Okay, several points to bring forth into the discussion here. Over many years, I had patients who exclaimed “But how can this be due to anxiety? I don’t feel anxious or nervous in any manner?”
Realize that as anxiety ratchets upward and becomes chronic, the features that people more typically recognize to be associated with anxiety are transformed into somatic, or physical manifestations of the disorder. In other words, physical symptoms that are very much like those caused by real disease become salient and represent the presence of intense forms of anxiety such that psychological manifestations of anxiety are accompanied and, in some cases can predominate, chronic anxiety.
The symptoms that you describe being associated more purely with Panic Disorder are those more caused by activation of the body’s fight-or-flight response and are largely associated purely with physical manifestations of significant increases in adrenalin.
Also be aware that Panic Disorder, while often found to accompany chronic or protracted forms of anxiety, is different in that it results from reductions in the neurotransmitter GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid. So the absence of the symptoms of Panic Disorder in no way constitutes the non-presence of chronic and intense anxiety. Again we’re talking about two distinct issues rather than the suggestion that they are one and the same.
If you’ve experienced the unrelenting headaches for the period of time described, then unless you’ve already discussed the matter with your primary doctor then the suggestion here is to visit or request re-evaluation of the headaches with particular attention to discussion of medications that can bring about relief.
I can share with you, however, that headaches can be quite difficult to treat successfully because their origins can be wide-ranging and can often test the patient’s diligence in working with their physician as different medications are administered on a trial basis until a suitable one is found to bring about relief.
Lastly, the fact that the headache symptoms abated briefly before returning is also evidence that the syndrome is more associated with tension and other factors related to anxiety and most definitely not any type of prelude to something more sinister. Regardless, there is nothing to suggest that you should be required to tolerate the persistent pain associated with the headaches so it’s important not to merely accept a response to your medical complaint that “it’s just anxiety,” as if to infer that treatment is not necessary in such instances. No patient should be made to tolerate pain as a consequence of its suspected origin and reduction in pain through effective treatment in certain instances very often leads to the diminished source or origin of the discomfort as well.
Best regards