Vinny: Norco is hydrocodone. It can cause headaches. It is also addicting and you can get withdrawal symptoms. Another thing is tolerance. They can stop working and require more to work... that is the problem with these drugs. Look in wiki under hydrocodone. Google hydrocodone side effects and withdrawal. Be careful with that stuff. petey

What stroke symptoms do you have?

Petey...thanks for the reply. I have the splitting headache whenever i sleep....then gets better when i get up.......but i still have a headache all day. I get it whether i take hydro or not. Its always there and what sent me to the ER in the first place where they discovered my old stroke. The stroke symptoms i had was right arm going numb and tingling....those have gone away since i started blood thinners but I still have the burning itching skin. The dr said there was no way i could be having allergic reactions to all the blood thinners....so I wonder whether to start back up the ladder and give eliquis another try because they can never get my warfarin dose right. I talked to a guy with afib and he said it only gets worse never better and Id probably end up with a pacemaker like him. Its hard to figure out who to listen to.......but as Im in major pain most the time what do I take.......nothing......what can i take to sleep? Im sorry to be soo confusing but i truly am confused with this condition and the more research I do the more confusing it gets. Have a great Sunday everyone!

Don't talk to the pacemaker guy. He is a downer. The biggest reason for a pacemaker is a too slow heartbeat, not atrial fibrillation. The only reasons you would get a pacemaker with afib are:

You have atrial fibrillation that comes and goes. And you have a fast heart rate when you are in atrial fibrillation and a slow heart rate when you are not in atrial fibrillation. This is called tachy-brady syndrome.
You had an AV node ablation procedure that destroyed the AV node in your heart.
You have a problem with the natural pacemaker of the heart (AV or SA node).
You take a medicine for atrial fibrillation that slows your heart rate too much.

Headaches that are worse when lying down are generally cluster headaches. They are usually worse on one side of the head.

Headache in the morning is a major flag for sleep apnea.

petey

I think petey is right. I would try investigating the sleep apnea angle, especially if you've been told that you snore or if you've ever woken up gasping for breath. Sleep apnea can cause afib, and it can definitely cause morning headaches.

Good advice given on the sleep apnea, try sleeping in a recliner and see if that helps any. And of course you could have a reaction to ANY meds, I had a real bad one with Xarelto, I noticed allot of dizziness,headache and fatigue about 3 days after I started it and it only got worse each day. Got to the point I could barely move, trying to sit and even just watch TV was not even happening, all I could do was just lay there. Called my doc and he said no, not possible but I told him this started shortly after the med change, and I really felt it was the xarelto, he had me come into his office and did echos and etc just be sure it was not something else and this was at 6 ;00 pm in the evening, he even waited for me to get there which was an hour drive ....after tests he told me to stop the Eliquis and he put me on Eliquis, Within 24 hours I felt like a new person. he apologized profusely but had never had a patient react like that to a med. He definitely logged it for future reference for ma and for anyone else that may have the same complaints I did. So don't let a doctor tell you no way, there is always a first and you know your body better than anyone. Insist he listen to you and change it. Good luck!

Sleep apnea is one possibility, and the other thing to consider is rebound headache from the norco. I wonder if that is why you were told to reduce norco to twice a week. Do you take norco for another type of pain? Sometimes taking narcotics can get you into a cycle where you take the pain med, as it wears off you get a headache which causes you to take more pain meds, and the cycle continues. Do you see a chronic pain specialist or pain clinic? If not, ask for a referral. ..they may be able to help you manage these issues.
And don't listen to the pacemaker guy!
Coumadin can be tricky to manage for some people.....have to keep everything consistent, diet, meds, etc. If you are taking norco more often some days that can throw off INR.
Hang in there. Keep us posted.

Thanks for the responses everyone! Im not sure about the sleep apnea....Im wearing a 30 day external heart monitor now...so it should be able to tell if im going into afib during sleep. I never had headaches before TIAs.....The norco rebound sounds reasonable but i am a pain patient and will probably end up in pain clinic at some point. Im reluctant to give up the norcos.......but it makes sense and at this point I dont want to not follow drs advice.....I ll keep posting...Thanks again and I cant tell you how much I appreciate this site and support group!

Sleep apnea can give you a headache in NSR.