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What Could Cause A Dull Headache That Is Noticeable While Moving Around?
Question: Hello!
I'm a 24 year old white male. The past few days (this is the third I believe) I have been having a weird type of headache. The pain is dull and is far more noticeable when I move around. Sitting upright and still, I can barely tell it's going on. The pain occurs in the back of my head, upper neck, and when moving around, the left and right side of my head. The pain can closely be described as that what you feel when you've been running around and get all hot and sweaty, the type of headache that comes after physical exertion. It's been pretty consistent these past few days. At certain times it seems to go away, and ibuprofen seems to help a bit.
My blood pressure is 127/75 and I do not have a fever. I'm an EMT/Security Guard who works 6pm-6am and recently have been working many days in a row, where usually I have time off every few days. This is my 11th shift in a row, so 11 days of working 6pm-6am. I'm also a student that attends class M-F. And my wedding is coming up on Sunday. I don't really feel stressed out, although I guess maybe my body could disagree with me.
This is all the pertinent information I can think of at the moment. Please let me know if you have any further questions that may assist you during your "exam" haha.
Thanks in advance!
I'm a 24 year old white male. The past few days (this is the third I believe) I have been having a weird type of headache. The pain is dull and is far more noticeable when I move around. Sitting upright and still, I can barely tell it's going on. The pain occurs in the back of my head, upper neck, and when moving around, the left and right side of my head. The pain can closely be described as that what you feel when you've been running around and get all hot and sweaty, the type of headache that comes after physical exertion. It's been pretty consistent these past few days. At certain times it seems to go away, and ibuprofen seems to help a bit.
My blood pressure is 127/75 and I do not have a fever. I'm an EMT/Security Guard who works 6pm-6am and recently have been working many days in a row, where usually I have time off every few days. This is my 11th shift in a row, so 11 days of working 6pm-6am. I'm also a student that attends class M-F. And my wedding is coming up on Sunday. I don't really feel stressed out, although I guess maybe my body could disagree with me.
This is all the pertinent information I can think of at the moment. Please let me know if you have any further questions that may assist you during your "exam" haha.
Thanks in advance!
Brief Answer:
A somewhat ATYPICAL MIGRAINE presentation
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
I believe you've hit the nail on the head in terms of the most likely cause of these headaches which is probably rooted in stress, anxiety, albeit running below the CONSCIOUS SURFACE of your radar, and VERY IMPORTANTLY LACK OF SLEEP.
Certain parts of your story are consistent with migraine types of symptoms while others are more associated with TENSION TYPE headaches. When putting the whole thing together I believe the most parsimonious explanation that puts everything together and in proper perspective would be a classification of migraine known as ATYPICAL MIGRAINE headache.
Therefore, certain things will automatically take care of themselves at which time at least some portion of the headaches will likely reduce, one would be the wedding coming up (BTW, CONGRATS!! You'll love it). You SHOULD be stressed out a bit, you wouldn't be normal if you weren't (even if you don't think you are).
Clearly, some of the stressors in your life are likely to resolve themselves in due course. Another VERY IMPORTANT piece of the puzzle and your occipitally based headaches is the LACK OF SLEEP, prolonged wakefulness which is such a well known cause of headaches of a dull, aching, and migrainous quality. You really should be given some solid recuperation time and you'll notice a huge difference just after 24 hrs. of catch-up sleep but then, there's the wedding! LOL... You'll be just fine. On a serious note, don't overdo things at the reception, try to get a few hours of sleep between the church service and the reception, if possible.
On the other hand, is it possible that this all may LOOK LIKE stress and the answer is a definite YES. Therefore, if you employ things to reduce stress such as deep breathing exercises, acupuncture, biofeedback, Tai Chi, you may find a response that will help reduce the intensity and frequency of the headaches.
I would highly recommend not taking too much IBUPROFEN which means LESS THAN 15 doses of Ibuprofen for the headache per month. Otherwise, you may risk causing more headaches to occur based on MEDICATION OVERUSE.
If your headaches do not improve after reducing your stressors and even after some of your stressors are over with...there would be a call to perform some lab tests such as THYROID FUNCTION TESTING, 24 hr. urinary cortisol and metanephrines, and perhaps a couple of others. But mainly those as screens to the type of headache you are referring.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Dariush Saghafi
Neurologist
A somewhat ATYPICAL MIGRAINE presentation
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
I believe you've hit the nail on the head in terms of the most likely cause of these headaches which is probably rooted in stress, anxiety, albeit running below the CONSCIOUS SURFACE of your radar, and VERY IMPORTANTLY LACK OF SLEEP.
Certain parts of your story are consistent with migraine types of symptoms while others are more associated with TENSION TYPE headaches. When putting the whole thing together I believe the most parsimonious explanation that puts everything together and in proper perspective would be a classification of migraine known as ATYPICAL MIGRAINE headache.
Therefore, certain things will automatically take care of themselves at which time at least some portion of the headaches will likely reduce, one would be the wedding coming up (BTW, CONGRATS!! You'll love it). You SHOULD be stressed out a bit, you wouldn't be normal if you weren't (even if you don't think you are).
Clearly, some of the stressors in your life are likely to resolve themselves in due course. Another VERY IMPORTANT piece of the puzzle and your occipitally based headaches is the LACK OF SLEEP, prolonged wakefulness which is such a well known cause of headaches of a dull, aching, and migrainous quality. You really should be given some solid recuperation time and you'll notice a huge difference just after 24 hrs. of catch-up sleep but then, there's the wedding! LOL... You'll be just fine. On a serious note, don't overdo things at the reception, try to get a few hours of sleep between the church service and the reception, if possible.
On the other hand, is it possible that this all may LOOK LIKE stress and the answer is a definite YES. Therefore, if you employ things to reduce stress such as deep breathing exercises, acupuncture, biofeedback, Tai Chi, you may find a response that will help reduce the intensity and frequency of the headaches.
I would highly recommend not taking too much IBUPROFEN which means LESS THAN 15 doses of Ibuprofen for the headache per month. Otherwise, you may risk causing more headaches to occur based on MEDICATION OVERUSE.
If your headaches do not improve after reducing your stressors and even after some of your stressors are over with...there would be a call to perform some lab tests such as THYROID FUNCTION TESTING, 24 hr. urinary cortisol and metanephrines, and perhaps a couple of others. But mainly those as screens to the type of headache you are referring.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Dariush Saghafi
Neurologist
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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