Horrible Headaches

[Maria1972]

Hello,
I'm new in this forun. I posted a few replies to some threads a few days ago.
My dry eye started at teh end of 2004. The factors:
long term contact lens wear, computer use, and medication taking at teh time: wellbutrin, zyrtec, Birht control pills. I was dix with MGD, Blepharitis, DES.
I was put on restasis and warm compreses and saw great improvement for the first few months. All that declined after 5 months. I relaly don't know if restasis helps me but I still use it. I got also plugs on lower eye lids in april 05. I didn't noticed a difference. Then I started taking omega supplement and that seemed to helped a great deal in conjuction with doxycicline 3 week course.
My dry eye was under control since Sep 05 up until now! Starting this week I starting having very bad headaches. Non stop. They don't respond to tylenol or inbuprofen so my GP put me on Tylenol 3 (w/ contains codeine!)
I know this headache is related to my eyes b/c they feel VERY dry too. The only relief I feel is right after my warm compresses.
I think all this happened b/c I stopped taking my omegas a few months ago and also I've been taking sudafed and medrol pack for a bad cold w/ ear infection I had for 2 weeks. I'm also taking Elmiron for another medical condition, Internstitial cystitis, for 7 months and that may be a factor...I don't know . I have an appointment with my ophtalmologist for October the 4th but is seems like an eternity to have to wait soo long.
Are very bad headaches symptoms of dry eyes too? I've never had it this bad. I hope I get a repply....

[np1981]

I sometimes get headaches related to the eye strain associated with dry eyes.

[Scout]

Hi Maria,
One of the things I do is to check for side effects of any medication I have been prescribed because so many of them can affect the eyes. I checked both Elmiron and Medrol and found some things you may want to discuss with your doctor. I would never recommend stopping any medications without discussing it with your doctor.
Here are some facts from www.drugdigest.org:
I have excerpted some of the information here[emphasis added]:
Elmiron:
http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/DVH/Use...lmiron,00.html
What drug(s) may interact with pentosan?
•agents that dissolve blood clots
•aspirin, especially in higher doses
•blood thinners, such as warfarin
•clopidogrel
•dipyridamole
•fish oil (omega-3 fatty acids) supplements
•herbal supplements, like garlic, ginger, ginkgo biloba, or horse chestnut
•non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen)
•ticlopidine
Side effects that usually do not require medical attention (report to your prescriber or health care professional if they continue or are bothersome):
•hair loss
•nausea
•headache

Medrol:
http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/DVH/Use...Medrol,00.html
What side effects may I notice from taking methylprednisolone?
Side effects that you should report to your prescriber or health care professional as soon as possible:
•bloody or black, tarry stools
•confusion, excitement, restlessness, a false sense of well-being
•eye pain, decreased or blurred vision, or bulging eyes
•fever, sore throat, sneezing, cough, or other signs of infection, wounds that will not heal
•frequent passing of urine
•increased thirst
•irregular heartbeat
•menstrual problems
•mental depression, mood swings, mistaken feelings of self-importance or of being mistreated
•muscle cramps or weakness
•nausea, vomiting
•pain in hips, back, ribs, arms, shoulders, or legs
•rounding out of face
•skin problems, acne, thin and shiny skin
•stomach pain
•swelling of feet or lower legs
•unusual bruising, pinpoint red spots on the skin
•unusual tiredness or weakness
•weight gain or weight loss
Side effects that usually do not require medical attention (report to your prescriber or health care professional if they continue or are bothersome):
•diarrhea or constipation
•headache
•increased or decreased appetite
•increased sweating
•nervousness, restlessness, or difficulty sleeping
•upset stomach
•unusual increased growth of hair on the face or body

[green eyes2]

I get headaches from dry eyes. I have mentioned this in some of my previous posts. It seems like I get at least one every week. They are tension-type headaches, which I believe are caused by the stress of dealing with dry eyes. I've never had as many headaches in my life until I got severe dry eyes. Thankfully, I don't get migraines and can still function but these tension headaches can last all day and it seems like nothing gets rid of them except sleeping. You have to be careful not to take too much Tylenol (more than three days a week) because the Tylenol can actually cause rebound headaches. It is great for the occasional headache and if it's working for your headaches.. great. If the Tylenol is not working very well for your headaches it could actually be increasing them. You can ask your doctor about this.

