headaches

[marjoryb]

 
I'm still new at this forum and somehow typed this message and posted it as a reply to my previous message???
Oh, well
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Capt. Deb -Thanks for your responses to my two month post op message and thanks to everyone else who posts.   It's reassuring to know - even though each of us is different -  that what I'm experiencing falls within the norm.   You mentioned that you went to a headache specialist - what type of doctor is a headache specialist?  Were your headaches sinus related?  When you take your medication , how quickly does it kick in after onset of your headache?  I feel like my head will explode during that time.   My husband and I took my daughter to Boston College and I spent the first day after flying up there lying around moaning in such pain that I was useless .  I found little relief with any medication , even Oxycotin -- I'm not sure if the flying messed me up or the anxiety of sending off my last child!   I'm sure I made a great impression when I met her roommates and their parents - black eye patch and all.

I have one more question - how long does it take before your head stops feeling like it's a block of wood?  The feeling in my head has slowly returned and now it feels kind of tingly - like a limb that has fallen asleep and is returning to normal.  I know they took a drill and opened up my skull and that will take a little while to mend, but how long is that? 

[Captain Deb]

The relief I get from injectable Imitrex is almost immediate--in about 5 minutes the pain is diminished considerably and in 15 I'm usually 75% pain-free. It truely is my wonder drug. A headache specialist is usually a neurologist and mine works at a headache specialty clinic, so they have vast experince treating all kinds of headaches. He says mine are "cluster headaches with migranous components" (nausea with some, light and sound sensitivity also) Not sinus related I don't thinks as I have never had sinus problems.  They are distinctly one-sided and throbbing, which is consistant with both cluster headaches and migraines. The thing is if you are only 2 months out of surgery, these headaches could be an indicator of something that needs to be reported to your surgeon.
Capt Deb