Any thoughts on tackling the head aches?

[BrianB2]

The left front of my head aches, again. (Above left eye 2 inches).

Been flaring up off and on for a week or 2.

Will contact my GP Monday

Any suggested home remedies for tackling these head aches (cold compresses, etc), what is known to work.

[Already on low level of Prednisolone but not sure it is strong enough (honest I don't like taking it but I will, as it ruins my sleep]

Thanks,

Brian 😃

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Have you tried plain ordinary painkillers?

But we need to know a lot more to answer sensibly - what is your diagnosis? PMR or GCA? If your headache is due to either than only the right dose of pred to manage your disease activity will really be effective. If cold compresses helped - they wouldn't give us pred!

[BrianB2 in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks, I try to avoid pain killers (diminishing returns, tummy issues etc)

You are absolutely right PMRpro I think it comes down to my level (or lack of) of Pred.

I won't be able to change that until Tues realistically, seeing my GP is very hard to see

[I suspect PMR but the specialist/GPs have been very cagey on this, plus with the fatigue/brainfog I don't recall.]

M bet is PMR given my neck issues, weak arm and shoulders as stiff as a board but who (eventually) knows? 🤔

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to BrianB2]

if you have PMR then you need to get headaches etc checked in case it is GCA -

And to be honest loss of sleep is better than loss of sight!

[NanJean]

Unrelenting left sided headache, not helped with ibuprofen, was my clue to GCA. I didn't go to doc until I felt a small bump on the left side of forehead. Biopsy positive for GCA. I had symptoms of PMR months earlier, unable to lift my arms to get out of bed, but just rolled myself out of bed without using my arms.

I was very fortunate not to have vision loss. Get checked for GCA.

[Sharitone]

If you're sure it's not GCA or anything else that needs checking out, and you don't want to take eg co-codamol, then I found a warm-hot wheat bag pressed either to the pain is helpful. Or to the neck on the same side, if that's where the pain is coming from. At night sleeping on the affected side can help, for the same reasons. Also tiger balm might help a bit.