It sounds like some of the medications you are taking (birth control, antidepressants and cold medicine) have contributed to your dry eye. Not to mention, contacts and computer use. I hope you have checked with your doctor about that possibility and stopped wearing your contacts.

[Maria1972]

Thanks for all the replies!
I have actually stopped wearing contacts a while ago and I was wearing them in very rare ocassions for few hrs only when my eyes were feeling a lot better.
In regards to the medication I'm taking (and the ones I took for the cold including the Sudafed that really dries you out) I stopped the sudafed, the medrol was for 6 days only last week.
The brith control I'm taking them monthly and the funny thing is that the headache started the frist day of the BCP this monday.I don't think I can stop the birth control until I finish the whole pack for the month. I will talk to my doctors about them. I think it was too much for my eyes (and my whole body. I have this "yaky" feeling).
Thaks for the information on tylenol causing rebound headaches. My GP put me on Tylenol 3, it is not the regualr tylenol you get in the drugstore, it has a narcotic componet (codeine). I didn't want to take it but he said it'll be ok for few days.
Oh.. I forgot to add, I take antihistamines too zyrtec...I dind't take it today and won't take it until this dryeness goes away.

[Amy09]

Maria, I get horrible headaches around my eyes from eye pain, too. I think its associated w/ pain I get in the nerves around my eyes, but I'm not sure. One thing I do that helps the headaches is when I'm at home I try to use dim lights. Good luck finding dry eye relief!

[kakinda]

adding my 2-cents experience for what it's worth...
I started having headaches in relation to pain revolving around my eyes long before DE really started. It evolved into trigeminal neuralgia and the treatment (nerve cut) further damaged the lachrymal system.
I have the feeling the this pain around the eyes is in part related to sinus and allergy problems I've always had. Every year seasonal allergies have a huge impact in terms of dryness and pain and I long for the best period for me (between October and late January). Take care
K

[Silverlady]

Eye pain

I was having headaches too. I noticed that the muscles around my eyes stayed sore. I decided that the dry eyes and sequent squinting all of the time were causeing the pain. Tension probably spread to my neck.

I take an arthritis class in the water for my rheumatoid arthritis. One day one of the exercises the instructor had us to do was to look up, look to the right, look to the left and look down..all without moving our heads. We did this several times. After a week of this exercise, I noticed that the pain from my eyes and probably the tension in my neck was less. The headaches stopped. I don't have them now unless I forget to do this exercise. Now I try to do this regularly at least once a day.

Billye

[radiohead1983]

wow i thought i was the only one. For about 4 months i was having extreme tension headaches which i am quite sure was due to the stress behind my dry eyes. As of late it has faded and i hope they never come back

[cherrybrandy]

re horrible headaches.

Hi I have headaches daily connected with des and blephorasm.sometimes it goes into my jaw area as well.Since i found out that the previous pain meds i was taking,namely codeine makes des worse ive just been having paracetamol and ice packs.This is a horrible condition and noone can imagine how painful and debilitating it is until theyve experienced it themselves....take care...

[Maria1972]

Cherrybrandy, tahnks for letting me know that coiden makes DES worse. Sometimes I take Tylenol 3 (w/ codeine) and Darvocet for another condition I have...I will have to be more careful with those and oly use it if very necesary. I found that everything I take for other conditions affect my eyes!

[sazy123]

Hiya.

I have realised lately that the pain i get in my face (over sinuses) (sinus headches) are I think not actually sinus headahces (which are relativey rare) but actualy myofascial trigger points which are refering pain over my face. this causes me to get headaches around my eyes. for headaches/ face pain you may feel for hardened lumps in your neck that are very tender to press (when active) and slightly tender when (latent), these lumps due to stress or injury is resricted muscle and often causes headches etc. But doctors dont know much about them. Ive got several around my eyes and in neck. I have also read they can cause irritated eyes..

