headaches - doctors or not?

[elvis777]

i've been getting really bad headaches the last few months and i'm unsure wether to bother the doctor or just put it down to fibro. before fibro i never had headaches, after i had minor ones that lasted a few hrs. lately i've been suffering from getting up in the morning til going to bed at night. my whole head hurts and it feels like there is pressure in my head. it hurts if i move too fast, get up/bend down too quickly. there doen't seem to be a pattern to it and they average about once a week. anyone else get this?

[pondminstrel]

hi..yes I do, I have missed days through migraines but please go to the doctor..don't put everything down to fibro...its to easy and not always right..its easy for doctors and us to clump things together but not always safe...xxxx .

[anbuma]

I have pain in my forehead but its not the same as headache pain and a few times felt dizzy

[Ginsing]

Morning Elvis, sorry to hear you have headaches they sound like it is time you told your Doctor about them if they are all over your head and persistent all day So why not make an appointment and pop down have a chat but do tell them everything. Cluster headaches can happen around the head and make the head sore to touch.

They will advise you what to do.

Let us know how it goes xgins

[haribo36]

Hi there,I too had the same problem,I was in fact having migraines several times a week.I went to my g.p to get it checked out as peeps advised here and my g.p prescribed me meds for migraines.However a friend suggested I try a herbal remedy called feverfew as it is natural and has no side-effects.Since I've been taking it I don't have migraines anymore but I still do get occasional headaches but not as bad as they were.You can get it from holland and Barrett or I order it from eBay.I take the high strength one once a day.Do go to your g.pfirst though to get it checked xx

[Glenys in reply to haribo36]

Hi haribo

I swear by holland and Barratt, but if you have a garden, you could save some money and grow your own feverfew. It's easy to get, and gives a lovely show of white flowers

My friends mum used to put the leaves in sandwiches (along with a strong flavoured filling as it tasted a bit rough) or she would boil it and make a tea.

Now, I never liked the smell as a kid, and it made their house "smell funny", but I imagine I could put up with it now, after actually experiencing migraines!

Also, I found that since I have been on amitriptyline and other antidepressants, I have very few migraines, now. And also found out that by and large men get more cluster headaches than women in general.

[woodka]

For the last month I have had a headache, I never get headaches, but this is getting me down, however have recently changed antidepressant medication so as of yesterday have stopped taking, got an appointment 1st October for the doctor, since June I have come off morphine only because I just couldnt keep it down, doctors not much help either, so cold turkey feeling a lot better brain wise heads a lot clearer, then now these headaches start, any ideas?

[Glenys in reply to woodka]

Be careful coming off the anti depressant woodka, but it sounds like you are willing to take the cold turkey approach if you can, so good luck and I hope it works for you. Headaches are more likely to stop my life than any other pain, so I can sympathize. I know coming off morphine based pills can actually start a chronic headache, but that is only because it has been a news headline recently, but that was a while ago when you came off that?

I find that antidepressants in the main have cured my migraines, but it only goes to show they have a big effect on the body, so it can work the other way if they don't suit you.

Good luck hope it sorts out XG

[woodka in reply to Glenys]

Thanks for the reply came off morphine in april, so doctor had a clean sheet and started me a month back on anti depressants, and have this head since, nxt appointment is 1st october, have really lost my faith in doctors well especially here, fact is they dont listen, especially with fibromyalgia, been called a stupid woman you are on far too much medication, but who gave it to me? I fought with them, because as you know a lot think fibromyalgia is in our head.

hugs xxx

[Glenys in reply to woodka]

One of my sayings is "If fibromyalgia really is all in the mind....then I don't have fibromyalgia!" I am having problems convincing my GPs that I need a liver biopsy, and have been trying to get one now for years - I am convinced that as soon as the GP sees "Fibro" and "Duloxetine" flash up on the screen, they rear up and protect their budget!

[Susan20067389]

Hi elivs777,

I think you should go and see you GP, as if you don't go they will think your okay when you obviously are struggling with these headaches/migraines.

Be positive and explain your having problems. I did to my GP and now I'm on medication which helps me move around without pain. It's brilliant!!!

