Post-traumatic headaches
 

I know several people on this forum have significant post-traumatic headaches (myself included). Mine are constant and worsen with most activity, particularly visual stim and physical activity, but also light and noise. I was hoping to compile in this tread a list of

1. Headache type (if known, otherwise describe).

2. Treatments (effective or not)

3. Other pertinent information, such as whether they ever resolved.

I have head aches frequently. A busy day can cause a head ache for the entire next day. I take 1000 mgs of Tylenol (acetaminophen, paracetamol). If my head ache is bad, I add 1000 mgs of aspirin at the same time.

Lately, most of my head aches are between the temples and forward, sometimes with a pain between my eyes. I can relax and reduce the intensity sometimes. Other times, my only escape is to sleep.

For me, a busy day can be as simple as intense conversation after 8:00 pm or a lot of online posting or any other common stressor.

I rarely use anything stronger than Tylenol/aspirin, maybe once a year (Tylenol w codeine).

I have been dealing with Post Concussion head aches since 1995 (12th concussion) or so. Neuro tried a few meds that did not help, just made me feel confused.

I have found that I need to pace my activities through out the day. Any intense peaks in activity will be problematic.

My headaches usually start on the left side of my head and then radiate across from temple to temple. When they are really bad, the base of my neck hurts.
They are usually accompanied by a "carsick" feeling.


The headaches are usually brought on by stressors like holding a long conversation, or getting emotionallly overwhelmed, or being around a lot of people.


Tylenol and Ibuprofen were starting to not work so the doctor prescribed Amantadine, which strangely enough, worked to alleviate my worst headaches (I was having constant pain and now the headaches are event-related).


I am slowly weaning off the Amantadine now, so we will see what happens...I will go back to Tylenol and Ibuprofen as needed.


Usually I just watch my level of activity and try to tailor my day to avoid strenuous activity or overstimulation.

Thanks, Mark. Post-traumatic headaches seem a mystery to medical professionals. They are perhaps a huge limiting factor in my recovery and are not going away. Unlike you, I have not had 12 concussions--just 1, possibly 2. I am very frustrated. Just trying to get some more info.

I tried amantadine but it did not have an effect. How long did you take it before noticing a difference?

It was about a week. It is strange because I know it is an anti-viral/Parkinson's drug, but it worked! I am so sorry it didn't work for you because it was a Godsend for me.

I hope you can find something that helps in future posts, because headaches are so problematic if they are uncontrollable :( I never had issues with headaches before my concussions, so I never understood this until now!

:hug:

Glad it worked for you! Nothing has worked for me at all. Most of the drug have bad side effects. Like you, I never had headaches before my concussion.

Persistent headache info
 

Hi Wakey,

I'm 3 months post-concussion – it was my first notable concussion, and was thrown off a horse. I was alone, but think I landed somewhere near the base of neck, lower part of my head. MRI was negative. My main PCS symptom is persistent headaches, secondary issues of fatigue, foggyness and some other minor cognitive things. But the headache is by far the worst part.

1. Headache is combination of feeling immense presssure in my head, throbbing radiation from the base of neck and up the back of my head, and on bad days sharper pains around my temple and ear. 95% of the time on the right side.
Any physical activity (i.e. walking up stairs) increases headache.

2. Seeing Osteopath 1x week, Chiropractor 2x week.
I see the Chiro on Mon/Tues and he does gentle adjustments using an "arthrostim" – NO neck manipulations or cracking.
Osteopath is on Wednesday, with no treatments for the next few days after as to not interfere.

3. I'm no where near recovered, and not entirely sure how effective my treatment is... but was noticing good improvements for about 3 weeks, like having 2-3 days at time with almost no headache – have hit a plateau (headache for the past 6 days) which they all said was normal – hopefully back on the upward trend soon.

Chiropractor said he can still feel inflammation and issues at my C1/C2, but that I'm holding adjustments better than I was before.

