FTR, I have seen my doctor about this. Well, really, I just mentioned it to her at my last physical (2 weeks ago). She said they might be migraines and gave me a prescription to imitrex.
I have 2 kinds of headaches–the dull, all-encompassing sinus headache, and more recently, this weird thing. It starts as a painful snapping feeling on the left side of my head, starting at the scalp line and traveling back several inches. It is very sudden, severe, and then disappears. When it happens, I do a brief self assessment…lessee, I can still think, see, hear, taste, etc. clearly, pain has faded…back to work. However, a more vague sensation of pain stayed with me through the afternoon, and for lack of a better description, I didn’t feel “right.” I had a hard time driving home due to a difficultly in focusing and reacting (I went through a changing light and didn’t notice 'til I was through it, etc.). Got home, and my scalp was so tender I iced it for an hour or so while lying on the sofa. All I wanted to do was sleep, and that’s pretty much what I did–lay around, rub my head, sleep.
This morning the headache pain is gone, but my scalp over the headache region feels like it’s been hit pretty hard. It is extremely tender to the touch.
What on Earth is this?? Do I go back to the doc, or is this some weird new variety of migraine I’ve not heard of before?
Sounds like a migraine to me except for the skin sensitivity that followed. I had migraines for years. Your description of not feeling “right” is indeed pretty vague, but severe migraines are often accompanied by nausea, inability to concentrate, fatigue, impaired vision. I also get retinal migraines, which cause a portion of the visual field to black out or look like shimmering lights (I think they are sometimes called auras, too).
You may also have had some kind of pulled muscle or tendon or something in your neck, or maybe a pinched nerve or something.
Since this just happened and it was after you saw your doctor, I would mention this to your doctor ASAP. Reaction to the medication is a possibility, too, though IANAD and I know nothing about Imitrex.
It could be a cluster headache. It could be a seizure. Is it possible you hit your head, with loss of consciousness?(you could have retrograde amnesia. Meaning you might not remember the injury) It could be an aneurysm. These are just wild guesses.
Migraines usually have associated symptoms like sensitivty to light and nausea. Cluster headaches are a migraine variant.
By all means see your doctor again. She can decide if you need any diagnostic tests like a CAT scan or MRI.
It’s still lingering with me today, so I went ahead and called my doc to make an appointment. It’s the same person who saw me for my physical the other week, so that’s a good thing.
I am mildly queasy, and very fatigued (despite sleeping most of the afternoon!). My head is so tender it feels like someone cut me with a razor blade. This so sucks.
BTW–I didn’t take the imitrex yesterday. I didn’t have it with me, and you’re supposed to take it when you feel a migraine “coming on.” I was in the middle of teaching a class at that time, plus it wasn’t “coming on,” it completely sideswiped me. I’m thinking about taking some now, but it can cause dizziness and fatigue–hard to handle that when you’re teaching!
I get migraines, and I get that odd scalp tenderness you mention. It feels like your hair hurts, or if anyone so much as touches your head, it’ll explode.
With a migraine you have extreme fatigue (even if you got enough sleep the night before) and queasiness.
It’s best to go back to the doc, though. I’ve had two CAT scans. One I was in so much pain, and was experiencing a blind spot (couldn’t see out of my right eye at all) and couldn’t speak, and my husband thought I was having a stroke and took me to the ER. Very scary.
I take Imitrex, too, and carry it with me all the time. It really helps me if I get it in time. It can make me feel funny for a few minutes… a little shaky and tired and nauseated for maybe 10-15 minutes as it first starts working, but then as the migraine goes away and the meds are absorbed (I use the injectable form), I feel better. I drink a glass of water as I start to feel better and that seems to help.