Brief Answer:
Headaches- likely radicular

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for your concern and I'm sorry that over this holiday season you're being troubled by this.

Headaches at the base of the neck radiating up to the ear in someone of your age could be something as simple as an arthritic spur or degenerative calcification causing a bit of a pinched nerve in the C2 spinal nerve region. One thing you could consider in addition to the hot packs would be some gentle rotational exercises with the neck that you can do both before and after using the heat which may help loosen the neck joints up a bit so to speak.

I'm not sure whether "being sick to my stomach" is in association with the headache as well. I wouldn't think that it were associated from the description of the radicular pain you're having but on the other hand this could be a masquerading form of atypical migraine as well.

My best guess, however, is that instead of something more complex and unlikely such as new onset migraine headaches or aneurysms which really do present quite differently that a simple C2 radiculopathy is all you have. Now, getting sick to the stomach could also be a function of things you are taking for the headache such as codeine known to upset stomachs very easily as well as if you would be taking too much Excedrin or other over the counter types of medications for these headaches. You should not be taking more than 15 doses PER MONTH of any form of analgesic medication such as Excedrin...and when it's codeine then, we reduce that number to 10 doses total per month.

So, if you go beyond 10 doses per month COMBINED Excedrin and Codeine you risk precipitating what is known as MEDICATION OVERUSE HEADACHES or MOH. These can be very debilitating and become chronic.

I would have a doctor there check you over for your cervical spine....I would NOT PERFORM any type of chiropractic manipulations of the neck and I would also avoid any deep or very uncomfortable massages of the neck since manipulation of the neck arteries could result in complications from those procedures and cause very bad things to happen. An x-ray of the neck may show exactly what your doctor would need to see in order to make the diagnosis of CERVICAL RADICULOPATHY and then, you can get on to the task of best approaches and treatment.

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