Waking headaches and arthur

lindalegs

Hi everybody,

I am plagued by waking headaches which can start any time of the early hours and if I don't take meds and sleep sitting up they can turn into a migraine with vomiting, which lasts all day. :x

On average I get about 3 a week and although I track them to see if there's a pattern they continue to happen, no matter what I try. I do sometimes have a wonderful week where they disappear altogether and just when I start to relax they strike again :roll:

I'm going to talk to my GP about them, again, this week to see if there's something else I can try to put a stop to them as they do interfere with living and I am quite worn out with interrupted sleep. He has said that as the pain is in my forehead it is nerve pain and not connected to the RA in my neck and he prescribes me Amiltriptylene which I take in the evening a few hours before bedtime. This doesn't help the pain much but does prevent me from being woken at 2:00am with the onset of a headache.

All I want to know; do any of you get these headaches or is it just me?

Love,

barbara12

Hi Linda
I have always thought my headaches were from my neck, but they dont turn into migraines ..maybe you could ask for the new meds they have for migraine headaches ..I have heard they work well, but suppose you need to know what is causing them,,there is something called temporal arthritis ..my friend has it so get it checked out..x

lindalegs

Hi Barbara, good to see you.

I've been getting these headaches for 10 years now (no, I'm not exaggerating) so I have tried many migraine meds over time. That is interesting about your friend as I've not heard of temporal arthritis so I will mention that to my GP on Wednesday.

How long have you had your headaches and do they wake you, Barbara?

Love,

stickywicket

When I had headaches, which started as I woke up / woke me up, they certainly started at the back of my head but could then radiate all over. Just like yours - migrainey and I could occasionally be sick. I'm sure mine were due to the neck arthritis though. They cleared up quicker if I wore my neck brace (NOT to sleep in) but stopped altogether once I bought a shaped memory foam pillow. (Thick wedge at bottom if sleeping one the side: thin if sleeping on your back.) Mine now goes everywhere with me and I keep one at my son's. I don't have the headaches unless I forget it. I might get 2-3 OK nights without it but no more.

PS. It's temporal ARTERITIS. No connection with arthritis I believe.

lindalegs

stickywicket wrote:

When I had headaches, which started as I woke up / woke me up, they certainly started at the back of my head but could then radiate all over. Just like yours - migrainey and I could occasionally be sick. I'm sure mine were due to the neck arthritis though. They cleared up quicker if I wore my neck brace (NOT to sleep in) but stopped altogether once I bought a shaped memory foam pillow. (Thick wedge at bottom if sleeping one the side: thin if sleeping on your back.) Mine now goes everywhere with me and I keep one at my son's. I don't have the headaches unless I forget it. I might get 2-3 OK nights without it but no more.

PS. It's temporal ARTERITIS. No connection with arthritis I believe.

Thanks Sticky I was just going to post back to Barbara as I've been on NHS Choices and seen that it's Artertis. It is an easy mistake to make. I also don't have those symptoms so I don't think that's my problem.

My headaches always start on my forehead, never from my neck and turn into a migraine if they start radiating to the back of my head.

I will look into the MF shaped pillows though as that would be such an easy solution. I do have a stock-pile of different density pillows but a shaped one sounds a whole new ball game!

Love,

barbara12

Thanks for that SW..my friend has PR..and it is the arteries that are inflamed..and cause awful headaches mainly in women..
The headaches I get Linda are all across the front of my head caused by the OA in my neck, I had migraine when in my teens so I feel for you , hope you can get something to help x

lindalegs

Thanks so much Barbara, it is good, also, to know I'm not on my own

Love,

frogmorton

Legs I have been having migraines VERY frequently for days at a time and multiple (with aura).

They would wake me I would see the aura in the dark even any time from 3/5 am

I am currently trying clonidine and have been for about 8 weeks. The frequency has diminished going from 15 in the month before down to 2/3 so an improvement.

I hope your doc has some ideas it's really rubbish ((()))

Toni xxx

lindalegs

Poor you Toni It makes you feel so rubbish doesn't it, plus we get total days wiped out because of it! I do hope your meds continue to help.

Perhaps we can take comfort in the fact that we're awake at similar times in the cold, dark of the night.

Love,