Chronic Headaches from Sleep

[Tara]

I have been having headaches daily for almost 7 years. Seeing a doctor has proven useless because all they say is that it's fairly normal for teenagers (I'm seventeen), it's from stress, your back is stiff, don't slouch, drink more water and all the other usual symptoms and remedies for headaches. None of them work for me. I've been very good about slouching for the past 2 years. I check multiple times to make sure I'm standing up straight. I've been drinking way more water than I ever used to and it never put a dent in my headaches. I've concluded that mine having something to do with my sleeping. CAUSE HEADACHES: ● Too much sleep - This is when I wake up with a migraine that throbs until I force myself to puke, but it's hard to get a good, solid, true puke in the morning when you haven't eaten anything so the pressure from gagging often leads to more head pain. ● Recommended sleep - For teenagers the usual recommendation is around 9-10 hours and for adults it's 7-8. If I sleep anywhere from 7-10 hours, I get a headache. ● Naps - These don't always cause headaches, but they do more often than not. ● Incredibly exciting dreams or nightmares - Dreams with a lot of action going on and lots of emotions running through my mind = head ache. The one I have right now is from last night's nightmare. ● Any kind of sleep at someone elses house DO NOT CAUSE HEADACHES: ● No sleep - If I pull an all nighter and then don't go to sleep the next morning either, I do not get a head ache. I actually feel really good! Sometimes I will stay up all night the day before going out with friends because I often feel better through out the event. ● Very little sleep - During school, if I had gone to bed around 4AM and didn't get much sleep, I would not get a headache. I was tired, yes, but also pain-free. ● Lucid dreams - I guess I should get back on track and start having more, haha. HEADACHE DESCRIPTION: ● Always the left side of my brain (I feel as thought his may be important) ● Frontal lobe always, sometimes couple with pain in the back of my head ● Throbbing, pulsating ● Often feel dizzy ● I get waves of heat over my body that feel like they're coming from inside ● Vision is worse ● Restless and agitated ● Sometimes the migraines hurt so badly that I sit in my room and cry for an hour (crying is not something that comes easily to me) Medication such as advil and tylenol do not work. Sometimes watermelon eases the pain slightly but this is a placebo affect because of my love for watermelon, I feel as though it helps me with everything. <3 Basically, the less sleep I get the better. Don't just tell me, "Okay, then sleep less!" because I want to know why this is happening and if it's something serious. My theory as to why lucid dreaming doesn't give me headaches is that the brain waves at the time are very similar to being awake, which only adds to the ultimate theory that sleep = headaches for me. I'll see a sleep specialist if we've got the money.

[Jeff777]

I'm sorry to hear that Moosey. I wish I knew what to say...really but I don't. >_< I hope something happens in which your headaches stop altogether though.

[Tara]

Awww thanks, Jeff.

[Liz]

I don’t know what your cash or health insurance status is but know that you don’t have to suffer with untreatable migraines if you can pay. Eletriptan, Treximet and Imitrex are miracle drugs. If you are under 18, your health provider might be hesitant but there is always pitiful begging you could use to sway him/her.

[Advantageous Noodle]

Wow...that...sucks... I get headaches from taking afternoon naps. Time helps.

[IrisRavenstar]

Watermelon might not just be a placebo effect. It is a natural diuretic, which means it carries excess fluids out of your body. Asparagus does that too. Diuretic medications are normally prescribed for high blood pressure. Do they test your blood pressure when you go to the doctor? I used to have migraines a long time ago, non-stop, and my description was that it felt as if someone was driving a railroad spike into my temple. They were not fun! They seemed to be hormone related, or related to the medications I was on for a clinical depression. One day, I threw out all my medications, back in 1985, and haven't had a migraine since, but I also went into menopause not long after that, so am not sure which was the cure. Watermelon is healthy. No reason, really, why you can't eat it every day, assuming you can find it. I imagine it might be hard to find in Canada in the winter.

[IrisRavenstar]

You might also google "aromatherapy + migraines" for some ideas of something you can do yourself. Lavender and peppermint were the two essential oils that popped up first in the sites I browsed through. You want to get pure essential oils. You could simply inhale them out of the bottle, or mix them with a carrier oil and massage onto your temples. Lavender would be best for going to sleep, as it is a relaxant. It is the most common herb used as dried flowers in herbal dream pillows. You can also put it in a spray bottle, a few drops of lavender in with distilled water is best. Just use it to mist your pillow and the area around your bed, and even yourself! It smells wonderful. Peppermint is a stimulant, so better, I would think, when you wake up in the morning. It also clears sinuses and is anti-inflammatory, which is why I use it. I think inflammation is probably part of migraines too though.

[Tara]

Oh wow, thank you for all the information! I'll definitely take your advice. Also, I live on the west coast, close to the border (Vancouver) so winter here is pretty mild and rainy. I can basically find watermelon all year round. Even if it's not quite ripe, I'll eat it. URRGH I LOVE WATERMELON SO MUCH. Anyways, thanks again for the tips. I've heard of the lavender solution before but never really read into it.