Osteopath said that the plates in my head are feeling much more flexible. Said I need to increase water intake, and start taking electrolytes. I am on a vitamin regime similar to the ones I've seen posted here.

1. headaches starts back left, where I got hit. It will progress to complete head at its worst..

2. Aleve 2 to 4 tabs daily. For worst headaches 2 tabs of oxycodone in a 12 hr period.

3. Quiet low stimulus environment. I really like jazz music. Not the kind with a lot of brass but the more introspective type. So music at a low level helps me relax. I also use ice and a heating pad as well.

I had migraine-like headaches pretty much solid for the first six months after my concussion. Medications during this time were vicodin with tylenol (can anyone say rebound headache) and tramadol. Other non-medication solutions I found were ice packs on head and neck alone or accompanied by (for a really bad headache) putting feet in hot water.

The first preventive medication I tried was elavil (amitriptyline). This helped quite a bit but made me very groggy and sleepy. When I started becoming accustomed to it and we tried to raise the dose, it made me too dizzy and I had to back off it.

I had vision therapy, which also helped reduce frequency and intensity of headaches.

After amitriptyline, I started on topamax, which greatly reduced the headaches. I still had imitrex for breakthrough headaches.

The headaches finally stopped when I stopped taking imitrex (which can also cause rebound headaches), and reduced inflammation throughout my body by switching to a whole foods vegan diet, doing hydrotherapy, and taking algal DHA/EPA.

I still take the topamax daily at bedtime. I have tried to taper off it once, but the headaches started to come back. I do also get headaches if I get loose with my diet and eat too much eggs, dairy, or junky processed/sugary foods.

Hope this helps! Follow-up questions are welcome.

I am still having 24/7 headaches (among other things like fatigue, noise & light sensitivity, etc.) that worsen with activity, mental or physical. I can't seem to kick them even for a minute. I would appreciate any advice on this. This is really debilitating.

How long ago was your injury? What have you tried?

What diagnostics have you had done? What kind of doctors/practitioners have you seen?

Have you taken any supplements? Done any therapy trials?

Here are a few articles I found informative (varying from readable to quite scholarly):

http://www.brainline.org/content/200...r_pageall.html

http://www.neuropsychologycentral.co...c_headache.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22373462

Question for anyone.
 

Hi,

This is my first time doing this. But I am just frustrated. I am 21 and well, I received a mild concussion in October of 2010. I am a retired tumbler, but at the time I was doing a major skill on an event and ended up flying into a cement wall with the back of my head and upper back/neck. Every day, and I mean every day, since that night I have had a headache. I am on my third neurologist and I have lost count of how many different medications I have tried but really nothing has helped.

I don't know what has happened to all of you or what you have been able to do. I just wanted to see if there has been anything that has really helped you. Personally I have never met anyone that has gone through this so nobody really understands what it is like to have the constant headache day in and day out without anything that seems to actually help. It is just so frustrating and I have been losing hope that this will get better since so much of what I have read on the symptoms of Post Traumatic Headache is that it usually goes away in a few days, weeks, months, or a year.

Sorry for a semi-rant. As I keep saying it is just so frustrating and the doctor that I am seeing currently (which has been over a year) is having me come in less and says it is great there has been no change and to keep going along with what I have been doing. Then tells me to try not to be stressed which is rather hard to not let happen since I am in college while having two jobs.

Thanks for reading this. =/

Chitown

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Ouch, your impact on the wall hurts.

Have you had any diagnostics of your upper neck? I bet it is injured. Icing it can be a good therapy. If it helps, you almost have a diagnosis. The Brainline article I posted at the start of this thread talks about these head aches. They are rarely properly diagnosed and treated. It takes special imaging to show the fine injury, usually stretched/torn ligaments and damaged cartilage. This causes inflammation that lead to muscle spasms and nerve inflammation to this area.

If you have tender spots behind your ears, especially where the skull ends, that is a classic upper cervical injury from concussion/head impact.

Do a search on this forum for "NUCCA" to find posts about upper cervical chiropractors.

Tell us more about yourself and the things you have done to try to recover from your injury. There are dietary/nutritional things you should do to minimize head aches. Alcohol, caffeine, MSG, "Artificial Sweeteners" and some others. Also you daily activity level can seriously impact head aches. I get them from reading for too long. I need to close my eyes for 5 or 10 minutes to get some relief.

Feel free to unload. Your 1st post was not a rant, just even a semi-rant. We are very tolerant of people dealing with PCS. We all have lived with PCS.

My best to you.

Have you had a vision efficiency evaluation (VEE)? For some of us, difficulty with our eyes working together has also contributed to headaches. The VEE is different from a regular medical eye exam.

You can find practitioners at http://www.braininjuries.org or http://www.nora.cc in the United States.

My concussion was in October 2011. Constant headache since that time gradually decreasing in severity to a constant 1 to 2 on a ten scale. Physical fatigue, cognitive stress, emotional stress increase the severity up to a 7 to 8, although not consistent. I have had 6 courses of Botox injections, starting at 12 week intervals then to 10 week intervals. Injections seem to "level out" the impact of the spikes. I rotate Tramodol, Tylenol and Ibuprofen on a weekly basis to try to stave off "rebound" headaches. When headaches spike, other PCS symtoms also increase. Light and sound sensitivity, cognitive impairment, confusion, equilibrium problems, short temper, depression. Headache is always the same place, above my right eye behind my forehead. I have generally returned to most of my life including working, although at reduced cognitive capacity. I miss an average of one day every three weeks due to increased headache levels. Very empathetic work situation. A blessing, really. I have great support and count myself fortunate compared to many. Frustration is daily. Pain is the constant. Life goes on with the support and love of friends and family.

1. no idea what type... either starts on the right just over my temple and goes over my head like a headband or starts in the back of my head on the right side with like a sledgehammer to the back of the head... and then sets in on the left side after about 10 minutes.

2. Treatments- tompamax (not helpful), propanol (nope), flexeril (nope), nortriptalyn (kind of), functional massage on neck.. breaks up scar tissue (helps), acupuncture (helps). I say all the above but yet I still have headaches, just not as bad. They are very detrimental to me... they are why my neurologist will still not let me return to work. When they get very bad, like when I did yoga the other day.. all brain fog and other various symptoms come back

3. In the last 5 months I have had about a 10 day period when the headaches were at about a 2.. those may have been some of the best 10 days! Other than that sorry to report, no relief.

Constant headache at 5-6 level for 10 months, following 3rd concussion.

Medications taking: propranolol 50 mg daily, Nortriptyline 40 mg daily, Ambien 12.5 CR

Tried IV Magnesium, IV Benadryl, IV DHE, and oral Topamax, Gabapentin, Naratriptan, and Prednisone, but none worked and the Prednisone, DHE, and Topamax, made my condition worse.

Increase in headache with any activity at all, even just standing up or doing seated leg lifts, and with sound, talking.

Hi Wakey, I have headaches everyday since my TBI.

1. Migraines were rampant for about 5 months, starting in left side of neck and moving to side and back of head. Took tylenol, motrin and oxycocet. One time I had a migraine for 12 days straight. Headaches are front of right side or left side. Sometimes right temple.

2. Botox injections helped with my migraines. I can only slightly feel them coming back 2 months following my injections. Some days I feel like I am having migraines but no pain. Makes my head feel strange, heavy and hard to think. Now I just have the headaches I mentioned above and I take either a Tylenol or Motrin. Laying in a dark room (no stimuli) helps alleviate them and sometimes ice helps. I plan on getting the Botox injections again when the 3 month time period arrives.

Sometimes acupuncture helped but not enough.

3. Still unresolved.