Chronic tension headache diagnosis and long term management

[Lost_Girl]

Hi I suffer from chronic pain. I have a bone shard impacting a nerve root at c8 being treated with cortisone. I have pain at c5 and c6 that is manageable without anything. However I have a constant headache and pressure in my ears that I have had for pretty much every waking moment for the last 7 months. As a result I have become depressed and I have insomnia.

After a trip to a neurologist I have been advised to cease sleeping medication and strong pain killers. I am now only on antidepressants.

A visit to my psychologist today has alerted me that depression does not cause headaches.   

Has anyone been treated for chronic pain with ONLY antidepressants and did it work?

I havr a referral now to a psychiatrist to check but it not until May. While I see if I can find something earlier I sm keen to hear if this has worked for anyone.

Thanks,

Carol

[Lost_Girl]

Hey Pet,

Good to know I am not alone haha Dr Doofus and DH sound like a good pair.

Hope you are doing ok today xx

[Guest_5218]

Hi Carol. I read on the Cafe thread that you are feeling pretty low today and nervous about tomorrow's treatment. Is tomorrow's treatment the next batch of injections for your tension headaches? Or am I getting mixed up with that?

I thought I read somewhere yesterday that you were coping with looking after your youngest child at home on your own this week (today would be your second day after yesterday). Are you still okay with that today, without hubby's assistance?

I read your weight loss thread yesterday too, and I'm pleased to see that you are continuing to lose weight even though your liteneasy has been put on hold for the time being. So at least that seems to be progressing pretty well.

Have you been getting any decent sleep lately? Has the shaking subsided again? What time is your appointment tomorrow for your treatment?

Yeah sorry ......... it is a bit of a third degree isnt it! Probably not what you need right now after your fill-in GP's inquisition of Monday. Please dont feel you need to answer all the questions, its really just stuff running through my own head as much as anything. Post an update when you are feeling a little better again.

Just wanted you to know that I am thinking of you, sending you my love, and wishing (or willing) you well.

Hugs to you.

Sherie xx

[Lost_Girl]

Hi Sherie,

My Manager from work wrote to me today to say nice things about missing me and hoping I was getting better. As I wrote back explaining how things are and the neurologist's predictions etc it just made me feel so disheartened. Not just for how I feel but for the impact to work and my team mates. I just miss "me".

Yes tomorrow is the 31 injections. I am so nervous I shake when I think about it. It's 11am tomorrow and one of my friends is taking me so hubby doesn't need the day off.

I managed yesterday but the pain is too bad today. I was ok with my youngest but couldn't pick the kids up from school. Hubby had to come home and pick the kids up today. He is trying to work from home this afternoon to make up the time.

I am getting to sleep between 1 and 2. Hubby takes the kids to school in the morning so I have until 8:30 am to sleep on Tue/Wed and later on the other days that my youngest goes to day care. I wake up shaking but it subsides after a few hours.

I am really pleased with my weight loss. I lost another 400grams as I weigh in the morning. My friend's wedding is great motivation. I want to look nice for it. It helps that we are almost out of winter and none of the meds make me feel hungry. Some of my asthma medication in winter includes something that makes you gain weight too.

It is easier to answer questions than to write freely about myself today.

Thanks for caring.

Big hugs xx

[Emmy.]

Lost Girl said: I just miss "me".

Oh Hun I'm so sorry you're feeling like that. You're still you though underneath the pain and depression. You'll get through this. You've got amazing support and a lot of love around you.

I will be thinking of you tomorrow. Here is a crystal for you to take with you tomorrow - it's your birth stone. Hold onto that and challenge all your worries into it. It will take them away from you and replace those thoughts with positivity!

Well done with your weightloss you're doing great. You'll look amazing at the wedding.

Big hugs to you Carol. Hope you can get a good nights sleep before tomorrow. With love, Emmy xx

[Lost_Girl]

Dear Emmy,

You are a treasure. You are right of course but I do miss my corporate world of complex analysis and problem solving. I miss being able to read and paint too. It's all good, I have never been a patient person haha.

I love the beautiful garnet Emmy, I shall take it with me. I have placed it in my special place where I intend to go tomorrow during the procedure. My psych taught me some self hypnosis using my space. I will see how I go. My neuro talks the whole way through to distract me so it might be hard but I will use it to calm down before I go in.

You're a wonderful support Emmy.

Carol xx

[blondguy]

Hey Carol....I read your post above (and well said too) so I will keep things simple...

Do you have Netflix?....and if you do..why?

Mr Woof!

[Lost_Girl]

Hi Paul,

Yes I do have netflix. We made the decision to get it when we realised I was unable to work or do much of anything.

I have never been into sports so free to air tv is quite limited at times, especially during the day. At first I was buying dvds but that is expensive. Netflix costs us $11 per month. We can use it on 3 devices if we want.

It gives access to a huge catalogue of tv shows and movies and they regularly add new content. There are other providers that do similar things like Stan and Presto. We chose Netflix as I got 3 months free with my new Optus phone. Most of the providers have a free 1 month trial but you have to remember to opt out if you don't want to continue.

Everything on there is watch on demand so you just pick whatever you want whenever you want. It will remember if you stop something half way and you can start from there again. Something to be aware of is that it uses your internet data so you need to have enough data to cover the usage so that can be an additional cost if you don't have a large data value/unlimited data.

It has been a life saver for me, providing distraction to help me with the pain. If I ever run out of things to watch I will swap to Stan. They just added all the Star Trek series though so it will be a while 😉

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Carol

[blondguy]

Thanks Carol.....I just had the girl at Foxtel reduce my monthly bill to $85-00/month for Platinum. I have no use for the super fast NBN connection (which I would need for Netflix) which saves me heaps.....am I on a good deal?

(I use 4Gigs/month of data from my vodafone mobile to run this PC)

Just picking your brain as I know that when I threatened Foxtel (Satellite...not cable) with cancelling my 25 year history they threw that $85-00/month deal at me. Pixie has dumped me as a friend after 15 years.

Thanks Carol xx

[Lost_Girl]

Hi Paul,

We run ours on ADSL2 as we don't have the NBN and it works fine. I will get hubby to check how much data it uses and hoe much we pay for it and get back to you.

Oh my gosh Paul, that's a huge change. Did she explain why? How are you feeling? Have you had time to process that? Hugs xx

[blondguy]

Thanks Carol for understanding and the privacy too 🙂 Pixie has been here twice this year for support so I pressed the wrong buttons. I think that I was counting on her way too much as per where she lives and she pulled the plug but I am okay. I have a massive non judgemental woofer here 🙂 She is 100% focused on her mum and thats fine but she sees her relatives close to here and does a U-turn and goes back to central vic without popping in here anymore.....Doh!

Bless your kind heart Carol.