Constant headaches

[Esperance]

My 20 year old son has had a constant headache for about 8 weeks. It is at the back of his head, makes him nauseous, causes difficulty sleeping - wakes him from sleep. He is having difficulty functioning on a daily basis. He has had a CT scan and a lumbar puncture - both showing nothing adverse. Doctors seem baffled. He is waiting for an MRI scan. Does anyone have any ideas?

[sqad617]

Well, with all the investigations proving negative, one must ask the question as to if the headaches are stress related.

[Eve]

Has he had any other symptoms? I would assume there's been no trauma to the head?

Is he on any medication (or anything else) which could be causing it, I'm sure the doctors would have checked but just in case as it can be a common side effect of some medications (I had it with Dianette and while tolerating Sulfasalzine).

Is it definitely in his head rather then something related to his back and strain there?

He could try consulting an osteopath for some cranial osteopathy to see if that might help, check with his doctors first though.

Be gentle with him after the lumbar puncture, I had a hell of a headache before I had one but it carried it on for a while so may make him a bit worse.

I found this which may give you some info...

http://www.headaches.org/press/NHF_Press_Kits/ Press_Kits_-_The_Complete_Headache_Chart

[Eve]

Another interesting article...

http://www.medicine-in-motion.com/headaches.ht m

[Ice.Maiden]

It seems that most of the usual causes'll have been looked at by the doctor - hence now sending your son for a CT scan. There are so many things which can cause the type of pain your son's getting, Esperance, so I honestly think you should try not to worry until the results come back, at least. The more you read into things, the more you're going to worry yourself that it's something serious. As others've suggested, it might just be stress-related or side effects from any medication, or a bang to teh head at some time or other. Hope your boy gets it sorted out though. x

[rachelmo1980]

sounds like migraines or tension headaches i think ndian head massages would help

[Esperance]

Thank you for all your suggestions ( a little belatedly I know!). Just to say the doctors wrote him off saying its probably migraine he'll just have to get used to it and live with it. He went to a chiropracter who identified some mis-alignements in his spine and within 5 sessions it was sorted. It does return occasionally but at least he knows that a trip to the chirpracter will put it back to normal. Such a relief.