Though on occasions I do find I'm in pain when taking the medication but they are very rare.

So I vote yes :)) xx

[woodka in reply to Susan20067389]

Hi Susan20067389

What medication did the doctor give you?

Regards Kaath xxx

[Susan20067389 in reply to woodka]

Hi woodka,

I'm on pizotifen 1.5 and 0.5mg. Taken at night

[woodka in reply to Susan20067389]

Thank you Susan xxx

[peppersoo]

You really should get this checked out, I mentioned headaches when I saw my consultant and I'm now waiting for a temporal artery biopsy to see if I have temporal arteritis, which can be life threatening, some of the symptoms are very similar to Fibro, so yes go get it checked out.

[Offcut]

Try moving your head around side ways and up and down it my be trapped nerve it helps me some times but them my shoulders hurt but my headaches are more painful so lesser of the two evils

[Lizzielizzie0]

Hi Elvis

In the last couple of years my Fibro has cranked up considerably (I've had it for maybe 30yrs?) and I now have '3 day headaches' (with the horrible pressure feeling) perhaps once or twice a month. Not quite migraines mostly, although a few come into that category but enough to make me miserable and put me out of action for much of the time they're around. I've mentioned them to the GP, but as they've not got worse or changed particularly we've both put them down to FM. I do whatever works to get rid - for me it's mostly lying still in a darkened room with headache cool stick on forehead + neck + cold flannel etc and sleeping if I can - and then anything that will distract me until it improves and eventually goes away.

I have a system with my excellent GP where I have an appt every now and then and take a list of any new/increased/worrying symptoms with her. We go through them quickly on the assumption that they're mostly going to be FM symptoms, but she can pick up any she thinks need more attention. I find that this way the little things get acknowledged and the big things get checked out, but the GP doesn't feel hassled and I don't feel as though I'm asking about everything all the time.... I hope you find a solution to your situation - also I've found that certain things have been 'stages' of FM, where certain symptoms have been really bad for a while and then settled down again for no obvious reason. I hope this is the case for you. Best wishes.

[Glenys in reply to Lizzielizzie0]

Hi Lizzie.

I know you are treating the headache as another "fibro" symptom, but, have you thought that it could be a separate entity If you didn't have fibro, the GP would have looked into it more, I think.

I wonder if you try the feverfew that Haribo36 tried (further up the page) if it would help? No one should have to suffer if unnecessary. If you have been told they are migraines caused by the Fibro, ask the doc if he thinks you could take it next time you pop in. It sounds like a good system you have.

hollandandbarrett.com/pages...

The link above takes you to the page where it is sold - it's quite cheap!

I have just had a very long appt with a new GP at my practice yesterday, and he suggested that I loose weight by January, but he left me an "open door" to come back to him at any time if I had even the slightest niggle, so he looks to be a good support.

[Lizzielizzie0 in reply to Glenys]

Hi Glenys - How nice of you to take the time to respond to my post. You may be right that the GP would look into the headaches more if I didn't have FM and in fact I think I'll bring it up with the Rheumatologist when I see him in December. In the meantime, I'll run the feverfew idea past the GP. Thanks for the suggestion which I'd missed and must be worth a go.

I'm really pleased for you to hear that your new GP seems helpful and supportive - if only there were more like this! I hope his good attitude goes from strength to strength. I've been asked to lose weight too, which I'm finding difficult as I have no interest in food at all, no energy to make anything interesting and end up eating crap. I'm about to go back to swimming though which I'm hoping will improve my appetite and prompt me to eat better.

[Glenys in reply to Lizzielizzie0]

Hi Lizzie

I do think he looks to be a supportive GP, and I am willing to loose weight under his guidance, but when I awoke this morning, I realised that I had been fobbed off again with my concerns about liver disease (but my rant about that is on another thread! )

I dragged out a few salad cook books yesterday, which haven't seen daylight in soooooo long, and managed to put together a shopping list to keep me and hubby in alternative salads for a week (I hate standard lettuce and cucumber sloppy salads), and went to Tesco armed and ready, thinking I was so great....then lost the list!

