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Cause And Treatment For Headache And The Dizziness
Question: Hi, Im a 38 y/o female with Hx of Celiacs, Interstitial cystitis, Fibromyalgia, POTS, paroxysmal A-fib etc. I've been dealing with terrible tension type headache for 8 days now and despite trying several meds, heat, ice, even my neck traction pillow, I've found no relief. It woke me up this morning I rated it a 9 out of 10.I was so dizzy I almost fell twice getting out of bed ( I deal with occasional dizziness from POTS not never this bad). The dizziness eased as long as I stayed lying down but if I lifted my head everything spinned. Felt a little nauseous. Low grade temp of 99.6.The pain last week felt like it was on each side of the bottom of my skull and radiated up my head but has changed to feeling like its mostly in my temples and above my ears. I took my usual Percocet 7.5/325 for my fibro back pain, Ibuprofen 1000 mg, had an Ice pack to my neck/head and heat pad to my feet (trying to draw blood flow away from the headache). After 2 hrs I had no relief so I took 2 Fioricet which finally eased the pain to a tolerable level. Still felt a little dizziness through the day but by late afternoon I could feel it building again so I took the fioricet again at 4:30pm with no relief this time so I took Ibuprofen 1000mg and its still there. Not quit as bad as I woke up with but feels like a vise around my entire head with knots in my temples and temp is 99.8. Not sure what else I can do. I do have Metoprolol 25mg PRN for my A-fib. I heard that's given to some people with migraines.
Brief Answer:
Do not try new medicines until you see your doctor
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
1. I went through your post with diligence and I see you have history of few medical illness in the back ground. Recent onset headache and the dizziness may be related to your previous complaints or a fresh problem. Since you have low grade fever running along with headache and dizziness, infective condition would be my first interpretation. I would definitely like to test your blood samples - hemogram and ESR to exclude infection especially the virus.
2. If both headache and dizziness worsen with posture change, I wouldn't recommend you to use metaprolol without a doctor checking your heart rate and blood pressure. Postural drop of blood pressure may become more pronounced with metaprolol use. Though metaprolol is used to treat migraine, I wouldn't use it in some one with low heart rate or low blood pressure.
3. I suppose you meant you used ibuprofen 100mg (not 1000mg)
In this circumstance, I would suggest you to rest well. Drink sufficient fluids. You can start ibuprofen 200mg twice daily after food and plan to visit your treating physician. He/she can examine you and plan necessary blood test.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you need clarifications.
Regards
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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