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What Causes Severe Headache During Sleep?

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Posted on Tue, 21 Apr 2015
Question: The Doctor preformed a biopsy of my vocal cords, both sides.2 Pathologists could not agree as to whether it was a cancer. The biopsy was preformed on Nov.25, 2014. They decided to wait several months before revisiting it. Starting about XXXXXXX 2015 I started having severe headaches, nothing helped them. I sometimes wake from my sleep with one, it brings me to tears. The headaches never slowly come on, they hit me full force with unbelievable pressure in the base of my skull and sides of the head. Shortly after the headaches started, I had pain in my neck making it hard to turn side to side. My eyesight has also become a problem. I have trouble focusing in on things and can no longer read prescription labels. Here is the big question? Is it possible that what ever was in the throat is now in my neck & head? I can't even walk a straight line anymore. I'm really concerned, and not getting the answers I need. Please help! XXXXXXX Wong
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Answered by Dr. Ajay Panwar (55 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
Please get a MRI Brain with contrast and MRI spine.Metastasis to rule out.

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXXXX Wong,
Thanks for being on Healthcaremagic.com again with some further details which are of diagnostic help.
Onset of severe headache during sleep is something very unlikely for a primary headache except when it is a 'hypnic headadche' but that appears unlikely in your case as it has no regular timing(hypnic headache usually occurs in morning hours and also called as alarm clock headache).

Rather,intracranial malignancy among the secondary causes is very specific to cause sleep onset of headache and that too of intense severity.Keeping this important point of history in consideration,I suggest you to get one 'Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) of Brain and spine with contrast'-so as to look for an intracranial pathology and spinal(specially neck or cervical spine,as you are having neck symptoms also) involvement,if any.By this,I don't mean to say that you are having a brain cancer or brain metastasis but it's just that when we have a strong point in history,we have to rule it out.

Please follow-up with MRI report.Also,please get a funduscopic examination done by an ophthalmologist to look for raised intracranial pressure.

Waiting for your follow-up.

Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Neel Kudchadkar
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Answered by
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Dr. Ajay Panwar

Neurologist

Practicing since :2007

Answered : 1827 Questions

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What Causes Severe Headache During Sleep?

Brief Answer: Please get a MRI Brain with contrast and MRI spine.Metastasis to rule out. Detailed Answer: Hi XXXXXXX Wong, Thanks for being on Healthcaremagic.com again with some further details which are of diagnostic help. Onset of severe headache during sleep is something very unlikely for a primary headache except when it is a 'hypnic headadche' but that appears unlikely in your case as it has no regular timing(hypnic headache usually occurs in morning hours and also called as alarm clock headache). Rather,intracranial malignancy among the secondary causes is very specific to cause sleep onset of headache and that too of intense severity.Keeping this important point of history in consideration,I suggest you to get one 'Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) of Brain and spine with contrast'-so as to look for an intracranial pathology and spinal(specially neck or cervical spine,as you are having neck symptoms also) involvement,if any.By this,I don't mean to say that you are having a brain cancer or brain metastasis but it's just that when we have a strong point in history,we have to rule it out. Please follow-up with MRI report.Also,please get a funduscopic examination done by an ophthalmologist to look for raised intracranial pressure. Waiting for your follow-up. Dr.Ajay Panwar, MD,DM(Neurology)