Intense Back of Head Pressure with presyncopy feeling 24/7

[Likeabadstorm]

Anyone have intense head pressure 24/7 with feeling of faintness or presyncope all day long and even through the night (wakes me up). Then I feel like I'm being choked a bit and hard to swallow like something is cutting of some of the blood supply to my brain. I have pulsatile tinnitus on topf of it now too and jaw pain very tight and pressure in nose. I've seen neuro and ent. MRA of head MRI brain normal. MRA of neck having done tomorrow. I've been like this all summer with symptoms increasing. Electrical zaps in face sometimes and head. I can barely take it anymore. It's like something is squeezing my brain stem. Neuro believes it's just stress related. It's not a band around my head it feels like a band around my brainstem. I do get pressure in my entire head too and temples. I have a ton of other neurological symptoms, but right now this head pressure is getting the best of me. I got glasses to see if it would help. I'm picking up a night guard Friday to see if that would help. I did 14 sessions of acupuncture and cupping to see if it would help and maybe after 6th treatment is when I started getting the jaw tightness and the electric shocks in face and the pulsatile tinnitus. I have been dealing with unsettling neurological symptoms since last year and so scared for my life. Diagnosed with GAD, panic disorder with possibly awareness seizures (non epileptic vs epileptic-waiting for another eeg or it's just severe anxiety with sever panic attacks). I am so scared and just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this head pressure with faintness 24/7 and waking one up in their sleep feeling faint. (I am not on any anti-depressants yet too scared til they r/o seizures and then I am still going to be scared because of the possible side effects or adverse reactions). This making it so hard for me to drive and go through the day. I fight it and try to smile through it but I cry everyday. I have a little one that I take care of and this is no good for him to see me like this all the time. Also at times when I come to a stop in a car at the light I sometimes feel as if I am still moving backwards but I am not. I have MRI of c spine, t spine and l spine --all was ok except lumbar with mild stenosis entire lumbar and all the disc bulging in my lumbar spine. Lupus testing negative. Vit D was low supplementing that and b12 was 600 so I take 1000mcg of that daily as well.

I know it is long and wordy and bless you if you read it all...anxiety panic takes over and the pressure with faintness feeling makes it so so so bad. Thanks for listening and if anyone out there has gone through this, I would greatly appreciate any info. This has not let up for months. Maybe started around June or July with the pressure prior to that in April I had intense burning in head and chest and electric bolts going through my head. Symptoms forever seem to change.

[Coloradowalker]

I don’t intend to diminish any of your symptoms but if they all are anxiety related as mine likely are, it speaks to the power of this illness and how our brains can be tricked into thinking that we are this sick or flawed or vulnerable. My hope is that we one day have relief from this mind/body preoccupation. ❤️❤️

[Likeabadstorm in reply to Coloradowalker]

It sure does speak to the power of anxiety. This is the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life. And I have been through a lot of serious things that you would have thought at the times would have caused me to go into anxiety and panic, but it didn't. And now I like this to the extreme it seems it very complex as the doctors say. Anxiety and panic is brutal and relentless, I have to learn somehow how to tame the two beasts if this is indeed what is is.

[Funkyfaerie in reply to Coloradowalker]

That's exactly what it is, a preoccupation!!

[italiancookie]

I don’t get pressure in my head very much but I do get that faint feeling. It was particularly bad the other day. I think that’s just anxiety as it was at its worst for me when my anxiety was at its worst. But I totally get how unsettling it is and it’s definitely uncomfortable.

[Likeabadstorm in reply to italiancookie]

Did you ever wake up with during your sleep in the middle of the night with the faintness feeling?

[italiancookie in reply to Likeabadstorm]

Yes, all the time. A year or two ago, it was REALLY bad. But the less stressed I became over time, the less it happened

[Likeabadstorm in reply to italiancookie]

Not happy you had that, but helps me feel like it could be all related to stress knowing it happened to someone else. I am also stressing because this faintness and Pulatile tinnitus non stop occurred after a few treatments of acupuncture. My mom says it wouldn't do that and the acupuncturist says it's safe and it's my stress causing it. But of course the acupuncturist would say that. With my episodes of panic or whatever it is I would get that close to passing out feeling but only during that time. Not like this all the time. It's scary. Thanks for letting me know you experienced this too.

[Funkyfaerie]

Likeabadstorm,

I've just seen this post and wanted you to know, that I too wake up from sleep feeling faint and sick and just plain weird. I used to panic big time about it and grab a diazepam. But now I make myself get and go to the bathroom, wake myself up a bit, I still feel weird, but it has happened so many times now and I've been OK, they seem to be getting a little less.

My jaw seems to tremble from the inside out, I mean no one else would notice, but it seems manic to me. I get the unbalanced feeling, the pain in my neck, shoulders and back, tinnitus...

Our Jaws must be mighty strong to cause all this. I used to get instant headaches over problems with one of my siblings, and the sorting of those fell to me and its been going on for years, I think this is where the clenching stems from, my way of dealing with stress and unfortunately it's now become a habit and I suffer every day. Some days can be ok, and others terrible, last night was not good at all.

I wish you well...

[Likeabadstorm]

yesterday and last night was horrible. I’ve been up all night feeling faint jittery shaky and feeling my heart pound, not really race but faster than normal. I am shaking today and still head pressure non stop. Been wearing the night guard. Tried two extra strength Tylenol last night and it doesn’t do anything. I hate feeling this way it’s scary. I still worry it could be something worse like intracranial hypertension. Just my mind goes and goes.