My story is long and convoluted so I won't repeat it here unless the details end up being important.

I recently had sinus surgery to treat some headaches I was having and to see what symptoms were being caused by my opacified sinus and what weren't. One headache that I've had all along and that remains is a stabbing headache at the base of my skull right near my spinal cord on the right. It has "spread" to the left side in the same place and all along the base of my skull. It doesn't affect my neck unless it gets really intense. I get a similar headache on the top of my head on one side at a time. They come and go and are almost never there when I am at the doctor's office. My ENT today said he thinks it's occipital neuralgia which didn't totally surprise me since I have been reading a lot on this site. Does this sound like what you experience? Is this a final diagnosis or is it important to find out what's causing the ON?

I seem to be able to treat the headaches fairly effectively with over-the-counter pain killers and don't want to start on anything stronger until and unless I really need to. He also suggested I take Aleve 3 times a day for about 4 days and see if it goes away even though I don't have a headache right now. Is this a strange thing to do?

Also, I have noticed that a trigger and exacerbator is the weather. Whenever it's going to rain, my headaches get really intense. Does anyone else notice this?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences.

Lizzy:

You probably want to get an absolute diagnosis from a Neurologist that you have Occipital Neuralgia. I get terrible pain in the base of my skull too. It feels like some one stuck an ice pick in the base and is trying to scrape out my insides. It's like no other pain I've felt before. And then some days I'll have the zaps going on in my head on both sides of the head. Other times I will get this intense pain out of no where and it feels like I've been shot in the back of the head and it lasts a few seconds to a few minutes and then I'm fine. Totally weird. But I can feel which Occipital Nerve is aggravated. Sometime I will feel throbbing on the left or the right and I know to not lay down on that side of my head.

I would totally avoid wearing any kind of a hat or turtle neck, even a blazer is very heavy on your occipital region. Don't lay down on your back, always lay on your side. Avoid wearing sunglasses or glasses. I usually put ice on the base of my skull and I take muscle relaxers to loosen up my neck muscles, because when the neck muscles tighten, they aggravate the Occipital Nerves.

Hope you get some help soon. I will say a prayer for you

Does anyone with ON get pimples on your scalp around the base of your skull that really hurt a lot? I am noticing more and more pimples clustering around the tender ares.

I have occipital neuralgia due to car accident 13 years ago and your headaches do sound just like ON. However, you defininitely want to make sure you see a neurologist to confirm and have on record in case they get worse and you need something stonger to help control them. You certainly don't want to wait to until the pain gets unmanagable to go to get a diagnosis because it's time consuming and stressful. I've been through alot and if I can be of any help please let me know. Good luck!!!!

Christy