Just when I thought things were getting better...

[ClareO1986]

... the other half shipped me off to hospital because I felt like someone was pushing a big stick into the top of my head. Combine this with a battering headache, neck ache, nausea and only just being able to walk from the car, and you'll be about there.

In fairness, the doctor was very thorough. He checked out my entire history since bumping my head. He even rang the neuro department at another hospital for advice because they don't have one on site.

The conclusion?

I was given sumatriptan when I arrived to take the edge off the headache while I waited to see the doctor. I've been given a prescription for a small amount of this to take as needed, when the naproxen doesn't work. I woke up this morning after 4 hours sleep feeling well and truly hungover and still nauseous.

Not quite sure what to do next...

[moo196]

I'd ask professional advice again I think - what was your original diagnosis ? And this time ?

I know that if I have overdone things I get a resurgance of original symptoms ( I call mine a pickaxe in my head ) along with shoulder/neck ache and inability to focus properly. But since I know what mine is - I try to keep calm and know that even if I attended hospital they would likely say " well, yes, we know you have a blood clot and nothing more we can do - you are on warfarin so it shouldn't be getting any worse, now go away and rest" - ( I've done this once or twice so don't tend to bother - and it does go away). But any new symptoms would have me seeking more advice ...

Good luck !

[ClareO1986 in reply to moo196]

I've never had a "proper" diagnosis. The first doctor I saw was hopeless, admitted that he was out of ideas, couldn't help me and referred me to neurology... I'm still waiting to see them (in September!!). The second doctor told me I had lots of muscle tension in my neck from the whiplash I also got when I hit my head. She gave me naproxen, which had been working but last night it didn't touch whatever was feeling like it was walloping me on the head!

I don't mind admitting that I had been more active over the weekend but not stupidly so. I'd not have expected it to have the effect that it did.

It's certainly got me, and probably a load of doctors confused. I suppose at the moment is just have to go with being a medical mystery until I see the neurologist.

[moo196 in reply to ClareO1986]

When is neuro app ? Maybe keep a diary of symptoms in between ? And try to get some fresh air and relaxation if not sleep ?

[ClareO1986 in reply to moo196]

It was due to be early September but I rang this morning because my parents said they would help me to pay to be seen sooner privately if necessary. Turns out they have a cancellation for Monday...

I've been keeping a log of symptoms for a few weeks now on a headache tracker app that I found. Hopefully it will help them and I'll start to get some answers.

[malalatete]

Sumatriptan is a migraine drug. Certainly your symptoms sound like migraine - including the postdromal hangover (which sumatriptan makes worse in some).

It is not unknown for migraine to start after a head injury so it is possible...

See how you get on with the triptans. They hand them out first but they don't suit everyone. They give me rebound headache so I only take in an emergency. If they don't agree with you ask for other options.

Hopefully it will be a one-off or irregular feature for you. I wouldn't wish the status of migraineur on my worst enemy!

[ClareO1986 in reply to malalatete]

I've had some bad headaches before my bump on the head, one of which I thought was a migraine but when I explained it to a doctor she said it wasn't. This one the other night was about a hundred times worse than the one 2yrs ago.

If it was a migraine, I can see why you wouldn't wish it on your worse enemy. I've certainly cried from the pain since my injury but I've never screamed at my partner because it felt like someone was beating me over the head with a big stick and I couldn't make it stop.

Incidentally, my neck has been worse for a few days... I always thought the two were related but now I am convinced!

[malalatete]

Some GPs don't know much about migraine....I was diagnosed by my mother at age 13 when mine started, and as I get aura migraines ( with visual hallucinations of flashing lights as a precursor ) it was an easy one for the GP to concur with when I finally saw someone about it myself when at uni.

But the fact that the other, excruciating, nauseating, physically debilitating headaches I have been getting with my neuro condition of 6 years now, are also migraine - just non-aura migraine - that wasn't picked up until I saw a neuro at the National Hosp in London. My GPs just write 'headache' as symptom.

A headache is a mild inconvenience and, rather like you, if I think about it I usually have either head or neck pain. It is where I carry stress... but a pain in the head that sends me to bed because it exhausts me, renders me incoherent, makes me dizzy and needing to lie down? Those 'bad heads' it turns out are migraine too, and those are the ones the GPs often don't correctly diagnose because there are no flashing lights to switch the light on for them!!