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What Causes Feeling Of Popping Air Bubbles In Head?
Question: Hello, 3 months ago i have got like a feeling of popping air bubble on the top of my head without any kind of pain after that I felt like being weak but i went to the sport and everything was ok. Nevertheless sincethen i've had headpains which have disappeared and nausea sometimes, my father who is surgeon tells me that this is related to stress. I must say that I feel beter now. but i'm a an highly stressed kind of person. Do you think it could be serious ?
I'm 22 years old and doing alot of sport.
I'm 22 years old and doing alot of sport.
Brief Answer:
Possible headache vs. anxiety syndrome
Detailed Answer:
Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Saghafi and I am a neurologist and headache specialist from XXXXXXX OH. I've read your question and would like to thank you for giving this network the opportunity to help you with your problems. I'm hopeful that we'll be able to make you feel better.
I believe it is very possible that your father may very well be correct. After all, he is a physician and who would know his son better from a medical point of view which also includes knowing your personal and life history better than perhaps even you do in your early years? And so, when my father (who is a surgeon as well) makes a diagnosis on one of my children or anyone in our family I take his opinion very seriously.
Having said that I also must add, as a neurologist speaking from purely an academic point of view and not knowing you any more than the few lines you've written, that the description you give for a headache syndrome which includes a somewhat vague popping feeling in or above the head accompanied by weakness and occasional nausea could be the description of a headache syndrome of some sort. It's not the most common use of descriptor terms by folks with migraine or tension types of headaches but anybody who refers head pains in the company of nausea or generalized feelings of weakness is certainly raising my antennae for a headache of some type that should at least be documented using formal means and evaluated.
If it is discovered after all is said and done that the headaches and their accompanying symptoms are indeed the reflection and manifestation of nothing more than psychological stress or fatigue then, we know the etiology and how to treat that...on the other hand, if the headaches' characteristics begin to change over time and we determine that these headaches are actually a PRIMARY type of problem- meaning that nothing else is triggering or precipitating them and that indeed it is a problem with the pain sensitive regions or circuit loops of the brain then, we will also necessarily know the diagnosis and the most likely treatment or intervention to follow.
In my headache clinic therefore, the first thing I ask everyone to do when we are embarking upon an analysis of their headaches or head symptoms is to have them fill out what's referred to as a HEADACHE DIARY. I would like to provide you with one to begin filling out if you are interested in pursuing this line of thinking. I will happy to email a copy if you send me your email. There is some necessary explanation of the log that must take place and so we will need to spend a little time doing this and squaring that away before expecting that you should be able to fully fill out the log with the pertinent information.
If you are interested in following up with this suggestion I will send you a copy of the Headache Diary that we use if you will send me your email address.
I hope this information and preliminary analysis of your condition is helpful and that you will choose to do a followup in order to try and track down whether these phenomenon are truly part of a headache syndrome or if they may be simply due to stress and anxiety as your father has suggested.
Should you have no further questions or comments to place- CLOSING THE QUERY would be greatly appreciated as well as your grading of our interaction with a star rating.
In the future I'm happy to answer more questions personally if you'd allow me this privilege by going to the following website and sending me your questions:
bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi
This query has required 27 TOTAL minutes of physician specific review, research, and final draft documentation for envoy.
Possible headache vs. anxiety syndrome
Detailed Answer:
Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Saghafi and I am a neurologist and headache specialist from XXXXXXX OH. I've read your question and would like to thank you for giving this network the opportunity to help you with your problems. I'm hopeful that we'll be able to make you feel better.
I believe it is very possible that your father may very well be correct. After all, he is a physician and who would know his son better from a medical point of view which also includes knowing your personal and life history better than perhaps even you do in your early years? And so, when my father (who is a surgeon as well) makes a diagnosis on one of my children or anyone in our family I take his opinion very seriously.
Having said that I also must add, as a neurologist speaking from purely an academic point of view and not knowing you any more than the few lines you've written, that the description you give for a headache syndrome which includes a somewhat vague popping feeling in or above the head accompanied by weakness and occasional nausea could be the description of a headache syndrome of some sort. It's not the most common use of descriptor terms by folks with migraine or tension types of headaches but anybody who refers head pains in the company of nausea or generalized feelings of weakness is certainly raising my antennae for a headache of some type that should at least be documented using formal means and evaluated.
