Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Tension Headache Or Migraine

Question:
My headaches always come in the afternoon or early evening. If it a weekend, about 3 hours before the headache I feel like I need to lay down and take a nap. It is like I have no energy to continue. I can no longer read or even watch tv. However when I lay down, I cannot sleep and end up just laying there for an hour. I always wondered if I get the headache because I have taken the nap? Or perhaps the extreme tired feeling means I will get the headache no matter what I do? The headache starts 3 hours later as a mild pain in my temple and continues to build. Once it starts no amount of aspirin or Excedrin or caffine helps to end the headache. The pain intensifies and then concentrates to the left side behind my left eye. About 2 hours into the headache I get extreme nausea. The headache lasts 12 to 14 hours. Sleep or excedrine do not lessen the pain. I get these 3 or 4 times a month. Somehow I feel I don't get a restful sleep during the 2 or 3 days prior to the headache and I am wondering if this unrestful sleep or lack of deep sleep is causing the headaches. I get up 5 days a week at 5:30, so I have regular sleep hours; except on weekends where I sleep til 7:30 Are there a ways to get a more restful sleep? I have felt that this was a tension headache. However tension headachese usually happen upon awakening from sleep. Mine is always later in the day. Could be a stress headache? Nausea is usually associated with a migraine, not a tension headache. Could the tension headache be causing a migraine?? I just purchased a book on progressive relaxation and will try to lessen the headaches this. Has anyone here had success with progressive relaxation? Will this work with migraines or only tension headaches? I guess I really need to figure out if I have a tension headache or a migraine? It seems to me from reading the posts here that doctors throw a ton of different medications at headaches; some may work and others will not. It is definitely not and exact science. Has anyone had any success with magnesium oxide or chelated magnesium to alleviate headaches? Any and all responses will be greatly appresiated. This seems like a great support group and I definitely need help solving this

Answer:
I think it`s tension headache. I´ve been in a similar situation, but it almost happened every day, and the Aspirin or the Triptans did not last very long. I´ve taken tricyclic antidepressiva (Amitriptylin, trade name = Saroten in Germany), and the headaches have disappeared some days ago. The Amitriptylin has influence on the Serotonin level which is necessary for our pain filter in the brain. If the Serotonin level is too low you`ll get the tension headache which later can trigger the migraine headaches. Doing progressive relaxation exercises is a good idea, I´m doing this kind of relaxation exercises every day. The short form will only take a couple of minutes. I´ve done temperature biofeedback exercises for some time too, but this will take more time than the progressive relaxation exercises.