Help with Headaches!

I have to agree to see the dentist. I have TMJ and when I have a bad night of clenching my teeth, I have a headache and my jaw feels tight. There are exercises that can help, stretching out the jaw. My primary care was also able to tell by feeling my jaw and the way I move mouth.

I would recommend going to a chiropractor. Sometimes they can help. If not I would go with the meds from the dr. Can drink caffeine that helps me a lot. Do you take the Excedrin as soon as you feel it coming on? If not please do. The sooner you get meds on board the quicker they go away. I used to take prescription meds and now I don't have to if I get them at the start. Good Luck!

Another supporter here for talking to your dentist.

I have TMJ, it's brutal sometimes and it can be stress related. Mine is worse with high stress. I can not EVER go to bed without my nightguard. It has saved my life practically. I often wear my nightguard during the day because I clench all the freaking time.

Before the nightguard, I cracked all of my back teeth from clenching. I have porcelain crowns on all of my back teeth not due to decay but due to my TMJ.

I agree with the journal. In addition to foods and drinks, keep notes about other things - allergies, menstrual cycle, etc. I know you've identified lack of sleep as a trigger, but sometimes it's a combination of things, and even if you can't always control your sleep, if it's a combination of, for example lack of sleep plus caffeine (not just coffee but also chocolate), you can at least avoid the food trigger that contributes to the sleep trigger.

Here is a list of common foods that can contribute to migraines: http://www.foods4betterhealth.com/avoid-these-common-food...

I agree with checking with your dentist. TMJ, temporomandibular jaw syndrome, has the same symptoms. People who clench (or grind) their teeth, either through general tension or from trying not to yawn (due to sleep deprivation) often get this. You may be clenching at night though, and not realize it. It can feel like a headache, or it can feel like an abscess/infection due to pain in the gums. That's what I thought I had - I could barely open my mouth due to pain on one side, but the dentist checked the jaw muscle and found it completely tight and in spasm. So I'd rule that out. If you don't attend to it, it causes dental problems down the road.

Migraines are tricky. Some people do well with meds, some do well with chiropractic or acupuncture, some just go in dark rooms for 2 days to stop from throwing up. I work with a lot of people who had these, including a colleague/friend who had frequent blackouts. Some women find a tie-in to their menstrual cycles, some don't.

As with most medical situations, you have two routes to choose from. (Sometimes you do a little of both, at least in the beginning.) You either treat the symptom (meds, dark rooms, cold packs) or you treat the cause (which is more systemic than localized). The best results I've seen have been with cellular nutrition, aided in the beginning with meds and then only augmented with meds on rare occasions as the headaches become less frequent and less severe). My friend who blacked out now needs zero meds and has zero migraines, although of course it didn't happen overnight.

I find the peppermint oil interesting. I have no idea why that would work unless the tapping in certain areas makes you more aware of tension you are holding in. That would particularly apply with TMJ but also with other causes of headaches. Be sure it's not a placebo effect before you invest in a lot of oils. They're often touted as a cure-all when in fact there is little evidence for this.

talk to the dentist, as problems with the teeth alignment and jaw problems cause headaches. then keep a journal of food weather, sleep and headaches. this helped me find my triggers and i can usually avoid them if i can't avoid a trigger like the weather i will take ibuprophen at first sign of headache. my mother gets bad headaches if she does not eat regularly so keep that in mind too and make sure you are eating at regular intervals thru the day

I get migraines from lack of sleep as well. I've had a headache for 4 days now because I only slept 5 hours two nights in a row. I was recently diagnosed with celiac disease and removing gluten from my diet has helped with headaches, but I still need to sleep at least 6 hours or I'll suffer.

Keep a journal of what you eat, sleep and wake up times, and headaches. It's a bit of a pain, but a pattern may emerge. If your journal bears out your suspicions, then you'll know that you need to prioritize sleep.

FWIW, I don't take migraine meds. I take large amounts of ibuprofen along with Sudafed and Benadryl because it is effective enough and has fewer side effects than prescription migraine meds. With needing to heal my gut from celiac though, I do need to find someone other than ibuprofen and am taking a second look at OTC meds like Excedrin migraine, which has a different base painkiller.

If no pattern emerges and this just started happening, have your doctor check your pituitary (via MRI) for a tumor. These are usually benign but can cause chronic headaches. I know two women who had no history of regular headaches who started getting headaches out of the blue. They were almost daily and this went on for months and months (in one case, over a year). Both had benign pituitary tumors that were secreting prolactin that were treated with medication that shrunk the tumors and stopped the hormone secretion. It's not common, and totally weird that I know two people that this happened to, but it can explain chronic headaches that have no other know root cause.

Migraine headaches occur most frequently when the blood vessels in your head constrict. That's why caffeine or Excedrin (contains caffeine) sometimes work. I'm a 30 year migraine sufferer and have never read it going to the jaw and face. If I were you, I would see a medical doctor.

Have you been keeping a headache journal?
It might help you find out what triggers the headaches and if you can avoid the triggers you might help you have fewer attacks.

https://www.migrainetrust.org/living-with-migraine/coping...

I get some awful headaches in the spring/fall - usually when the weather temps or barometric pressure jumps/falls rapidly in huge increments.
Excedrin Migraine helps take the edge off but there are days I just want to lay in bed with a heating pad over my head/face with my eyes closed.
Fortunately it's just a few times a year for me - like an ice pick hammered into the top of my head and if it's bad enough it starts aching behind my eyes even with no cold or sinus issues.

Pain near your ears and into your jaw might be dental related.
It's worth it to talk about this with your dentist.
http://www.medcentertmj.com/healthy-living/when-headache-...

Have you had a CT scan? I would ask for one and not just accept the migraine diagnosis. If you have a brain tumor, all the meds in the world won't work. Ruling this out early would be in your best interest.

I would keep a journal. Write down what you are eating, if you are stressed, what time of day you are getting these migraines. It may help when you bring it to the doctor.

I would look up cluster headaches. Your symptoms sound very similar. I get cluster headaches and typical migraine medication does not work for me. I took some prescription meds of someone else who had cluster headaches and it was very effective, which is how I found out about them. I've been getting headaches since I was 5 and every doctor just called them migraines. After seeing a neurologist, they confirmed cluster headaches. Luckily, I can usually manage with ibuprofen, if I can catch it early, but there are meds specifically for cluster headaches if OTC meds don't work.

I consider myself to be lucky in the migraine department: I get 'aura' (vascular) migraines, and the accompanying headache is nasty but manageable. The vision loss is much harder.

I have found that, after many years, anything can seem to trigger it. I might get them in clusters on and off all day. I've found that a combination of Advil and Tylenol, and a strong cup of tea (better than the Excedrin which has caffeine, which kills my stomach) and lying down for a bit usually does the trick. When I started getting them (while in boot camp!), the doctor put me on niacin, a blood thinner. This did help somewhat in that situation. At this point, though, the above mentioned meds and tea (I usually take just Advil and tea first so if another one comes later, I can take the Tylenol) work fine.

I get awful headaches and migraines too. I looked into TMJ and even tried the bite guard thing the dentist made for me but it didn't make a difference. I tried a preventative daily medication (I forget the name) the doctor prescribed which didn't do much. I tried watching what I eat and not eating processed foods and that did help some. Check out the msg myth webpages to read about food sensitivity and migraines. It might help you. The last 3 years we were living in DC and had central A/C and I noticed I had slightly less headaches. I have pollen allergies and have always taken zyrtec for them. I wanted to try something stronger that would work better for my allergies and someone suggested zyrtec D. It is zyrtec and sudafed together and you take it every 12 hours. Once I started taking it I noticed I get much much less headaches now! So, my theory is perhaps my headaches are allergy related? Or just inflammation in general? I also get headaches on one side of my head behind my ear and it will spread to my face...sometimes to my eye. They are truly awful...the worst pain.