If it is discovered after all is said and done that the headaches and their accompanying symptoms are indeed the reflection and manifestation of nothing more than psychological stress or fatigue then, we know the etiology and how to treat that...on the other hand, if the headaches' characteristics begin to change over time and we determine that these headaches are actually a PRIMARY type of problem- meaning that nothing else is triggering or precipitating them and that indeed it is a problem with the pain sensitive regions or circuit loops of the brain then, we will also necessarily know the diagnosis and the most likely treatment or intervention to follow.
In my headache clinic therefore, the first thing I ask everyone to do when we are embarking upon an analysis of their headaches or head symptoms is to have them fill out what's referred to as a HEADACHE DIARY. I would like to provide you with one to begin filling out if you are interested in pursuing this line of thinking. I will happy to email a copy if you send me your email. There is some necessary explanation of the log that must take place and so we will need to spend a little time doing this and squaring that away before expecting that you should be able to fully fill out the log with the pertinent information.
If you are interested in following up with this suggestion I will send you a copy of the Headache Diary that we use if you will send me your email address.
I hope this information and preliminary analysis of your condition is helpful and that you will choose to do a followup in order to try and track down whether these phenomenon are truly part of a headache syndrome or if they may be simply due to stress and anxiety as your father has suggested.
Should you have no further questions or comments to place- CLOSING THE QUERY would be greatly appreciated as well as your grading of our interaction with a star rating.
In the future I'm happy to answer more questions personally if you'd allow me this privilege by going to the following website and sending me your questions:
bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi
This query has required 27 TOTAL minutes of physician specific review, research, and final draft documentation for envoy.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Thank you a lot for answering Dr Saghafi.
I didn't explained my feeling well. I wasn't feeling weak but after having that pop i felt like falling for 1 or 2 seconds. Moreover, i don't have those headaches anymore, but sometime I can feel like paresthesia on my head for example while i am doing particular exercices at the gym.
I have had that pop feeling only one time, ans then after 1 or 2 weeks I started to have headaches (moderate pain) and alot pf psychological symptoms such as palpitation before going to sleep, moderate dizziness.
I must say that for 1 week I felt really bad due to extrasystolis (don't know how to say this word in english), and I was thinking that I couldn't do sport anymore ect ......
Over the time I try to accept the fact that it is stress related but when i got I little bit dizzy i strat to be worry one again.
Do you think that and RIM is necessary in my particular case ?
Best regards.
I didn't explained my feeling well. I wasn't feeling weak but after having that pop i felt like falling for 1 or 2 seconds. Moreover, i don't have those headaches anymore, but sometime I can feel like paresthesia on my head for example while i am doing particular exercices at the gym.
I have had that pop feeling only one time, ans then after 1 or 2 weeks I started to have headaches (moderate pain) and alot pf psychological symptoms such as palpitation before going to sleep, moderate dizziness.
I must say that for 1 week I felt really bad due to extrasystolis (don't know how to say this word in english), and I was thinking that I couldn't do sport anymore ect ......
Over the time I try to accept the fact that it is stress related but when i got I little bit dizzy i strat to be worry one again.
Do you think that and RIM is necessary in my particular case ?
Best regards.
Brief Answer:
Thank you for your updates
Detailed Answer:
I am responding to your updates. Thank you for clarifying some of your symptoms since I was only responding to what you wrote without knowing other details.
As I initially stated in the first response I believe one must give credence to your father who is also a physician but perhaps just as importantly he knows you as well as any physician can know you (especially one who is 10,000 miles away or so). So, if he is convinced that your symptoms are those of anxiety or stress then, in all likelihood at least a part of your clinical picture is probably that way.
However, when a person complains of headaches it is always most difficult to separate which are PRIMARY (such as tension type, migraine, etc.) vs. those that are SECONDARY (such as CAUSED by anxiety, fear, stress, personality disorders, etc). The presence of symptoms such as numbness and tingling over different body parts such as the scalp, face, around the mouth, lips, fingers, and toes, can be seen with PRIMARY TYPES of headaches such as migraines...not so much tension type. The "pop" that you do now describe as a feeling of falling could be interpreted from a neurological perspective as a description of vertigo.
There are headache types which can present with symptoms of actual vertigo such as spinning, feelings of nauseousness in the stomach, and then, at a later or even earlier time headaches which can be severe such as migraines or not that severe.
