Constant headache

[RyanM1994]

Hi All,

I have had a headache for the past few weeks which seems to be getting worse (could just be where i'm concentrating on it).

I have been to the doctors many times over the past few months for various different things.

Last week, I had chest and arm pains that have mysteriously disappeared this week and the headache seems to have replaced it.
On the friday, in the daytime, that it started I was speaking to someone regarding their recent brain problems (Double aneurysm and stroke) and I'm not sure whether my brain is playing tricks on me or whether something is seriously wrong.

Upon going to the doctors, he did not examine my head and just checked my throat and asked me a few questions regarding myself and my anxiety.

I am worried that he has missed something, it definitely feels like something is not right.

The headache feels like a band wrapped around my head, but also keeps changing to sharp pains on the right side of my head at the top.
I'm so scared it can be an aneurysm or tumor especially since a few people I know have recently been diagnosed.

The headache has not stopped me from going out and doing things, although it is a constant thought on my mind. Occasionally I have a bit of a panic attack where I hold my head and feel like i'm losing control.

I'm in belief that my head and brain is me, and if something happens to it that will be the end of 'me', my personality.

Please could someone offer some advice?

[Serenity1990]

This sounds like a classic tension headache from anxiety. Another thing to consider is cervicogenic headache, which is referred from the cervical spine in the neck, often caused by tension from anxiety.

Doctors are generally rubbish at treating this sort of thing, try a physio or osteopath. If money is an issue your doctor should be able to refer you to a physio. :)

[RyanM1994]

Hi,

Thank you for the quick reply.

I will definitely give it a shot as it is really concerning me.

I just did a really silly thing and looked on the CRUK website at brain tumor symptoms, now I'm starting to have a panic attack.

Just wish I could have one day with no symptoms, no anxiety :(

[Serenity1990]

A brain tumour isn't capable of eliciting a headache like this. It would be very localised.

Usually with brain tumours the headache is one of the last symptoms. You don't have a brain tumour.

[RyanM1994]

thank you so much
You're the only person that has told me straight

[Serenity1990]

I went through the whole brain tumour thing, in my case because the possibility was suggested to me by a medical professional, because I did have legit symptoms of one. I saw loads of doctors in the month that led up to my MRI, none of which thought I had one but none of which definitively would say I didn't. I started reading too much into this.

Eventually I asked one doctor straight. She told me that brain tumours are very rare, but for he first few years they're often unsymptomatic. In fact sometimes they're totally unsymptomatic, and people die of other causes and their autopsies show they had a brain tumour that's decades old. She said for that reason she couldn't tell me I didn't have one, but from my clinical presentation I was no more likely to have one than her or anyone else walking down the street.

Now I guess from your username you were born in 94? Your probability of getting a brain tumour at any age is 0.02%, which is tiny. The probability of getting one at your age is much much lower. The probability of having one without the correct symptoms? Lower still. Your chances having seen a doctor and not having the clinical presentation? Even slimmer.

I don't know the figures but there'd be a good few zeros after the decimal of your percentage chance of having a brain tumour. In fact you've probably got a far better chance of winning the lottery two weeks in a row. If you're still convinced you've got one, buy a lottery ticket. :)

[Limey]

I'm in the same boat as you Ryan, they've come on since I've had a bee in my bonnet about mouth cancer. I'm getting an exostosis checked, and my dentist said it's fine, unless I start feeling unwell. Boom, ever since that appointment, headaches abound. I'm also due for an eye test, and work has been hella busy of late, I'm an animator and have been spending about 10 hours a day staring at computer monitors for the last 3 months.
What I'm saying is, all manor of things can give you this sort of tension headache, especially if you're an anxiety sufferer. We just go through bad patches like this from time to time.