Pseudotumor Cerebri Support Group
Pseudotumor cerebri (PTC) is a neurological disorder that is characterized by increased intracranial pressure, in the absence of a tumor or other diseases affecting the brain or its lining. Diagnosis requires brain scans and lumbar puncture. Characteristic symptoms are headache, transient visual obscurations or transient visual loss in one or both eyes usually lasting...
Has anyone ever noticed that if you have a really bad headache and you get up, or sit up, it eases a lot?
I am just wondering because I have noticed it. Especially today.
Here's a little bit of what has been bugging me lately:
I have been having worsening headaches for a few weeks now...but not really accompanied by nausea or vomiting or my debilitating eye pain/pressure (feeling they are being squished into and pushed out of my head at once). Now, a few of you know this already, I have gone through having high pressure and then having incredibly low pressure (requiring two more surgeries after shunt was originally placed, all done in less than two years). When my pressure was high, I only really had the eye pain...when it was low, I had the eye pain, a migraine on top of that, and I vomited when I sat up or stood up. So that confuses me. I have none of those symptoms...my head is just killing me! Also, my pupils are always HUGE when my pressure it bad (high or low). Since May, when my shunt was last adjusted and I started feeling great, they have been tiny...well, normal, I guess. For the past twenty-four hours or so, they have gotten a little bigger.
I was just wondering if anyone has ever experienced such a change from just getting up. Today has been the worst BY FAR. I just got up ten minutes ago to walk to get some Smart Water (I strongly recommend it!) and the getting up immediately relieved a ton of the pain...I am just clueless as to why!
Thanks in advance for opinions.
Heather
I am just wondering because I have noticed it. Especially today.
Here's a little bit of what has been bugging me lately:
I have been having worsening headaches for a few weeks now...but not really accompanied by nausea or vomiting or my debilitating eye pain/pressure (feeling they are being squished into and pushed out of my head at once). Now, a few of you know this already, I have gone through having high pressure and then having incredibly low pressure (requiring two more surgeries after shunt was originally placed, all done in less than two years). When my pressure was high, I only really had the eye pain...when it was low, I had the eye pain, a migraine on top of that, and I vomited when I sat up or stood up. So that confuses me. I have none of those symptoms...my head is just killing me! Also, my pupils are always HUGE when my pressure it bad (high or low). Since May, when my shunt was last adjusted and I started feeling great, they have been tiny...well, normal, I guess. For the past twenty-four hours or so, they have gotten a little bigger.
I was just wondering if anyone has ever experienced such a change from just getting up. Today has been the worst BY FAR. I just got up ten minutes ago to walk to get some Smart Water (I strongly recommend it!) and the getting up immediately relieved a ton of the pain...I am just clueless as to why!
Thanks in advance for opinions.
Heather
And I notice that it is worse when I wake up, too! It does not really get worse when I lay down at night, but in the morning it is by far the worst!
As for work keeping you busy...I am unable to work, medically (I also have seizures that we have not figured out yet and are not 100% controlled...they are VERY dangerous for me) so I am not really quick to say that being busy means you have less pain...or, well, pay less attention to it. Yes, it gets your mind off of it, but if it was something that was debilitating, I believe work would be too difficult anyhow. Being up and working may be the best thing for you, when these headaches attack!
I also saw that you take Zofran...isn't that a miracle drug?! I cannot take ANY other anti-nausea medications as they all cause dystonic reactions for me...I do not know what I would do if Zofran did, too!!!
Zofran is so fabulous and I love how we don't get tired of anything! The others (when I could take them) made me tired, so being able to take Zofran when I was on vacation the last two years (Nashville...while suffering with my PTC! I just was not missing my country music festival!) while out and about was so perfect. I had no appetite for about two years and was always nauseated...so it helped! I have used the ODT a lot, but now that I am not nauseated often, whenever I do take it, I just take the pill because that is what was last prescribed. I don't have any on hand right now either, but I don't really need it! (I have pretty much been in remission since May! Not without my own battles...but all of it is worth it for all the improvements it has had on my life! I never knew my pressure was effecting my life BEFORE the symptoms until my pressure was better! So crazy...)
Thank God for some small miracles!
So glad to hear that you are in remission now!
I am glad to be able to say it! It took a while (three years of debilitating pain), but I feel better than I ever did before...even before PTC hit. The way I would get tired randomly, or not sleep well, or my period was never regular, my appetite wasn't regular, I was moody...now I am energized, I sleep well, my period is regular, appetite is good and regular (a little too good if you ask me!), and I am only moody right before my period, lol. So worth it!!
I will admit that I do not lead the healthiest lifestyle, but yes, it can effect everything! I have motivation now, too, since my PTC has been under control! The things that physical pain does to us mentally, I swear!