And so once again I must default back to the first suggestion that I believe in order to get a really solid handle on your symptoms and make sense out of them one must document in the form of a headache diary or log. As far as "extrasystoles" are concerned that's usually not a diagnosis a person can easily make based on the feeling of palpitations and really needs a cardiac monitor such as either an EKG or something like an event monitor or a Holter monitor. Those certainly can be related to stress and anxiety issues.
Perhaps, if you know of a headache specialist in your area and you can get an appointment with them they will know how to handle this case using a standard diary so that teasing out your symptoms will be more easily accomplished and then, an intervention can be determined.
Other things that should always be checked when dealing with paresthesias, palpitations, feelings of anxiousness, and headaches (especially if these are NEW in nature and were never problematic before) are metabolic considerations having to do with endocrinological screenings of the thyroids, adrenals, calcium levels, renal, and liver functions, B12, folate, Vit. D, Magnesium, etc. I don't know if you've been recently screened for all these items in the past or not but they can certainly be important to your symptoms if they turn out to be abnormal in any way.
I hope this information and preliminary analysis of your condition is helpful and that you will choose to do a followup in order to try and track down whether these phenomenon are truly part of a headache syndrome or if they may be simply due to stress and anxiety as your father has suggested.
Should you have no further questions or comments to place- CLOSING THE QUERY would be greatly appreciated as well as your grading of our interaction with a star rating.
In the future I'm happy to answer more questions personally if you'd allow me this privilege by going to the following website and sending me your questions:
bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi
This query has required 70 TOTAL minutes of physician specific review, research, and final draft documentation for envoy.
Thank you for your updates
Detailed Answer:
I am responding to your updates. Thank you for clarifying some of your symptoms since I was only responding to what you wrote without knowing other details.
As I initially stated in the first response I believe one must give credence to your father who is also a physician but perhaps just as importantly he knows you as well as any physician can know you (especially one who is 10,000 miles away or so). So, if he is convinced that your symptoms are those of anxiety or stress then, in all likelihood at least a part of your clinical picture is probably that way.
However, when a person complains of headaches it is always most difficult to separate which are PRIMARY (such as tension type, migraine, etc.) vs. those that are SECONDARY (such as CAUSED by anxiety, fear, stress, personality disorders, etc). The presence of symptoms such as numbness and tingling over different body parts such as the scalp, face, around the mouth, lips, fingers, and toes, can be seen with PRIMARY TYPES of headaches such as migraines...not so much tension type. The "pop" that you do now describe as a feeling of falling could be interpreted from a neurological perspective as a description of vertigo.
There are headache types which can present with symptoms of actual vertigo such as spinning, feelings of nauseousness in the stomach, and then, at a later or even earlier time headaches which can be severe such as migraines or not that severe.
And so once again I must default back to the first suggestion that I believe in order to get a really solid handle on your symptoms and make sense out of them one must document in the form of a headache diary or log. As far as "extrasystoles" are concerned that's usually not a diagnosis a person can easily make based on the feeling of palpitations and really needs a cardiac monitor such as either an EKG or something like an event monitor or a Holter monitor. Those certainly can be related to stress and anxiety issues.
Perhaps, if you know of a headache specialist in your area and you can get an appointment with them they will know how to handle this case using a standard diary so that teasing out your symptoms will be more easily accomplished and then, an intervention can be determined.
Other things that should always be checked when dealing with paresthesias, palpitations, feelings of anxiousness, and headaches (especially if these are NEW in nature and were never problematic before) are metabolic considerations having to do with endocrinological screenings of the thyroids, adrenals, calcium levels, renal, and liver functions, B12, folate, Vit. D, Magnesium, etc. I don't know if you've been recently screened for all these items in the past or not but they can certainly be important to your symptoms if they turn out to be abnormal in any way.
I hope this information and preliminary analysis of your condition is helpful and that you will choose to do a followup in order to try and track down whether these phenomenon are truly part of a headache syndrome or if they may be simply due to stress and anxiety as your father has suggested.
Should you have no further questions or comments to place- CLOSING THE QUERY would be greatly appreciated as well as your grading of our interaction with a star rating.
In the future I'm happy to answer more questions personally if you'd allow me this privilege by going to the following website and sending me your questions:
bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi
This query has required 70 TOTAL minutes of physician specific review, research, and final draft documentation for envoy.
Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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