I keep having this nasty, continous headache that never quite goes away and some days is almost bad enough to warant going to the hospital. It's been about 3 weeks now. It starts either while I'm asleep or right as I wake up (I've been waking up early with it) and rapidly get worse as I get moving. The pain starts right under the edge of my skull on my right side, spreads across the back edge of my skull, up the right side of my face and goes behind my eyes. Under my skull it feels like pressure. I've actually pressed my fingers in under the edge of my skull to try and lift it up off my neck to relieve the pressure. The pain in my face is also presure, although not as bad. It feels like a sinus headache but isnt down near my nose and doesnt react to sinus medications. The pain at the base of my skeull has been bad enough to make me nauseous and tearful and make flashes of light when I turn my head. If I take pain medicine (Aleve or Tylenol)the pain diminishes enough that I can function but it's still there and I'm still irritable and sensitive to noise (it all sounds amplified and distorted). By the end of my day my neck is all stiff and sore. I sleep ok but wake up with the headache again in the morning. I"ve recently (4mo) gone back on birth control pills and suuspect they may be contributing but I promised my husbaaand I"d finish this cycle (14 more days) before going off the for a month to see. Because I"m nursing I cant change pills and other birth control options dont work out for me so I"d rather be on it if I can.

Anyway, me:
I'm 34, two kids, normal pregnancies. One forceps delivery with an epi, one totally natural. I'm a redhead, a little overweight but nothing that's a big deal. I work nights so I dont get enough sleep (not enough time). I'm prone to depresion, esp in the winter (so I have the full spectrum lights at work). I've been depressed bad enough to feel like I was losing it and to have delusions but I pulled out of it very easily with Ignatia and stayed stable with Saint Johns Wort. I have fibromyalgia which leaves my very tense and in pain most days and I have a heard time relaxing. My husband says I'm and irritable bitch when I have a headache. I find myself yelling at my older son annd snarrling at the baby. I don't want to be this way, not to them anyway (the husband can go jump off a bridge). I like husband though, honest I do, even when I complain about him

Anyway, I'm rambling. I'll be back tonight to answer questions.

__________________
---Jennifer<br />(just trying 2 B SuperMommy)

Jennifer,
If it helps, there was a really nasty virus doing the rounds here in Melbourne about 2 months ago with the same symptoms. Severe headache with neck pain, wry neck in some ( females seemed to get this, whilst the males got spasm of the lower back muscles.) Too many cases to be co-incidence. Takes about 3-5 weeks to resolve. Nat Mur was useful in some cases for the head/neck (also Gels) and Mag Phos for the lower back.

Jennifer, I don't see a problem for you to stop the OC's SInce they seem to be the obvious relatd cause. YOu will have a withdrawal bleed in 5 days. You could confirm with you doctor. Then on the fifith day of your period you may start another one, basically progesterne, with no estradiol in it.

OR could you use another method...Natural...in case your periods are regular now?

Regards,
dcotorleela

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Hi Jennifer - I hope you find a solution to your headache soon. There definitely has been nasty flu going round the world...I definitely had nasty headaches with mine - lasting for daysss....

The one thing that alarms me in reading your post is the birth control pills. AND, whilst nursing??? (I am very surprised anyone would prescribe birth control pills while a mother is still nursing. Do allopathic docs do this? I recall when my first child was born - my obgyn said no way - use a condom until you stop nursing!!).

This is not judgement - it is purely concern over what the birth control pills are doing to you - and your unsuspecting baby who is nursing.

All the best to you,
Lisa

__________________
"The significance of a fact is measured by the capacity of the observer."
Carroll Dunham

Yeah they'll give you the progeterone only pill. Thats the only one you can take while nursing. I'd go for natural but my hubby wont. He definatly doesnt want more kids and he doesnt trust that method. He keeps saying he'll go get the snip but he hasnt yet. If I'm not on the pill I won't get any lovin. My little guy's only 16mo so I'll be nursing for at least another year or two.

__________________
---Jennifer<br />(just trying 2 B SuperMommy)

With the location and nausea, it makes me wonder if it isn't a vascular headache. In that case Excedrin Migraine would work better than the others you've taken, but nursing a baby I don't know that you want to take meds. A remedy is best, hope someone can help you.

Does warmth or cold applied at the base of the skull help at all?

[ 24 October 2001: Message edited by: Kescah ]

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Kescah

Jennifer, You've got a great sense of humour!! Tell hubby I've said that . And if he's going to give you the cold shoulder, he's the one to lose! In the meantime, let me see if I can find something for your headache. I'll get back to you in a bit.

WArm regards,
doctorleela

Could you tell me about your other relationships and dynamics (extended family, friends)and what are your piorities in life?
What are the foods you prefer?
What are your perspiration patterns?
Sleep and dreams.
What are the things that really get to you and how do you react to them?
Should be a good startwith that.

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http://www.homeopathy2health.com

Jennifer, You'll have to read up and decide for yourself which remedy may help you for the acute.Repeated doses of 30 should be helpful. But if you fel no relief after 3 doses, do stop. I'll give you some possibilities:

Cactus Grand: SImilar pain, adn right sided. A sensation of constriction is a necessary guiding symptom.
Gels: Rt sided headache, with Drowsiness, dullness, thirstlessness, better by profuse urination.
Spigelia: Lt sided headache, but other things match.

