

[nomorepanic]

Nigel

Thanks for the link.

Nicola

"Nearly all happiness comes into our lives through doors we don't even remember leaving open"