[not counting]

Could it have to do with Bruxism? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruxism) But given the specific area of your pain this may be wrong or just a small part of your problem. Bruxism may have its origin in psychic and/or physic problems you not award of. I suggest you to go in the library and look after books about headache. Maybe you find something that fits in you case and hopefully a way to get rid of it. Oh, and here for you: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ater_melon.jpg

[Tara]

Nah. My mom has bruxism and even she doesn't have headaches. She's checked to see if I grind my teeth during sleep and I don't.

[not counting]

You do not have to get headaches from Bruxism, but you can. Trust me, I know. Bruxism is different in each case. A good indication would be unnatural worn down teethe. But I don't think it is bruxism after I read around wikipedia a bit. Have a look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headache There are several types of headaches that may fit in you case. It could be for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_headache.

[justme]

I have had migraines since I was a baby (my mom wondered why I would suddenly puke on people...) and I still had them, actually had a horrible on last night. You mentioned that u try to puke even though u haven't aten anything? Sometimes if I go a day without much food (yesterday I had popcorn, a cookie, and half a sandwhich) I get a bad migraine. It was so bad I puked, even though I don't know what the hell I puked but there was a lot of it. Anyway.. have you ever had a cat scan? My mom did all sorts of things to me cause of my head aches, but I figured it was heredity. My dad use to have him but he grew out of them and now rarely has a headache and almost never has a really bad pukey one. I take ibuprofen if I get a pretty bad migraine, even though I try not use it much. Theres also another sample pill the doctor gave me to try out, I took it once and it got me high, I felt like a bumble bee. It was fun. ^__^ I only taken it once though, but it made my headache disappear. Bumble bees don't get headaches. Also eat at the very least 2 meals a day (and popcorn for one meal and a half a sandwhich and a cookie for the other doesn't count), even though try for 3. But yea I feel your pain, sometimes I feel like killing myself cause the pain is just UGHH. I haven't killed myself yet though in case your wondering. XD

[Tara]

I've read about cluster headaches. They're awfully fast headaches, usually only lasting a few minutes, and the pain can be as bad as amputation or child birth without pain killers. Some people commit suicide because they're so bad. They also usually have a recognizable cycle, like they may occur most during a certain month each year. I certainly don't have those. But I have read through all the descriptions of all the head aches I could find. That's why I'm so confused, mine don't match the descriptions. Anyways, justme, I don't think we have the money for a cat scan but it has crossed my mind before. And medication does not clear up my headaches unfortunately.

[Odd_Nonposter]

I have been having headaches daily for almost 7 years. HEADACHE DESCRIPTION: ● Always the left side of my brain (I feel as thought his may be important) ● Frontal lobe always, sometimes couple with pain in the back of my head ● Throbbing, pulsating ● Often feel dizzy ● I get waves of heat over my body that feel like they're coming from inside [Flushing] ● Vision is worse... ● Restless and agitated ● Sometimes the migraines hurt so badly that I sit in my room and cry for an hour (crying is not something that comes easily to me) ●[Vomiting sometimes makes it better] Medication such as advil and tylenol do not work. Sometimes watermelon eases the pain slightly but this is a placebo affect because of my love for watermelon, I feel as though it helps me with everything. <3 Do you get any sort of visual disturbances leading into a headache? And what exactly is "vision is worse?" Light sensitivity? Blurriness? Sounds like a classic migraine without aura to me, with some elements of a tension headache. I've had migraine with aura ever since a mild concussion in 3rd grade. Every year since, I've had to be taken out of school in the middle of the day at least once. They can be terrible, and the only way for me to get out of one is to sleep it off. How do you manage caffeine? Have you noticed that a lack of it precedes a migraine? Can a properly timed caffeinated drink stave it off, even just a little? If I catch one early enough, a double Excedrin (asprin+tylenol+caffeine) can shorten it, but won't stop it. And I know that this is not a cluster headache. A cluster headache is characterized by a sharp, stabbing pain directly behind the eyeball thought to be caused by a pinched nerve near a large blood vessel. They don't call it "the suicide headache" for nothing.

[Tara]

Mostly blurriness but if it's a really bad headache, closer to a migraine, I've got the usual hypersensitivity symptom to light and sound. The only caffeine I drink is from coke, usually. I might make the odd coffee every few weeks, but that's it. I don't notice any difference between when I drink it or don't drink it, and since I wake up with the headache, I can't try and drink it beforehand.

[Zhaylin]

A guy at my Kingdom Hall (church) gets horrendous headaches. I don't know the specifics but desperation drove his mom to start isolating things from his diet. Turns out, he's extremely sensative to certain additives, preservatives, as well as certain fragrants. Could you have ... ugh, what's it called... 'extreme chemical sensitivity' (or something similar) What about your room? Is it clean, lol? Do you sleep with the window open or pets in bed with you? (Those are some of my triggers.) Is a certain time of year or "month" worse for you? I always feel much worse when my period is getting close.

