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690039 tn?1277472422

Crippling headache

I had the worst headache (by at least 4 times over anything else I've ever felt) last night... It started about 4:30 in the afternoon and gradually built to a pretty bad migraine, one of my worst... I tried everything there is to try... hot, cold, tylenol, protein, carb, caffeine, copious amounts of water (sometimes I get dehydrated), darvocet... then i researched and thought maybe it was lack of iron... i didn't know there was so much that could interefere with it's absorption (can't take it with milk, or with caffeine, can't take it with antacids, etc)...

So I took an iron capsule... after a little less than an hour, it started to feel some better.  So at 2am I made it to bed and it finally didn't hurt to lie down.  

At 4am, I woke up to pain like I've never known.  It was worse than labor.  It was worse than the car accident.  It was worse than anything I've ever felt... And for the first time in my life i was scared I was going to die.  

This goes beyond "pregnancy migraine"... something has to be wrong... I don't know what.  But something just isn't right... I kept having, on top of the general excruciating pain, a funny twitching pain on the lower portion of the back of my head, just to the left of center, and it sort of would shoot upward... it was really scary.  

Does any of this trigger any ideas or memories or thoughts for any of you?  Please tell me if it does---even if you think it can't be it or is hair-brained... I've got to find answers.  I can't just risk this being a bloodclot or something, I have a 7 year old boy, he needs me---my partner needs me.  

If you can think of anything, please share it.  It has subsided into a low throb right now, but I know it's coming back, since it's not all gone yet.

- Jess
13 Responses
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690039 tn?1277472422
Rose, how's your head?
Helpful - 0
568659 tn?1256139982
So I took the tylenol w/ codene and it helped (dulled the pain) for about an hour and now the headache is back. I am going to take one every four hours and hopefully the headache will finally break. The codene is making me so sleepy, I need to get on something different when my OB gets back, this is no good.
Helpful - 0
568659 tn?1256139982
Well my OB is out of town but the doc filling in for him sent a script over for tylenol with codene, he said just to take it to break the headache and try not to take it too much. If that doesn't help I have to wait until my OB gets back to figure something else out. I just took the first one so hopefully it will kick in soon. God please let it kick in soon!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I had horrible headaches with my first pregnancy from my 20th week. They were mostly on the back right side and were completely debilitating. Soon after I developed lower back pain beyond anything I have ever experienced. I thought it was hormonal or a kidney infection, but at 30 weeks I went to the hospital and they found out I had HELLP syndrome. A sever form of preeclampsia. I do not think you have HELLP as you did not mention any back pain or gastrointestinal pain, but I let my headaches be chalked up to hormones and should have spoken up.
My only thought is that if they persist I would make sure they test you for EVERYTHING. My OB was an idiot and blew me off and it resulted in mismanaged care, and a way too early deilvery.
It very well could behormonal, but the pain you describe seems unbearable, as was mine. I felt there was something off with me too and finally took action. Do you have loss of appetite or just generally feel fluish??
If you would liek more information, let me know....
Helpful - 0
568659 tn?1256139982
I would LOVE to try acupuncture so I don't have to put chemicals into my body and the baby's body but I know there is no way my insurance would cover that and I am assuming it is pretty pricey. I have been trying warm and cold compresses, teas, drinking lots of water and other things but nothing seems to help, I feel like I have no other choice but to take meds, I need to be able to work and take care of Noah, as most of you know by now I am a waitress so I NEED to be alert and to be in a chipper mood.
Helpful - 0
467707 tn?1270928640
I have a friend who had similar symptoms, she was pregnant with twins and in constant excrutiating headache pain... she wanted to try anything "natural" so she did accupuncture whiche helped and combined that to an ostheopathic doctor, the pain disapeared COMPLETELY. She swears by it for any type of ailment and says it really works...
Helpful - 0
568659 tn?1256139982
How have your headaches been jess?
I have been getting them really bad as well, I feel like I cant even be a good mommy to Noah. I wake up with them and they continue all day long and I go to bed with them, I can barely function, they even wake me up at night. I just left a message for my OB asking for something stronger than tylenol, even though I really didn't want to. I really hope he calls back today and gets me script sent to the pharmacy.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
i left u a note. :)
Helpful - 0
690039 tn?1277472422
Forgot to ask also:  How did you contract meningitis??  

And in general, how long did it take you to seek help for the headache?  Did they listen to you from the start or blow you off?

Thanks, hun

I think it's coming back... so if i disappear for a while, that's why
Helpful - 0
690039 tn?1277472422
my doctor gave me darvocet already, now he's calling me in a scrip for lortab.  i told them i would rather undergo some tests first, they said try the lortab first, then if it doesn't work we can talk about testing... but if it's cluster headaches (i have suspected for years that i may have them), then simple oxygen therapy will take care of it.  ugh.  and at the same time, if i have a blood clot or an aneurysm, then all i'm doing by not getting an MRI is giving myself less time until d-day (if there is one)... ugh.  i'd much rather have tests right now to rule out the really critical stuff and find answers so that i'm not exposing my baby to unnecessary drugs.

darkest, it does very much hurt more when i move... significantly.  even walking "faster" hurts... i had to slow down and walk really slowly across my office just now because at a normal pace i almost hit the floor.  

the best way to describe it is not "gone".  its definitely not.  i tried to explain it to my partner just now.  i still feel it, almost like hands on my head.  they just don't have their claws buried in my eye sockets, but the pressure is still there... the back of my head and my neck actually physically hurt right now.  and there feels like pressure, almost as though someone is pressing down and slightly squeezing my skull.  

what i am feeling right this moment is what most people would describe as a bad headache.  But it is so much better than what i was experiencing a few hours ago, that it is strangely comforting... but there is that lingering, almost sinister feeling... when it feels like this, i know it is going to be coming back, it is not over yet.  it's like it's resting, staying back and just sort of idling on the back of my head...

when it's completely over (for however long), there is a complete relief, total absence of pressure or pain.  it's a very different feeling.  

so no, it's not gone, but it is not to where i am speechless with crippling pain.  I can walk, and i can speak some (though that makes it hurt more).  
Helpful - 0
623156 tn?1322865851
It could be from the over abundance of hormones or a beginning sinus infection. Tylenol extra strength is about all you can take until your dr says other wise. I hope you feel beeter soon.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
When u move does it hurt more? Does light hurt?  All things I experienced right before i got pregnant, i had meningitis. If you no longer have a headache then i wouldnt say its not meningitis. With meningitis i had a headache/migraine for 4 days straight before they figured out what was wrong.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have heard of women being prescribed vicoden during pregnancy because the migrains can get so bad..... i have lots of headache but usually some caffeine works for me. Hope you feel better
Helpful - 0
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