Headaches after surgery

[J-Dub]

Hi all,

So I'm six days out of surgery and continuing to get better each day. However, for the past couple of nights and days I've had a non-stop headache. Before surgery, I would get cluster headaches occasionally. These would usually start with blurred vision then, 30 mins later, a full on head-exploding headache that would usually last 1-2 hrs. Well at 4 days out of surgery at about 10pm at night, I got nauseous and then 30 minutes later, intense cluster headache. It was brutal, and they weren't sure what to do to help. They gave me some morphine which would knock me ou for a little, but it would come right back just as strong. The next 9 hours or so were painful. We finally got it under control with regular diolodin, and now it is more of a dull headache, but it still has not gone away. My ENT came by and ordered a sinus CT scan, but that didn't show any infection at all. Anyone have similar experiences and, more importantly, tips? I think recovery would much easier to handle if I could shake the headache.

Thanks,
J-dub

 

[escargome]

Hey J-Dub,
There are several of us who had migrane headaches prior to and after OHS. The severity ranges from person to person. I personally had migrane with aura prior to surgery quite often. Now I only get the aura occasionally and usually when I am work stressed and clenching my jaw a lot. However, I have not suffered the same duration of pain as you describe. My only suggestion would be to try relaxation/meditation techniques if you know any. Have you spoken with your cardio and primary care about the continual pain? I wish I could help you more, maybe others will come along with their own suggestions. I hope the pain subsides soon.

 

[TheGymGuy]

In addition, are you on any drugs (amiodarone, metorpolol, for example) that have headaches as side-effects?

 

[J-Dub]

Thanks for the responses. I'm on a whole host of drugs. Ill post a list shortly.

 

[kfay]

I've put off replying to this thread because I don't really have anything to offer you other than to say I have been where you are and it was a long road back for me. In fact, I was just at the neurologists today. I got hit with a terrible headache while I was still in the hospital, they gave me shots of the longer acting Fentynal and also my Relpax that I normally take for migraines. Like you, it just took them down to a dull ache that I knew would come as soon as the drugs wore off. Fortunately, I have finally turned the corner (knock on wood), 4 years post op and have gone from 28 headache days a month to about 7-8, which is huge! Hopefully, you won't have them this long, but I really don't have any advise on anything to do for them. I literally tried EVERYTHING, from a ton of different drugs, accupuncture, chiropractor, etc.


Kim

 

[J-Dub]

Thanks Kim. I'm sorry it's taken so long, but I'm glad to hear you are feeling better. I'm supposed to see the neurologist this evening, so we'll see if he's got a path of progress for me. I'll let you know what he comes back with, in case it can help anyone else. Thanks for all of the kind wishes!

 

[Ovie]

I had terrible, no scratch that..HORRIBLE headaches, or migraines I think is what doctors figured them to be. Yes they suck, especially when it effects the vision. My doctor prescribed me a migraine med that did wonders, but in a strange way..however as time went by they have calmed down, and now I too kind of just have a dull ache most of the time that I hope goes away in time. I'm 8 weeks post op.