Well... we had to go up and down every isle to make sure we didn't pass anything that might have been on the list, then the veg man told us that they didn't "do" fennell, then we missed out loads of things from the list (and from hubby's dad's list which went awol too), and as we were going through the checkout dazed and stunned, we found the list lurking under the slimfast bars (don't ask - I'm addicted to them!).

So, I only had the complete set of ingredients for one salad, and I must say it was the most well earned meal ever! It was shredded red cabbage and apple and sultanas with a yogurt, lemon and caraway seed dressing - yum!....Well sort of, but I prefer honey and mustard dressing myself.And we had to have it with breaded chicken and beetroot crisps, so maybe not so healthy after all. Like you, it is a real effort to loose weight as by and large I don't eat a lot, but my metabolism is slow, despite moving around a lot (there goes my "liver worrying" again!).

Good luck with the Feverfew, let us know how it went on. Just going to chill for the evening. Bye

GXX

[Fibrofoggiest]

Hi elvis, I'm so sorry you are getting such headaches at the moment and my advice would definitely get it checked out by your doctor. I suffer with headaches and migraines (very different from my headaches ) and I take a drug called Maxalt (rizatriptin ) for the migraine, which helps considerably. For a "normal" headache I just take Extra Power pain relief tablets, which seem to help.

As I said earlier though, I would really recommend that you talk with your doctor about this, just to establish exactly whether they are headaches or migraines and can get proper medication for whichever they are.

Good luck and healing vibes coming your way.

Foggy x

[habinns17]

Hi there. Sorry to hear you are also suffering from headaches. Ive had them for the past 3 months. They are always on the right side of my head and feel like they are bordering on migraines. My gp thinks they are related to my persistent neck pain. She says the tension in my neck muscles could be restricting the blood flow through the vessels in my neck. I've been referred to the pain clinic now. You should definitely go to your gp. Good luck x

[anbuma]

i was out with my dogs this morning fro almost two hours (he decided to go on one of his long walks )and had pain in the left side of my forehead the whole time I was out.i read that this is a symptom of lupus- affected by sunlight?does anyone have any idea if this is true?

[Glenys]

Elvis

Never put anything just down to Fibro. Fibro, in the main, exasperates other conditions, making them worse, and if they can be sorted out as a separate concern, all the better. I think sometimes that if we went in to some GPs with a broken leg, they would blame it on the fibro

I have a lot of myofacial pain syndrome (MPS), which can occur separate to fibro, but because it is often seen along with fibro, a lot of people lump it together. The fibro makes the pain a lot worse and in a lot of cases turns the acute pains from MPS into a more chronic and unlivable affair.

It can also cause me confusion too, as I have physio on a regular basis, and it helps control the spasms I get with the MPS, but lately I actually damaged a muscle in my shoulder whilst weeding the garden, and at first it felt like a spasm trapping a nerve, which is what normally happens to me, but this time no massage relieved it. The GP told me I am stuck with that now for a few weeks till it heals, and is an acute injury rather than chronic pain, and suggested appropriate pain meds for while it heals.

Anyhow, there is no way that the torn muscle is fibro or MPS, so don't assume the headache is fibro, is what I am saying, if you get my meaning? :-?

Get it sorted quickly, and even if the GP thinks it is down to fibro, he/she should still be obliged to try and provide some relief for it if possible.

Let us know how it goes

XG

[elvis777]

thanks for all your replies guys, i have booked an appt so we'll see what she says. weirdly i haven't had a headache since putting up this question! guess i'm overdue one i've been mainly clumsy and forgetful this week, it drives me insane, i used to be so sharp in comparison.

i think i'll ask the doc about the remedy from holland and barrett, thanks for the suggestion.

[bex2013]

Hello, please treat every new symptom as an individual. I have been suffering with headaches and it turns out I have hydrocephalus which is life threatening if left untreated, it is not related to fybro as far as I am aware, also I was getting rather fatigued I also put this down to fybro and it turns out my thyroid had crashed. Please go to the doctors and dont feel that just because you have fybromyalgia you are immune to every other illness. New symptoms or even worsened symptoms should always be checked out by a doctor.

Kindest regards

Bex