Hey folks,
Haven't been on here in many years. 47 year old male. My last post was likely back in 2011/2012 when I was having some serious health anxiety issues. I had gone onto ciltralopram for a short bit and I guess I didnt do too well with it. Had major fear of ALS after discovering 'twitting muscle fibres in legs', went to the emerg in the middle of one night and they found an issue on a CT that ended up having me in the hospital for a few days awaiting an MRI. Came back as a 'freckle' type appearance on the CT from migraines. Confirmed as benign, which after loads of tests etc came back as simply that BFS, which I live with to this day without issue (I learned to look at the bright side and see each involuntary twitch as calories being burnt without effort).
Anyhow, fast forward 6 or so years and I'm in my current state. Knowing that I have health anxiety has helped me ignore many things since them and it's all turned out well - despite thinking it's the big C any time I felt anything out of the ordinary And there's lots of reading here over the years that have helped me thru fears. However, a week ago (last Wednesday night), I began experiencing some issues that have me now in full blown anxiety and I'm not handling it very well.
So, after the gym last Wednesday I had a headache. Went home, went to sleep that night and had a bad splitting type of headache that kept me up for a large portion of the night. Grogy the next day and pain in the one side temple/side of head, and also at the very top of the head radiating inwards.
Being a migraine sufferer for life, I figured it was sort of like a migraine, but I didnt have an aura or other items normally associated with an attack.
My wife had noticed that my left eye (same side as pain) was sunken, and the eye lid very droppy. Many people around the office are sick, and my sinus was a bit sore, so I figured I had a bit of a sinus infection.
When I went to check my eye out on Friday night at home, I noticed that the left eye pupil was constricted and the right eye was dialated. And not by a tiny bit, but by a lot. Enough that I had to ask my wife, a former lab tech with a medical background, to come please look at it. She was surprised and found it quite odd so went to go look it up. Sounded like 'Horner's Syndrome', which could be brought on by cluster headaches, and some big nasty items like brain tumors etc. I had all the characteristics that it called for, but had never had a cluster headache before. And in reading so, although my pain seemed remotely like a cluster, it didn't meet the severity that I was reading about online. And although my eye was sore to the touch, my temple hurting, general malaise, etc it wasn't anything like these other folks were experiencing.
Went to the doctor Monday who didnt think much of the Horners thing, checked that my pupils were reactive, and chocked it up as a cluster headache and sent me on my way.
Last night at the gym, honestly, after my workout my right side of my forehead was drenched with sweat, while my left side was bone dry. Again, another complication experienced with Horners.
So my fear now is that they state that Horner's is a side product of some other issue and indicative of a nervous system issue. And although cluster headaches are one possible cause (which in itself is terrifying me as I've never had them before) the fear of a brain tumour is running wild through e right now. And even with zopliclone I couldnt sleep last night and had lots of twitches thinking maybe they are the signs of a coming seizure or something.
I don't want to put my wife thru the stress of the last time that I had a health breakdown, and not doing very well dealing with my fears right now. I could likely drive to emerg and get a CT scan, but am trying appear calm to not upset my wife (think the anxiety of 6 years ago really pushed the limits of our marriage). Not sure how to calm myself into believing the issue is indeed a cluster headache variant and not something worse.
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