[terbear40503]

Hi Everyone,
I have not been diagnosed but think I might have ON. I am 42 and have had migraines since age 12. They were typically in my temples but once in a while in my occipital cortex. That has increased in frequency over the years. I had major surgery May 21 and after surgery my head killed me. It took me several hours to figure out that the pillow was too thick. As soon as I pulled the pillow out it was almost instant relief. The occipital region has hurt almost daily since my surgery. At times it feels like my head is too heavy for my neck to hold it up. That sounds weird to me but that is how it feels. Since it is happening with more frequency I looked up occipital pain and that is how I found occipital neuralgia. The pain does come up my head to the front above my eyes. I was in a car accident, hit from behind, in 2007 I think it was. I am wondering if that had anything to do with it. And then the surgery and how they positioned by head did something too. I go back to my neuro in August. I hope I can wait that long.
Terri

[Kitt]

Welcome terbear40503.

Someone will be along to help.

[Lara]

Hello Terri,

Occipital Neuralgia can be caused by head trauma but there can be other causes e.g. arthritis/inflammation, pinched nerve. It may have become worse after your surgery due to the way you were moved around.

It's a pity you need to wait until August to see your Doctor.

In the meantime you could try posting over on the
Traumatic Brain Injury and PCS Forum

The people there may have some ideas for you while you're trying to sort out your symptoms.

Headache Forum
this includes migraines.

There's also the
Spinal Disorders and Back Pain Forum

A tip for finding older posts across all the forums here is to use the Full Forum Search feature using keywords like "occipital neuralgia".
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/search.php

[terbear40503]

Thanks Lara,
I remembered last night that during my 3.5 hour surgery the table was tilted so that my head was down and my feet were up. So I could see where that might have caused compression or something. Thanks for the info.
Terri