Headaches behind eyes - Brain Tumour v Hypochondria

[Rubbish Username]

Hi guys, I've only just discovered this website so apologies if something similar has been posted here before..

I've been having almost daily recurrent headaches for the past 10 months and it's driving me crazy. They start almost every day about 30 minutes after I've got up, usually as a slight pressure behind the left eye (sometimes right eye, never both at the same time) and it just gets slightly worse all day, when it moves toward the forehead.

I just came off a stressful period about a month before the headaches started and I've always been prone to anxiety and headaches. Before 10 months ago, I would normally get about 1 or 2 headaches a week.. now it's every day I'm getting worried.

I must have seen about 4 different GPs about it, who all reassure me saying it's probably stress. I have been prescribed Beta Blockers and Amitriptyline as well as a Steroid nasal spray (1 GP thought it was connected to hay fever.. it's not ).. none of which have made a difference. I'm trying not to take much in the way of normal painkillers, but they do seem to work if I take them early enough. I've also had my eyes tested and they are absolutely fine.

As well as headaches, I've recently been getting slight dizziness, nausea and fatigue. A few months ago I was getting regular twitches in my left middle finger but that has stopped now. I really don't want to waste Doctors' time with an 'imaginary' brain tumour, and none of them seem concerned or will refer me to get an MRI scan.. It feels like I'm talking to a brick wall!

So basically, should I plead for a referral or should I stop worrying myself about the symptoms? I'm just happy to find other people on this forum with similar worries as it definitely helps to reassure me .

Thank you (sorry for waffling)

[chrism3072]

Hi, I have been having similar problems to you and I am currently having a really bad HA flair up!

Basically for last two weeks I’ve had awful headache above my left eye. Since then my left temple has become so tender and I constantly have a pressure sensation around the area and over the bridge of my nose and behind my eye!

My nose is not blocked at all.

It has almost felt like the left eye is not seeing as well as the right eye. I have seen my optom and all is fine.

I have been trying to ignore it and put it down to HA.

Then today, I’m came across an article of a poor young lad who had similar symptoms to mine which was misdiagnosed as hay fever and ended up being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. That poor boy and his family! I desperately hope he is ok.

This has made my HA spike massively and I have of course convinces myself I have the same thing! Isn’t this just the way HA works!

I’m going to see my GP tomorrow and ask to be referrrd for a scan.

When this comes back fine, I am going to try and use this as a lesson that HA causes so many problems and I am going to ask to be referred to someone for help with my HA. It is really spoiling my life at the moment.

HA is tough isn’t it

[Rubbish Username]

Hi, thank you for your reply!

I agree, it sucks. As much as I love the internet, seeing articles online about how cancer can be so easily misdiagnosed as something minor really freaks me out. It's a vicious circle as my headaches won't get better until I am 100% sure it's not something serious..

Oh well, I'll seek a referral and put it down to stress in the short-term.

Fingers crossed you get sorted, let me know what your Doc says.

Thanks

[LunaLiuna]

Having had this as a central focus for my HA for quite sometime, I certainly understand how worried you are.

However, there is a much more likely cause for your concern that you acknowledge, and that is your anxiety and stress. I have seen so many people on this forum worried about your same fear (me included) and not one of them has ever had it.

Now I know, in your mind you may think “Well, I could be an exception.” Which is true, but in light of what you said regarding the multiple GP visits, even more unlikely.

Personally, overcoming my head HA worries meant understanding stress physiology, especially in areas around the shoulders/neck/Jaw. Especially the Jaw in fact, and it seems to be a recurring theme amongst some of us here wherein we develop things like jaw clenching as a result of stress, which in turn slowly develops into pain, odd sensations (eye related especially) and worries about deadly illnesses. This is, at least how it has happened for me, anyway. The only way I found out it was my jaw causing issues was because of how mentally unwell I was, I had to sleep in a room with a family member and they woke me up in the night because they could hear me grinding my teeth! (Depression/stress/anxiety) I booked a dentist appointment and they confirmed it.

It’s perfectly fine to fear for our health, but sometimes our minds can overcompensate. Work on your mental health and in time, you will see some physical results

[Rubbish Username]

Thanks Luna, that does make sense! I know I don't move my jaw much when I'm sleeping but I might subconsciously do so when I'm awake!

To be fair, I didn't go to my GPs for about 6 years at one point, then I've seemed to have gone about 10 times in the last 2 years for different reasons (all linked to stress: Inner ear infection, IBS symptoms etc. etc.)

When I was on holiday a couple of months ago my headaches got a lot better because I was relaxed and didn't think about it as much. They have seemed to have got worse recently and the pain has radiated to my left cheekbone occasionally.

I have had days in the last 10 months with no headaches whatsoever, so I'm guessing that pretty much rules out a brain tumour as surely you would have pain every day? and surely I wouldn't still be alive now.. Has anyone else had this problem?

[Rubbish Username]

Anyone else had something like this before? Have you found a cure? Thanks

[Halle0587]

Did you figure this out?

[xmas2016]

Hi, I have been having similar problems to you and I am currently having a really bad HA flair up!

Basically for last two weeks I’ve had awful headache above my left eye. Since then my left temple has become so tender and I constantly have a pressure sensation around the area and over the bridge of my nose and behind my eye!

My nose is not blocked at all.

It has almost felt like the left eye is not seeing as well as the right eye. I have seen my optom and all is fine.

I have been trying to ignore it and put it down to HA.

Then today, I’m came across an article of a poor young lad who had similar symptoms to mine which was misdiagnosed as hay fever and ended up being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. That poor boy and his family! I desperately hope he is ok.

This has made my HA spike massively and I have of course convinces myself I have the same thing! Isn’t this just the way HA works!

I’m going to see my GP tomorrow and ask to be referrrd for a scan.

When this comes back fine, I am going to try and use this as a lesson that HA causes so many problems and I am going to ask to be referred to someone for help with my HA. It is really spoiling my life at the moment.

HA is tough isn’t it

So glad someone else gets the symptoms of pressure/numbness around their nose I have beeen getting this a lot lately and been so paranoid about it

[Rubbish Username]

Did you figure this out?

Hey, yes. I am still alive anyway.. I got a private referral to see a neurologist. Spoke through my symptoms and I requested an MRI scan, which was approved.

MRI scan came back with no abnormalities whatsoever (usually about +10% of perfectly healthy people will have slight abnormalities on an MRI) and was diagnosed with chronic migraines.

I have been offered to try 2 separate courses of medication (nortriptyline or Topiramate). This was back in April and I haven't taken either of these, mainly as side effects aren't great and on the balance, it is probably slightly better to stick with the migraines as they aren't causing much bother.

Since April I'm still getting the pain behind the eyes but not as bad on the whole since knowing for sure that it's not a brain tumour! So yeah, neither a brain tumour or health anxiety really. I think headaches behind the eyes are more commonly migraines or eye strain and very rarely anything more serious.