6 Day Headache

Hello, I am 25F, approximately 335 pounds, I have lost 20 pounds over the last month (making better choices and being more active). I have a history of being treated for intracranial hypertension, but the lumbar puncture showed that I was just under that threshold of being diagnosed with it (I do not remember what it was, this was 5 or so years ago). My father and his father do have a history of cluster migraines as well, and my mother and her father were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I also have a history of mild sleep apnea.

On Wednesday 7/29, I had to take a cold shower before work because the hot water nozzle wasn’t working. Around 6:30am, 10 or so minutes after taking the shower, I started to develop this pressure like headache. Throughout the day Wednesday, I continued to have what I would say was the worst headache I’ve ever had. I took some Excedrin, and it took forever for me to get any relief, but this relief didn’t last very long and the headache came back even harder. Wednesday evening, me and my boyfriend had house tours, and I do not remember this, but he said that I was so confused and dazed, that I was like a different person. That I was shocked whenever he would talk to me and that I wasn’t comprehending anything. I was wearing a Stelo device at the time because I’ve been watching my blood sugar levels, and my blood sugar peaked at 183 when I took the cold shower.

Thursday, the headache was still there, but not nearly as bad. It only started to get worse towards the evening after work. This is when I started to notice changes in my vision. I wear glasses, but my vision still appeared blurry at times, and my right eye had this really weird feeling that I can’t explain.

Friday, the headache was still there, and once again it started to get worse in the evening, after work. Throughout Thursday and Friday, the headache would be more in the center of my forehead, above and behind my eyes, and it would wrap around my head to the base of my skull, and my ears would hurt. Friday night, this headache started to peak, where in seconds I would be in a lot of pain, and then come back down to the normal headache. I did take Excedrin, and the relief lasted at most 10 minutes, and the headache itself didn’t go away. I also did notice some left sided numbness and achiness in my left hand and arm during these peaks.

Saturday morning, I would say the headache pain was a close second to Wednesday. It just kept peaking, and I was constantly just so exhausted despite getting so much sleep. I did attempt to go to the hospital on Saturday, but the wait was 4 hours long and I didn’t want to get more sick by being there, so I left and made the decision to contact a neurologist as soon as I could. On Saturday, I did take quite a bit of medicine: Aspirin (620mg), Benadryl (1 dose), B12 (1 dose), Naproxen (1 dose) and I did take 1 pill of my dad’s prescribed Fioricet that has helped me before, and none of these worked. Saturday night, as I was trying to fall asleep around 10pm, I got hit with this huge wave of pain in my head. It felt like I was almost falling into myself, and this wave of pain traveled down my head, and my hands became numb and tingly. This didn’t last very long, and hasn’t happened since, but afterwards my headache was really bad.

Sunday, the headache was still there, but not as bad as Saturday. It did still have highs and lows, and was constantly there the whole day with no relief from sleep and medicine. I have gotten so much sleep this past weekend, but my eyes still feel so exhausted, like I haven’t slept at all.

It is now Monday 6/3, and the headache is still there. It is now day #6 of this headache. It has been really bad this morning, mainly focused above my right eye, in the center of my forehead, and down towards the base of my skull.

I have had a lot of stressors in my life this past month (my eldest cat getting sick and dying, my car getting totaled by a garbage truck, and working a lot and not getting any support- I work in child care where I get hit a lot and told to just take it).

Other than the OTC medicines that I took, I do not take any medicine and I’m not prescribed anything.