[IrisRavenstar]

Mostly blurriness but if it's a really bad headache, closer to a migraine, I've got the usual hypersensitivity symptom to light and sound. The only caffeine I drink is from coke, usually. I might make the odd coffee every few weeks, but that's it. I don't notice any difference between when I drink it or don't drink it, and since I wake up with the headache, I can't try and drink it beforehand. The problem with caffeine is that it also TRIGGERS migraines, then when you have one coming on, it can also stop it. But it's best not to use anything with a lot of caffeine at all if you get them, because it will trigger it. The doses used to stop it are much higher, and there's a pill I used to take that was mostly caffeine. I can't remember what it was called... that was over twenty years ago! Coke has a lot of caffeine, comparable to coffee. If you can avoid it, it's better to. There are also food triggers for migraines. Did your doctor explain those? Hopefully, red wine isn't a problem for you at your age, but it can be for some people. Aged cheeses are a problem. Ham and other preserved meats are a problem. Chocolate, argh!, can be a trigger. That's all I remember. I still get these weird rainbow auras, like seeing a little chevron-shaped rainbow off to one side that expands outward until it disappears, if I eat those foods too much, but it never goes into a migraine anymore. The rainbows are pretty when I don't get a headache after them! they give me a little blind spot inside the chevron though, so I don't drive if I have them. They only last twenty minutes, and then I stop eating cheese or chocolate or ham for awhile, and they don't come back for ages. If I only eat those occasionally, there's no problem. But try eliminating those foods and the Coke, and see if that helps. As I recall, all these triggers tend to constrict blood vessels because of various chemicals in them. Then your body reacts by opening up the blood vessels, but if it goes overboard, the blood pounding through the veins is what causes the headache. Then if you take a pill with caffeine, theoretically, it constricts them back down to normal and stops the headache, but it doesn't always work. Prevention is a better route, imo, than drugs. I also wondered if your room is hot and dry? I get sinus headaches in the winter if I don't use a humidifier, a hot water type, not cool mist. I use one in the dining room as it's in the middle of the house, and that keeps me from getting winter headaches and nosebleeds. I have one made by Holmes, and it comes with a neat little humidity level reader so you can actually see easily when the humidity is too high or low. I hope you feel better soon! You need your sleep, and it must be awful to keep waking with such bad headaches.

[Tara]

I'm going to let everyone know right now, since you're all mentioning it, we do not have a family doctor. Anyways, Iris, I do eat a lot of ham and cheese and drink a lot of coke. I'll try eliminating those from my diet and see if that helps. My room is pretty cool most of the time. I keep the window open and it's been raining (it was raining all night and I didn't wake up with a very noticeable headache).

[IrisRavenstar]

I'm going to let everyone know right now, since you're all mentioning it, we do not have a family doctor. Anyways, Iris, I do eat a lot of ham and cheese and drink a lot of coke. I'll try eliminating those from my diet and see if that helps. My room is pretty cool most of the time. I keep the window open and it's been raining (it was raining all night and I didn't wake up with a very noticeable headache). Good plan! American style cheese slices are okay, as they aren't aged. And you could have sliced chicken or turkey for your sandwiches... they shouldn't have the chemicals in them. Good luck with it. I don't have a family doctor either, but it's by choice now... it used to be because my ex was in the Navy and we went to the base doctors. I work with my dreams and nutritional and herbal healing, so I study a lot about health issues for myself. It's really good to learn a lot you can do for yourself, I think. When I was seeing doctors, it always seemed as if things got worse instead of better, especially from the drugs. So, I don't take them. I imagine I could encounter situations where there's no choice, but as long as I have a choice, I'd rather not! My dreams have been giving me all the guidance I need for some years now. I wouldn't expect a humidity problem at this time of year, really, but it's very possible in the winter when the house is being heated. I've got my air conditioning on tonight, as it's terribly muggy and oppressive outside, too humid! I can't complain though, as we just had several days of sunny crisp air, which were lovely! Well, I'm off to sleep now... see you all tomorrow!

[TheConqueror89]

What is your sleeping position? Do you sleep turned to the side that you usually get the headaches (the left side)? Do you think that while sleeping you could, by moving in bed, get your face turned to that side? Have you ever tried sleeping in another position? I was thinking of trigeminal neuralgia, also called "the suicide disease" or "Tic doloureux" because: you reffered to a kind of persistent pain, that managed to make you cry for an hour (and you even said you werent easily made to cry), it is unilateral and it could be triggered by direct contact with the skin of your face (in case you sleep turned to that side of the face or moved while sleeping to that side). Can't fill the vision disturbances in here. Although i know from classes i had that the ophtalmic branch from the 5th cranial nerve delivers some parasympathetic innervation to the cilliary muscle of the eye which is responsible for accomodation. Which makes me ask you if the vision disturbances you experience are from the long range vision or while reading close by text. Didn't find any references to visual disturbance on Trigeminal Neuralgia so i don't think this info has anything to do with it. Give some feedback when you know anything more. I'll be on holidays for another week. So, i don't know if ill see your reply for a while. Hope this helps you, not sure if it fits the problem you have but i tried to help you the best i could. Info here http://www.neurologychannel.com/trig...ia/index.shtml