Just wanted to point this out as an option for the cause of headaches. Google it, it will tell you how to find them.

A good place to look is, if you turn your head to the side of one shoulder, your neck muscles on the oposite side will become taught. you will be able to feel two muscles next to each over, one overlaps the other (called the sternocleidomastoid muscles), feel in the middle of these two pressing your thumb on the one furthest away from your chin, start from the top and feel down. you might have to move your skin abit with your thumb to feel the lump.

hope this helps someone. it has me.

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20020215/653.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract

http://www.triggerpointbook.com/triggerp.htm

[Dotanne]

Thanks heaps for this info Sazy. I have been having a lot of trouble with an infected tooth on the upper right that was extracted 2 1/2 weeks ago but gave me a lot of pain for 2 weeks after and is still not right(but a lot better). My eye on that side of my face has also been very irritated and sore and I was wondering if the tooth problem had affected my sinus on that side too but it is not really severe pain. I have tender spots (feel like slightly swollen glands) in my neck too so I must read up all your links. It is so hard to tell if it is the dry eye causing the problem or something else that irritates the eye making it worse.
Take care
Regards
Dotanne

[Flick]

Most people that think they are having sinus headaches are actually having migraines. Technically there is no such thing as a sinus headache, although in rare cases sinusitis can cause headache-like pain. There was a good article recently in the NY Times about this, here's the link and a quote from it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/he...be6918&ei=5070

"As if that were not enough dogma to overturn, there is growing evidence that almost all so-called sinus headaches are really migraines. No wonder then that the plethora of sinus remedies on the market and the endless prescriptions for antibiotics have yielded so little relief for the millions of supposed sinus sufferers."

I don't know much about the relationship between dry eyes and sinuses, but I would recommend that if you're having frequent headaches that you think may be from sinuses that you talk to your primary care doc or see a migraine specialist. There's lot of good meds out there for migraines now, triptans are especially effective.

[sazy123]

if that were not enough dogma to overturn, there is growing evidence that almost all so-called sinus headaches are really migraines. No wonder then that the plethora of sinus remedies on the market and the endless prescriptions for antibiotics have yielded so little relief for the millions of supposed sinus sufferers

Yes this is true, something like 95% of sinus headches are something else. But are missdiagnosed.

but I would recommend that if you're having frequent headaches that you think may be from sinuses that you talk to your primary care doc or see a migraine specialist.

In fact many migranes actually turn out to be caused by trigger points instead of actual migrane as well.

I dont think my 'face pain' is migrane because i dont have any of the characteristics of migrane i.e the longest episode of migrane would be 72 hours long, my pain goes on for weeks on end.

Also when i press on these lumps under my eye brows/ cheeks under eyes it is the same pain that i experiance when not touched.

I bought this amazing book, its on that link i posted. not expensive. it shows you how to locate all the trigger points through out the body and how to do deep massage on them to deactivate them by getting blood to them because the fascia is in a restricted state and isnt getting blood and oxygen (hense they are painfull and refer pain).

Im going to a pain specialist tommorow, who do trigger point injections which also deactivates them.

In the book i read it says trigger points can arise in the masseter muscle in your mouth and cause jaw pain confused with tmj.

Another interesting thing is i found some big ones at the bottom of my back just above the bone that sticks and i think they might be related to my bad period pains -hormones could trigger the points. The book mentioned something about this. Because when the points are latent they dont refer pain.

refined Sugar may also trigger them if they are latent indirectly through the imune system.

The common name for them are 'knots', pain clinics report they cause 75% of pain.

So ill see what the pain guy says tommorow.

My doctor didnt seem to know what i was talking about, apparently they dont get taught about it. he said i had unexplained symptoms becuase i said it wasnt sinusitis.