At the moent I feel Kali Carb may be constitutional, but this is without qualification. Finally it is the constitutional that will help you the most. So I'll wait for you to answer my questions.

regards,
dcotorleela

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"Could you tell me about your other relationships and dynamics (extended family, friends)and what are your piorities in life?"
I think my priorities right now are the kids. I keep doing things for them and never for me. I just see the time going by so quickly with them and I know I can be "ME" later. I only have one chance for the kids to turn out ok and I'm so worried about them being screwed up. I"m close to my mom, call her alot for lots of things, my dad and I are a bit distant but he's trying and I"m learning at accept a dad who spanked and yelled too much when we were kids and now understand that it made things worse for us as we grew up. Most of my extended family (aunts and uncles) I hardly know. I dont really have friends. APrtly because I work nights and partly because I've never seemed to fit in socially. I feel awkward with other women. Get along better with men but now that I have kids they seem to see me as "mom" and arent as interested in being buddies. My best friends are only on the internet, the few women I know IRL are either not real friends or we just never get real close and hang out together. I want friends deseratly, I need it but I never manage to make friends.

"What are the foods you prefer?"
I eat alot of junk sometimes. Chips and soda (although I'm trying hard to get off sugar). I like fries and stuff with potatoes. Stews and thick soups. I put too much salt in anything and usually more garlic than most people like. I like mixed up dishes like f ried rice and caselloes but cant stand to have food touching on the plate if it didn't come that way. Hate potlucks. I dont eat meat, although I sometimes will eat soup with broth in it. Sometimes have cravings for fat and eat things like peanut butter and margarine sandwiches or dip my fries in mayonaise or sour cream.

"What are your perspiration patterns?"
They're odd. I sweat alot at night. WIll wake up soaked for no reason and have to move to the otehr side of the bed. Not always "hot" when I wake up like that but if I wake up hot I must take all the blankets off the bed and cool down before I can go back to sleep. Night sweats were worse when pregnant. I cant stand heat, summer makes me sick and dizzy all the time, I get cranky and confused if the room is too warm. (Spouse needs the room too warm, it's a constant battle). I sweat when I get nervous and it really smells funky. SOmetimes I have periods when even if I sweat very little it smells really bad and the smell clings to my skin. No matter how much I wash I cant get it off of me.

"Sleep and dreams."
I sleep poorly. Usually wake up several times and must go pee before I can get back to sleep. I have lots of pain in my body and sometimes wake up to that or this restless 'electric' feeling in my arms and legs. Lately I've been waking up too early and even though I'm tired cant get back to sleep. My brain wont shut off. I can fall asleep ok but I just cant stay asleep. Sometimes wake up less than an hour after I fall asleep feeling like I should get up. I have very vivid dreams. Usually stuff my brain is working on or dreams of work or the kids. I have lots of dreams of people I know and then must call and check on them to be sure they are ok. Lots of times what I've dreamt about them was true. Have lots of "alien" dreams too, where they're coming to get us and we must hide.

"What are the things that really get to you and how do you react to them?"
Noise. The kids, the TV it just all builds up and overloads me and my hubby cant figure why I keep yelling at him to turn the TV down again and again.
Big crowds of people. I can "feel" all of them and it just gets to be too much for me, especially if it's something emotional like a movie or last minute christmas shopping.
My 7yo not hearing what I say or flat out refusing to listen to my explaination (usually homework) He screaches "No, I wont do it!", "You're doing it wrong", "I dont know how, it's too hard" (he does, and it's easy, thats why he wont do it). I get frustrated because I cant control it and I cant make him stop and look at it diferantly.
My hubby moving my stuff. I'm not an organised person but it just sets me off when he moves my junk around. it's bad enough that *I* have to share everything I own with the kids and *he* gets him own space, a desk that locks, his own computer, his own pop in the fridge and then gets to yell at us when we mess with *his* stuff. He doesnt understand that I need *my* stuff too. He's always giving me the "but you're the Momma" line. Doesnt seem to get it that sometimes I want to be *ME* instead of the Momma.

Have I rambled enough????
Now that you know me inside and out maybe we can fix the headache huh

__________________
---Jennifer<br />(just trying 2 B SuperMommy)

Hi Jennifer, you're really trying very hard! I'm really sorry, but I have a few more questions. No harm if you ramble.

Some things you said were very pertinent. Could you elaborate on them, so that we understand them a bit more?

1."I only have one chance for the kids to turn out ok and I'm so worried about them being screwed up."

2.I"m learning at accept a dad who spanked and yelled too much when we were kids and now understand that it made things worse for us as we grew up

3.I want friends desperatly, I need it but I never manage to make friends.(Need to understand what exactly you mean by having friends)

4.Big crowds of people. I can "feel" all of them and it just gets to be too much for me, especially if it's something emotional

Hope with the next lot of answers your remedy becomes slear. Maybe some others can come in and give an insight too!

You did take Ignatia you mentioned earlier. Did someone prescribe it for you? For what?

warm regards,
dcotorleela

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