Headaches upon waking up?

[lofwyr]

So, back again. I was doing pretty good, but have found a few times in the last week (though not every day) I wake up with a pounding headache. My neck doesn't feel out of whack, maybe a tiny bit stiff, and the headache always feels like its the right side of my head, more to the front, save for one time it was on the left.

The logical part of my brain suspects this is neck and pillow related. The other part of my brain suspects the more sinister thing that brings so many of us to this place. I don't wake up with them every time I sleep, but this morning it was really bad. Now I am just feeling a bit spun up about brain tumors, and am really hating my thoughts right now.

[Sammylou]

Hi there, I grind my teeth in my sleep which causes me to wake up with a headache, also if ive had a busy few days at work and I feel stressed and anxious that causes headaches too, anxiety is such an awful feeling x

[LauraWoo84]

I have recently been clenching my teeth and have been suffering with severe headaches every day and I think that could have something to do with it. You may not even be aware that you are clenching or grinding your teeth.

You are not alone

[Bluebelle]

I am a teeth clencher grinder too!
I have a mouth piece I wear now -actually I have chewed my way through three of them and am on my fourth one . It still causes me headaches occasionally.

I also get headaches like you're describing because of my wicked coffee(caffeine) addiction.
If I oversleep my body goes into coffee withdrawl and I wake up with the worst headache. My first cup of coffee solves all that.

May I ask if you're a coffee/tea/caffeine drinker?

[lofwyr]

I am a caffeine drinker, and try to give it up, but that never lasts long.

My headache has been intermittent all day, honestly, not bad when I wasn't dwelling on it, which reassures me that it is probably a tension/anxiety head ache.

Headaches were actually what triggered my first bout of health anxiety when I was 19. I had what amounted to a three month headache, and had CT scans and everything. Nothing, of course. It is reminiscent of what I am feeling now, and even though I have been down this road 23 years ago, I am as not over the brain tumor fears as I might have thought.

It is hard to let go sometimes, even when on the face of it, you know it is anxiety. It is just so very difficult to convince that reptilian part of my brain that the movement in the grass is a rabbit, not a lion, and i needn't live *looking* for things to be scared about.

Anyway, sorry for the vent, thanks for the reassurances, I may well be a tooth grinder too, I am not sure. My wife has never suggested it to me.

[Catherine S]

Are you a snorer? My husband is and often wakes with a headache if the snoring has been particularly loud....and no, not because I've bashed him over the head before anybody asks! Also, I get sinus headaches that can be triggered by a blocked nose, mainly right-sided and I wake up with the headache which then typically lasts for days.

ISB x

[lofwyr]

I do snore sometimes. I am fairly sure it is a tension thing, my neck is a bit sore, but nothing major. The air is very, VERY dry where we sleep, and while my sinuses are not stuffy, the do hurt off and on.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Your dentist can tell if you are grinding in your sleep. It may also be clenching.

I was grinding in my sleep and waking up with jaw ache and had headaches all the time. It was worse some days as compared to others.

My GP was useless, just told me what it was and that "people with anxiety have things like this, its common" but wouldn't give me ideas to deal with it! My dentist was the complete opposite and advised on possible night guard options (a couple of hundred quid if not on the NHS!) but I decided to leave this as they are difficult to sleep with and I didn't want that affected at the time.

He gave me the following exercise and also advised to try softer foods for a while:

1. Open mouth wide.
2. Touch tongue to roof of mouth and hold.
3. Repeat a few times.

You do this before bedtime. Its helps the muscles around the jaw.

Mine was all right side only. So were the headaches. The headaches make sense with grinding/clenching as when you do it, the muscles around the temple also tense.

In the end, a combination of that and paracetamol before bedtime dealt with it. I had it 6 months daily though in all.

Someone else I spoke to tried a nightguard but struggled with it. In the end he found sleeping with his little finger in the side of his mouth dealt with it.

You might allso find relaxation techniques helpful to reduced muscle tension. One example that therapist recommend is Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR). A quick Google search will bring up the worksheets for that.