Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with Google
Suggest Remedies For Severe Headache While On Hydrocodone
Question: my husband is experiencing a severe headache. Located in the temporal area and behind his eyes. BP at 5:30 a.m. was 187/94 with a pulse of 84. He took his hydrocodone 7.5 mg for chronic pain. Then he took is Metoprol 100mg and HCTZ 25mg. at 9:00 his BP was 174/74 with a pulse of 70 and regular. He is still experiencing a headache. He has had this headache for 3 or 4 days. He is diabetic: BS 384 this am with 16 units of Humalog and 30 units of Levimir.
Brief Answer:
Headache needs evaluation and current management
Detailed Answer:
Hi xxxxxx1959, thanks for asking from HealthcareMagic.
I can understand your concern. Your husband is having high blood pressure along with uncontrolled diabetes. High blood pressure can cause the headache. Usually, hypertensive headache occurs in occipital (back of head and upper neck) area. Your husband is having the headache behind eyes.
Such kind of a headache usually occurs with--
- A stress or a tension headache
- Eye disease like refractive error
- Frontal sinusitis
- Less commonly due to hypertension
So we should also rule out other causes of the headache to treat it properly. I need some information about him
- Is there any history of glasses/visual blurring?
- Is there any vomiting along with the headache?
- Is there any history of nasal blockade, allergy, fever?
- Is there any history of a band like sensations around the head/not much relief with painkillers/no pain during sleep/long duration headache?
After getting answers to above questions, I will be able to understand his headache in a better way.
Till then for pain relief, you can:
- Give him painkiller like tablet Tylenol (650mg up to three times a day)
- Avoid any noise, bright light. Ask him to take rest.
- Give him hot coffee/tea without sugar. Caffeine helps in reducing headache.
- You can massage his head by pressing over his temporal region. Please ask him if he gets relief, if yes, then do it for 15-20 min. It will provide symptomatic relief.
- If he is using glasses, ask him to wear it on regular basis.
- Good control of Blood Pressure is required too. Please consult the doctor for lowering BP. At his age, his BP should be below 160/90mm Hg. Ideal BP is 140/90 mm Hg. To reduce BP, you should reduce his salt intake to 2g/day. He can go for morning walk. If he is stressed, he can take tablet Clonazepam after prescription.
I hope it will help him. And please provide the details so that I can assist you further.
Thanks. Take care.
Headache needs evaluation and current management
Detailed Answer:
Hi xxxxxx1959, thanks for asking from HealthcareMagic.
I can understand your concern. Your husband is having high blood pressure along with uncontrolled diabetes. High blood pressure can cause the headache. Usually, hypertensive headache occurs in occipital (back of head and upper neck) area. Your husband is having the headache behind eyes.
Such kind of a headache usually occurs with--
- A stress or a tension headache
- Eye disease like refractive error
- Frontal sinusitis
- Less commonly due to hypertension
So we should also rule out other causes of the headache to treat it properly. I need some information about him
- Is there any history of glasses/visual blurring?
- Is there any vomiting along with the headache?
- Is there any history of nasal blockade, allergy, fever?
- Is there any history of a band like sensations around the head/not much relief with painkillers/no pain during sleep/long duration headache?
After getting answers to above questions, I will be able to understand his headache in a better way.
Till then for pain relief, you can:
- Give him painkiller like tablet Tylenol (650mg up to three times a day)
- Avoid any noise, bright light. Ask him to take rest.
- Give him hot coffee/tea without sugar. Caffeine helps in reducing headache.
- You can massage his head by pressing over his temporal region. Please ask him if he gets relief, if yes, then do it for 15-20 min. It will provide symptomatic relief.
- If he is using glasses, ask him to wear it on regular basis.
- Good control of Blood Pressure is required too. Please consult the doctor for lowering BP. At his age, his BP should be below 160/90mm Hg. Ideal BP is 140/90 mm Hg. To reduce BP, you should reduce his salt intake to 2g/day. He can go for morning walk. If he is stressed, he can take tablet Clonazepam after prescription.
I hope it will help him. And please provide the details so that I can assist you further.
Thanks. Take care.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Arnab Banerjee
Answered by
Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties
