Anxiety and weird headache

Mental health
1

Hello everyone! 

Last three months, I've been suffering from severe anxiety and panic attacks and for around two weeks I have weird headaches! Most of the time I feel dull and hot feeling around my brain. But besides that, I have pain on the top of my head and on the side which can change from side to side! I have also pain behind my eyes and I can feel pressure on my nose! 

Moreover, I see a lot of sparkles, black and light spots which seems like migraine aura. And last few days i feel like I have flu. I feel quite dizzy and have vertigo! 

I've got CT scan last week and everything came normal! 

What can it be?? 

 

2

And I forgot to mention, I also feel quite sick on stomach...

3

It can be and most likely is - anxiety! haha. I've had all the symptoms u've described from anxiety at one time or another.

I too, went through the omg something is wrong I have bad headaches, vertigo, etc. I thought I had a brain tumor, I freaked myself out and got an MRI. I was soooo scared. Turned out, just like u, everything came back totally normal. Slowly as I started working on calming myself down and coping with my anxiety, all those symptoms went away. It truly is amazing what your mind can do to your body physically.

Here's some reassurance for you also:

- Something serious like a brain tumor often doesn't cause headaches actually. Usually they cause balance issues (you can't even walk straight), vomiting, seizures, and other severe symptoms like that. Your symptoms are nowhere near as severe as any of those.

- Anything serious causing your symptoms would not stay the same for 3 months. It would get worse and it would get worse quickly. The fact you've had these for 3 months without it getting substantially worse suggests something non serious like anxiety.

- Do the headaches and other symptoms go away if you're sleeping or distracted at all? I noticed with my headaches dizziness, it would get worse when I was focused on it, and it would lessen when I was distracted. If that's the case for u that is another big sign of nothing serious.

- You had a CT scan, and those are very telling and accurate of anything concerning. If there was anything to be found it would have been seen on the CT.

4

Thank you very much for your reply! <3 

To be honest, my symptoms went dramaticly worse from day to day, because my anxiety went dramaticly worse! I was in panic mode for two weeks straight!!! My anxiety is handable now, but I still have many physical symptoms which make me worry...and these headaches have been ruining my life these few days...especially that dull headaches...my head feels like in fire, like it's going to explode! And no meds work for it...

 

 

5

I stopped taking antidepressants in July and I've experience almost or actually exact symptoms as yours ever since mid August. 

I've had the following 

1.Headaches that shift from right to left, back to front or top, 

2.Slight burning sensation on various spots on my head

3.Ear aches

4.Vertigo/feel off balance when other people tell me, nah that's your mind since you're not falling or walking like a drunk

5.Had weird visual disturbances likes my eyes are trying to refocus, or light stuff.

6. Nausea - though that resolved itself in Mid September.

Then, those symptoms stop and shift to panic attacks symptoms were I feel my throat closing or I need to run away or shifts to abdominal cramps. Then, I had hives crop up on my obliques or right forearm. And as far as I know brain tumors don't cause abdominal cramps or in my case, hives/rashes lol! 

Thank my lucky stars I haven't had seizures or vomited. In addition, the headaches don't wake me up from my sleep. It's after I wake up, when begin to feel slight sensations in my head. 

I told my primary I feared that I had some blood cancer or a tumor. She prodded my neck and head to see if I had inflamed lymph nodes that could indicate something was wrong. Nothing. Checked my ears, nothing. Did blood work, nothing. Hives...Was just a Heat Rash. 

​Kinda wanted to do CT or MRI, though she chalked this to anxiety. Though, being a worry wort, I don't believe her. She wants to put me back in meds. I'm like no. I'm done.  

The moral of this story Anxiety can create some of the most scariest symptoms especially coming off antidepressants. 

6

Forgot to add had, tense muscles that spread from the right side of my neck and go up around my head, eye pain, and just like you pressure on the right side of my nose. Actually that was the first symptom that I had then went to my head.