I experience really similar headaches when I'm particularly stressed out. I lose a day - nausea, light sensitivity, pain - and then I can more or less function after that but I have a lingering headache for a couple of days afterwards. It almost feels like the big pain is still echoing. I've never been diagnosed with migraines, and I don't get them at any time but when I'm stressed out - and my therapist says they're classic in terms of being caused by my mind rather than by a reaction to a particular food stuff or something like caffeine.
Which is a long way of saying - I totally hear you. I call mine a migraine, whether it's true or not, because that's the swiftest way to explain how it feels to other people. I hope your headache goes away swiftly, and that these don't come back to call again! ♥
hmm...hard to say. It sounds like a stress headache-- migraines tend to cause other synaesthetic symptoms, though not always. Cluster headaches tend to be unilateral, so that doesn't sound right either. You could have an infection of some kind, though I'm more inclined to say inflammation due to allergies-- histamine causes the blood vessels to become leaky (that's a technical term :P)which could potentially explain dehydration. If you're on your period or in PMS you could be having a histamine reaction as well-- the body produces histamine when it thinks it's hemmorhaging.
It's also possible that you could also be bleeding internally and the headache/nausea is due to hypotension, though I'd have expected it to be worse by now. Are you urinating as much as you drink, roughly? And are you bloated anywhere, especially in the abdomen? Any lightheadedness, blood in your faeces, anything like that?
I think your first paragraph's spot on, except for the part where I basically have no cycle anymore because Mirena. I did have a cup of tea right before the headache started, that had a dicey packet of lemon juice added to it. After that, it just seemed that everything exacerbated it. Screen time, driving, reading, etc.
*nods* Eyestrain is definitely not helping. :( This is why I think we should get academic audiobooks made...
Try going decaf, rehydrating with juice, rather than just water-- your electrolytes may be off-- and rest. I know you hate resting, but it'll likely help. :P
Whether or not it's officially a migraine, it sounds like you should treat it the same way. When I get asymptomatic headaches like that (which I also call migraines), the only recourse is for me to go home and try to sleep them off. If I'm feeling one coming on, I might also try to fend it off with a combination of water, ibuprofen, chocolate and peanut butter (like, a big spoonful of peanut butter and some chocolate chips). Likely it's the water and the ibuprofen that do the heavy lifting, but I figure, adding a dose of sugar, caffeine, protein and fat won't go amiss either.
That sounds like a good idea. I've been trying caffeine (balanced out with water), but the chocolate and peanut butter idea sounds like a good one. Thanks!
Hugs. That sounds like no fun at all. I'm late to the party, but there's a possibility it's a sinus infection. I had a headache for most of 10th grade due to sinus infections, which usually but not always came with exhaustion and a low-grade fever, and occasionally came with nausea. Regardless, it sounds like you have good advice here, and migraine/cluster headache sounds definitely possible. Job 1 is some rest, and calling it a migraine seems like the most useful terminology. But if time and rest don't do much, I'd suggest going to an Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor to check the sinuses.
I've got chronic allergies (treated with injections), and chronic sinus infections to go with them. This felt different. Of course, I think the stress headache I started with was exacerbated by sinuses that were dry and irritated by my dust allergy, so I think there was still a sinus component. Using the neti pot this morning helped a bit--not because of mucus-filled sinuses, but because my nasal passages are so irritated right now. :(
I think we just got really blasted with a lot of cold air this week, and the heated house + my slowness at hooking up the house humidifiers definitely didn't help. I'm feeling a lot better today though. :)
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Which is a long way of saying - I totally hear you. I call mine a migraine, whether it's true or not, because that's the swiftest way to explain how it feels to other people. I hope your headache goes away swiftly, and that these don't come back to call again! ♥
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<3
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It's also possible that you could also be bleeding internally and the headache/nausea is due to hypotension, though I'd have expected it to be worse by now. Are you urinating as much as you drink, roughly? And are you bloated anywhere, especially in the abdomen? Any lightheadedness, blood in your faeces, anything like that?
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I think your first paragraph's spot on, except for the part where I basically have no cycle anymore because Mirena. I did have a cup of tea right before the headache started, that had a dicey packet of lemon juice added to it. After that, it just seemed that everything exacerbated it. Screen time, driving, reading, etc.
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Try going decaf, rehydrating with juice, rather than just water-- your electrolytes may be off-- and rest. I know you hate resting, but it'll likely help. :P
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Might be a good opportunity for me to catch up with Night Vale, actually...
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I think we just got really blasted with a lot of cold air this week, and the heated house + my slowness at hooking up the house humidifiers definitely didn't help. I'm feeling a lot better today though. :)
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