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Suggest Remedy For Headache Caused By Anxiety

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Posted on Mon, 23 Nov 2015
Question: I had a very emotional phone call about a family member's health issue last Thursday; I am a Nurse and obviously the graveness of the phone call stressed me terribly. When I got off the phone, I was explaining to other family members the brevity of the call and out of the blue I got a severe, global headache that lasted 1 - 2 seconds, just enough for me to say "what was that'?. As quickly as it came , it went away, I had no other neurological symptoms, no slurred speech, no visual changes, no dizziness, etc. Later that evening I did notice a residual headache frontally, but nothing like the initial headache earlier in the day. Since then I have no other symptoms, no H/A. I am borderline HTN but on medication; it scared me that this may be a "thunderclap" headache with the chance of an aneurysm in the future? Or a stroke. I had an MRI last XXXXXXX that was completely normal and Carotid Doppler Study in XXXXXXX with a mild stenosis on left carotid, stress test in XXXXXXX was normal.
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Answered by Dr. Abhijit Sonawane (1 hour later)
Brief Answer:
this headache could be insignificant. you can repeat mri once again

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting in HCM.
As we healthcare workers know a lot about symtpoms we tend to over diagnosis ourself with more grave diseases than it is which is normal.
Thunderclap headache as you thought it might be will not go away and it will stay. These kind of headache are the most severe so from your description it does not look like one of them.
What you must have had was a tension headache. It came globally and went away with some residual headache and these headaches are triggered by emotional bouts as you have mentioned.
If that is the case then there is nothing to be worried about as you must be knowing about tension headaches.
Still if you want to be tension free, you can get a repeat MRI brain to rule out the fear you have about being a serious condition.
Otherwise it does not fit in any serious neurological problem.
I hope i have answered your query well.
if you have any more query kindly write back to me will be happy to answer them.
Thank you
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Sonia Raina
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Answered by
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Dr. Abhijit Sonawane

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2011

Answered : 603 Questions

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Suggest Remedy For Headache Caused By Anxiety

Brief Answer: this headache could be insignificant. you can repeat mri once again Detailed Answer: Hello, Thanks for posting in HCM. As we healthcare workers know a lot about symtpoms we tend to over diagnosis ourself with more grave diseases than it is which is normal. Thunderclap headache as you thought it might be will not go away and it will stay. These kind of headache are the most severe so from your description it does not look like one of them. What you must have had was a tension headache. It came globally and went away with some residual headache and these headaches are triggered by emotional bouts as you have mentioned. If that is the case then there is nothing to be worried about as you must be knowing about tension headaches. Still if you want to be tension free, you can get a repeat MRI brain to rule out the fear you have about being a serious condition. Otherwise it does not fit in any serious neurological problem. I hope i have answered your query well. if you have any more query kindly write back to me will be happy to answer them. Thank you