HEADACHES

[Leo]

Hi Everyone,

I have wanted to ask this for some time but didn't want to appear silly.

Did anyone else have lots of headaches prior to their SAH? When I mean before the SAH I mean months and months and possibly years.

I'm asking because I did. I had so many headaches for about three years before the SAH that I had tablets in every handbag, my desk at work at my flat and my parents house. I never went to the doctor as I just thought they were stress related due to work and family stuff (my Dad has cancer and my Mum had a stroke 5 years ago).

I just got used to taking painkillers nearly everyday for headaches (they are much worse now when they do come).

After the SAH, all neuro medics bar one told me that headaches have nothing to do with an SAH. But one neuro registrar said that they were warning headaches and I should have seen a doctor.

I'd just like to know out of curiosity, how many people on the forum also suffered from frequent headaches in the months or years leading up to their SAH.

Have a good evening everyone,

Leo xx

[tennissmithy]

Hi Leo,

So keep meaning to text you! I've been meaning to do it all week. Hope you are ok my lovely. Talking of headaches i've been in bed with one all weekend!

Anyway back to your question, I suffered form migraines as a kid but then they eased off. Simon had told me though (which I don't really remember) that I had been suffering from headaches and yellow spots in front of my eyes for a few months. I must admit though that I just thought it was working with 30 5-6 year olds! All I kept doing was taking trusty painkillers. Simon even reminded me that a couple of times before I had had to pull over in the car for my vision to clear!

Anyway i'm off to get some dinner and hope my headache clears....back to the rubbish grindstone tomorrow!!! Don't feel like i've had a weekend at all- will text you later!

Love and hugs

Laura

xx

[Leo]

Crikey! Yellow spots sounds scary. No wonder you had to pull over in the car. I wonder if there is a link between migraines or tension headaches to SAH's then?

I have had a headache all weekend too. It began to ease up about an hour ago - hence why I am online.

I was given tablets for migraines by a pain doctor at the rehab centre but the leaflet states very clearly that people who have ever had an SAH should not take them. I am seeing hi again to tomorrow and will ask him whether he was trying to bump me off to save the PCT some money!

Speak to you soon,

Leo xx

[Karen]

Hi Leo,

My migraines started at about 14 (mainly from looking at the whiteboard at school) .... no aura at that point ..... but used to be physically sick and had to lie flat on the floor .... if I moved, then I would vomit..... I also could barely lift my head off the ground. When I was 15, I had about a fortnight, where every time I stood up ..... I would pass out ..... no explanation of it, but was told that it was "my age"....

I also had a very scary experience of waking up one morning and couldn't lift my head off the pillow, as the muscles in my neck wouldn't work .... the Doc was called out, but again, I wasn't offered any explanation and it passed....

When I hit 17 or 18, then I also experienced another spell of dizziness, passing out and generally not feeling "all there".....this was the first of many.....

After I had my 2nd child at 28, I started to experience migraine with aura ..... this period was very scary and when I had my first aura, I was driving with a baby and a toddler in the car..... I had to stop the car and waited for it to pass ......I didn't know what, was happening to me...

Do I think that there is a link? well maybe, as I seem to have had head problems from an early age ..... but it's a very interesting question..... xx

[perrycornish]

I suppose I have been sitting on the fence on this one, Ireally don't know, but more and more I feel there may be a connection. I first had migraine (common, no aura)but was very incapacitated, sick etc etc.at about 17 ad this carried on until I was about fifty one. I had a 'helpful' GP who when I was twenty one told me I would get better after the menopause As it happens he was right but at twenty one I did not want to hear that!

I do have headaches since the SAH but not the same as migraine

[Leo]

Hi Karen and Perry,

Your replies are really interesting. Especially as Laura also had migraines for years beforehand.

Like I said, I never went to my doctor as I convinced myself my headaches were just normal (then a friend at work commented about a month before my SAH that he noticed I always had a headache). I used to take over the counter pills like Syndol sometimes on an almost daily basis. But I was never sick or had blurred vision, auras or anything to make me think I needed to see a doctor.

Anyone else out there who had headaches before the SAH? Not necessarilly migraines?

[jess]

Hi there I just had normal run of the mill headaches occasionally I have suffered with them more since SAH unless it is I am noticing them more, however there was one time and looking back I know it was a warning bleed. It was really early evening I phoned my mom in agony she said are you drunk I was slurring really bad I told her no but I am going to bed don't phone I will phone you when I wake up this was about 6.30 pm ish. Well I did phone my mom when I got up but I didn't get up until 10am the next day I felt better so never went to the drs but when I had my bleed and was took to hospital my surgeon said it looked like I had a bleed on the other side previously. Jess.xxx

[michelle C]

Hi Leo

I have been having headaches for must be 3 years at least before SAH everyday first thing in the morning and all day and going to bed with it.

Stupidly i thought up until recently i thought everyone had headaches during the day I used to be begging for tablets from anyone neurophen, paras even the head stuff you smeer on your forehead i must have smelt lovely Friends did say i seemed to be asking for more and more tablest. I just sort of got used to them really two weeks before my SAH i had a warning bleed which i remember where and when it was, it was such an intense pain in my head which lasted about 20 seconds and thought nothing of it and carried on as usual.

I was told and asked if i was ok the day before my SAH because i was looking very pale.

Hope this helps

Love luck and laughter

Michellexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[kim0811]

Hi

I used to have very severe headaches from my teens into adulthood. I don't think they were migraines as the symtoms appeared different to those I knew who did suffer migraines. Mine were just an intense pounding in the head, usually soothed by having a damp cloth over my head. The last one I had was mid-September 2004. It's ingrained in my mid because my SAH was 1 October 2004. Since then (touchwood), I've not had one single severe headache. In fact, I rarely get headaches now (touchwood again). However, I've also not had a period since my SAH so the headaches may have been linked to them?

My Dad also used to suffer with really bad headaches, maybe migraines and he had a SAH in 1998. As Dad didn't make it through his SAH, I'll never know if these were linked or not.

Kim XX.

[Janet]

Hi Leo

I suffered terribly with headaches from the age of about 11 -16 and my Doctor at the time thought I was swinging the lead and practically threw me out of the surgery. Then had a space of about ten years when didn't have any really bad headaches.

At 28 I had a terrible pain on the left side of my head no painkilleres would shift it when I finally went to see a Doctor this time a Forces Doctor he just asked if I smoked and said it was cluster headaches. It lasted for about 8 weeks then faded. After that it was just normal headaches or tension but only occasionally.

Morris said I had quite a few bad heads for a couple of months before my SAH but really can't remember and was taking strong painkillers for Tendonitis at the time.

Janet x

[michelle C]

Hi Leo

Forgot to mention i also was treated for sinusitus 3 times during the 2007, had SAH nov 07.

Michellexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Anne Fleming]

Hi Leo

I had sore ears and a sore throat/catarrh, flu like symptoms - all put down to chronic sinusitis - ongoing for about 20 years prior to my SAH. I've had operations on my sinuses but they didn't help very much. I was also on daily doses of steroids and would need antiobiotics every couple of months when the condition became acute.

These symptoms have completely disappeared since my SAH and I no longer need any medications. My GP and neurologist say it is impossible there is a connection between their disappearance and my SAH. I'm not convinced.

I think overall I am in better overall health now than before my SAH thanks to these symptoms going as they were very wearing. I just hope they don't come back.

All a bit of a mystery!

warm wishes

Anne xxx

[Louise]

Hi there

Yes I had very bad headaches just the run of the mill kind before the SAH, went to the GP but it was put down to stress, which I was under a lot of at that time....

also went for numerous eye test which were all ok, so even they didnt detect anything....

In some ways I'm lucky now I rarely get a headach unless exteremly tired or stressed, but other things are effected after the SAH.....

take care

Louise.x

[Leo]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for responding.

I'm finding your replies fascinating. There seems to be a common theme of constant headaches prior to our SAH's whether they were diagnosed as migraines or not. Although obviously our experiences are all annecdotal and this little 'survey' would not stand up to any academic or scientific scrutiny, I am amazed that there seems to be such a blanket denial that any headaches in the months/years before an SAH has anything to do with it.

Frustratingly weird.

Love to all,

Leo xx

[bogbrush]

Hi Leo

You have to be a bit careful with the results of your "mini survey". Your question: "Did anyone else have lots of headaches prior to their SAH?" invites responses mainly from those who did have a history of headaches prior to SAH. I'm not saying you are wrong, unscientific research can be useful, but be aware that the results could be biased.

For the record, The frequency and intensity of my headaches prior to SAH were what I would call normal with just the odd migraine. Now I rarely get headaches at all Maybe the SAH damaged my "headache gland" :?

Regards

Keith

[Leo]

Dear Keith,

I beg to differ that the phrasing of my question would lead to only people who would answer in the affirmative, to reply.

But that doesn't really matter as my question was borne out of personal curiosity and not a desire to do anything with the answers supplied.

Interesting that so many people have responded that their headaches have either disappeared or become less frequent. My experience has been the opposite.

Hope you have a good (if somewhat damp) afternoon,

Leo

[Super Mario]

I had very few headaches prior to my SAH.

On the 2 days leading up to it I had a constant very unpleasant headache which would not go away. Unpleasant as it was it did not stop me going to work though.

I now suffer with regular severe headaches.

[Leo]

Thanks Penny.

We have all had such different experiences prior and after the SAH.

Hope you have a headache free day today though,

Leo

[Guest Shiree]

Hi Leo

I had a constant headache for about 2 years before my SAH. I even paid to have a CAT scan done, unfortunatley it didn't show up my aneurysm.

Now I still get rotten headaches, but they are not as frequent as they were.

hugs

Shiree

[Guest ElaineW]

Very interesting - my mum Maggie had never been without a headache prior to her SAH - just part and parcel of day to day living - prob 20 years or more even.

Elaine

[GrahamG]

Yes, I suffered Migraines since I was 14. Prior to my SAH was having 1-2 attacks a month ranging from the painfiul head to full blown aversion to light, visual aura and transient aphasia (unable to pronounce words) Post SAH I'm still getting the occasional migraine but they are nowhere as near as bad as they used to be - touch wood.

[Leo]

Hi Graham,

How are you?

Am glad that your migraines have eased up in frequency since your SAH.

Leonie

[Guest suse]

Hi Leo,

I had a very bad headache for years before I had my bleed. It was horrible; where the base of my skull meets the back of my neck. I was told by the neurosurgeon that that's the place where the bleed started. I haven't had that headache since, and it's been over 13 years. (Now when I get a h/a it's above and behind my RT eye.)

Tke care,

suse

[paul99]

this make interesting reading

has anyone thought that has your body changed have you become intolrent of diary products or the coffee im only asking because i do know someone who has had sah and because of headaches and gave up tea milk and coffee after a month she hasnt had any headaches at all she drinks water hot and cold with lemon or a slice of orange im not recommending just throwning this into the pot as keith said earlier

[Super Mario]

Funny you should say that. Before my SAH I couldn't drink red wine or sherry, just one sip gave me the most blinding headache. Now I can drink red wine, as much as I want and sherry although I don't particularly like sherry and never get a headache from it.

Something has certainly changed for me.