Re: Could this be Occipital Neuralgia
Okay, initially I need some clarification. You state in your posting that you've experienced headaches for about 8 years and follow that comment by stating you've had headaches for about 3 months. My presumption here is that you've experienced headaches for the past 8 years, but for the past 3 months, the quality and nature of the headaches has changed and represents different symptoms from what you've normally encountered. If this assumption is incorrect, please clarify.
Occipital headaches are typically the result of stress due to musculo-skeletal tension, which can extend both upward across the scalp in a variety of patterns as well as downward most commonly across the scapulae. I would not suggest neuralgia in this instance because the symptoms don't quite fit the picture.
It's important for you to realize the nature of headaches relative to "something more sinister" because many patients find themselves with increasing apprehension regarding chronic pain. The type of pain that we associate with sinister processes, namely neoplasms in the brain more commonly characterized as "tumors" are of a quality and nature that presents itself with a great deal of recognition. Pain in such instances is typically the latter stage of such processes, virtually always proceeded by symptoms that can include nausea and vomiting, instability with a history of falls and gross incoordination, marked changes in vision, disturbances in personality, altered sensory experiences. Any range of symptoms is possible, depending upon the particular location of the insult and it's frank imposition upon brain tissues both direct and proximal.
The pain is also quite aggressive and does not relent, but rather only grows worse due to it's furthered compression upon the limited space within the dura of the brain.
Indeed, your symptoms more have the ring of familiarity as being consistent with either migrainous headaches, tension headaches, or a combination.
The fact that you can experience relief at night, as well as at the gym, both instances wherein stress has a broader opportunity for escape, lends itself quite well to your inquiry. Sinister processes don't relent under such circumstances.
As I've stated to many patients who frequent the clinics with similar complaints; You can take all the medications you wish in the search for relief, but if environmental conditions are the underlying mechanism which represents the underlying cause for high stress, then it will rarely be abated by the effects of the medications. Hence, the reason you see little results from muscle relaxants. They can ultimately produce the desired effect, but the side-effects are costly and reduce quality of life to near constant somnelescence.
I naturally haven't the privilege of examining you directly, but my impression here is that we're dealing with a musculo-skeletal condition as a consequence of tension-related stress. Many things can bring such a chronic condition to bear upon your quality of life, such as divorce or other marital discord, loss of loved ones, financial crisis, change of a job or loss of a job, and other such life-altering events. It's important to try and identify possible causes and work to reduce their impact.
Finally, if the nature of the headaches change further within the coming weeks and begin including other physical symptoms, then it's always a good idea to undergo screening to simply rule out other causes, but for now I think we're safely within the corridor of tension headache or migrainous variant.
You'll be fine.
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Best regards and Good Health