# Sudden-onset Headache **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 7, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067 "2016-08-07T19:01:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/1 "2016-08-07T19:01:16Z")
Please read in full before commenting. you are not my doctor, etc. I am a nurse and this is somewhat baffling to me. My partner is male, 47, in okay health. He is a pack a day smoker, and about 30 lbs overweight (belly area). He does has sleep apnea. No high blood pressure or known cardiac issues. For the last 3 days he has experienced a sudden onset extreme pain to a localized spot from back of occiput to C2 vertebrae. It occurs only when he is in the shower. Just now he walked into the steamy bathroom and suddenly had the same reaction. Today’s episodes had him in tears, but it resolves in 1-2 minutes once out of the bathroom. Googling gives a lot of information but very little in relation to this. I suggest getting checked at the Urgent Care clinic, because new onset accute pain is worth checking into. (Canada: no out of pocket cost) He doesn’t like hospitals or doctors or sitting around to be told “shrug”. He is flying Vancouver to Nashville on business later this week, I really am concerned. What do Dopers think? ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/2 "2016-08-07T23:53:24Z")
ED Nurse here. No answer to specific cause but if you go in the doc is going to want to do a CT. Make sure the urgent care has that capability. Good luck and if you get an answer let us know. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/3 "2016-08-08T00:16:07Z")
Make him go to a doctor! (That’s what I would do!) ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/4 "2016-08-08T01:17:49Z")
Doctor. He needs an MRI. I suspect bad stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/5 "2016-08-08T01:22:01Z")
What Elbows said is what I would do. However my Partner Ricky Nelson Muntz is swamped with work and refuses to go in unless I can prove he’s at risk of heart attack or stroke. Something that says why it only happens with warm heat /steamy air is a sign it is serious. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/6 "2016-08-08T01:30:41Z")
Well, put it to him this way: Does he want to deal with it in Nashville or at home? ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/7 "2016-08-08T01:33:02Z")
Could be Occipital Neuralgia. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/8 "2016-08-08T01:35:17Z")
Does he have travellers health insurance to cover the US trip? Even if you can’t get him to a clinic, make sure he has that before he goes. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/9 "2016-08-08T01:36:18Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > What Elbows said is what I would do. However my Partner Ricky Nelson Muntz is swamped with work and refuses to go in unless I can prove he’s at risk of heart attack or stroke. Something that says why it only happens with warm heat /steamy air is a sign it is serious. When I was in high school we watched a video in anatomy and physiology that showed us what happens in the brain when an aneurysm bursts. The man with the burst aneurysm had just left a sweat lodge and jumped into a lake. We did get the impression that the steam had been bad for an untreated aneurysm, as well as the temperature change. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/10 "2016-08-08T01:36:37Z")
Since you’re a nurse, any chance you could talk to a doc informally, not for purposes of diagnosis, but to see if the doc recommends coming in? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/11 "2016-08-08T01:38:05Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > What Elbows said is what I would do. However my Partner Ricky Nelson Muntz is swamped with work and refuses to go in unless I can prove he’s at risk of heart attack or stroke. Something that says why it only happens with warm heat /steamy air is a sign it is serious. Remember that this is my humble opinion and nothing else - steamy warm heat can cause a rise in BP and a rise in BP can bring on early symptoms of a stroke or heart issues affecting blood circulation to the brain. Its why people sometimes stroke out in saunas and why some manufacturers put warnings on hot-tubs. Get his ass to someplace local with an MRI or at least a CT with and without contrast. He does NOT want to deal with this on the road if it does turn bad. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/12 "2016-08-08T01:38:18Z")
The urgent care is slightly farther but less busy. (Fifteen minutes instead of five.) If it becomes acute distress we are closer to Vancouver General. He went out with the guys for two hours this evening. I am using every bit of restrain I have not to pull him by the ear and drag him to VGH. What I really need is a cite that says this symptom means you likely have [xyzdisease] and need to go to the hospital immediately or [dire long term consequence could occur. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/13 "2016-08-08T02:40:06Z")
If him weeping from pain is not ‘acute distress’, I’m not sure what is? I once went to a hospital with a sudden onset severe headache. They repeatedly told me I’d done the right thing to come in. I did not wait long, was triaged right in. (Within a week I was on the cardiac ward (hypertension urgency) and narrowly escaped life changing consequences!) If he’s very busy, which implies a lot of stress…mores the reason to get him seen by a doctor. My husband is one hard headed, stubborn assed man, let me tell you. But if it was him, he WOULD be seeing a doctor, before another day passed. ---
**Author:** ![aaebig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@aaebig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaebig)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/14 "2016-08-08T17:28:35Z")
A few years ago my husband had pretty much those same symptoms (sudden, severe headache right after walking out of the bathroom after a shower.) His headache did not resolve after a few minutes and we went to the hospital where it turned out he’d had a hemorrhagic stroke. These are not symptoms you want to treat lightly - my husband, luckily, turned out fine in the end (though he spent almost a month in the hospital) but this is not always the case. The mortality rates for hemorrhagic strokes are frighteningly high (and not something you should google while sitting in an ER waiting room - trust me on this.) I would strongly urge you to make your husband go to an urgent care center or ER. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/15 "2016-08-08T18:00:22Z")
He went. He’s annoyed with me for “wasted time” . X rays and a CT have showed nothing “of note”. Chain smoked three cigarettes after leaving hospital. Follow up next week after he returns from Nashville. I’m still horribly disturbed by this, but he won’t listen to me. Dammit. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/16 "2016-08-08T18:23:51Z")
It’s not “wasted time.” My dad once delayed going to his cardiologist for some pain that ended up being non-significant. She (the cardiologist) scolded him severely for the delay. “I might have needed that time to save your life!” Any reputable doctor or hospital would much rather someone came in for something that turned out not to be dangerous than to delay and end up dead. When there’s even the chance of stroke or aneurysm, time lost is brain or life lost. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/17 "2016-08-08T18:34:18Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > He went. He’s annoyed with me for “wasted time” . X rays and a CT have showed nothing “of note”. Chain smoked three cigarettes after leaving hospital. Follow up next week after he returns from Nashville. I’m still horribly disturbed by this, but he won’t listen to me. > > Dammit. Tell that lucky s-o-b that if he was in America that would have been a couple thousand wasted DOLLARS too so he needs to check himself, going around avoiding the doctor after he has _pain so bad it brings him to tears_ just because he has no “time.” Sheesh! Glad it was nothing but I’m with you, I’d still be very nervous! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/18 "2016-08-08T19:23:03Z")
Glad to hear it, but still make sure he has insurance for the trip to the States! ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/19 "2016-08-09T01:17:05Z")
Glad it worked out but I still don’t like unknown pains that intense. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067/20 "2016-08-09T02:55:17Z")
I still think he needs an MRI. It shows a lot more than a CT scan. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-onset-headache/762067.md?page=2)