Head pressure (Anxiety?)

Guest wrote:

Starting February 8th, 07, I woke up really light headed, and the light headedness never went away. At first I thought I was sick, then I thought I had several serious illnesses. I went and got tested for everything: HIV, lymphoma, cancers, brain tumors, anemia, etc. Everything came back fine. Then my lightheadedness turned in to a constant headache that NEVER went away. I thought I was going crazy. I had my first anxiety attack last December after weeks of heart palpitations and not knowing what was wrong. Up until late January I was fine and didn't think it would be a problem. I believe my anxiety was triggered by a near overdose of cocaine, or Ecstasy that I tried that Halloween. Both drugs I only tried once. I feel like my life has been ripped away from me, or that I took it for granit when I felt completely fine. I live everyday in misery and I am only 20 years old. I am going to therapy for anxiety, and I have seen my doctor and a psychiatrist. Both say my symptoms are "strange" and that makes me feel even worse. The head pressure NEVER goes away, and I have never been a headache person. It all happened so fast, and now I feel as though I have no future. I am on Zoloft and have slowly been increasing my dosage. I started on April 7 . . . I went from 25 mg, to 50 mg, and today is my third day on 75 mg. Some days I would feel "okay" but not completely better. I go to the gym now and just exercise until I can't breathe anymore, I also try to run twice a week. I have yet to see a neurologist but I am planning on it next week. I'm also thinking about switching to Lexapro. I know this is a lot, but I feel like no one is taking me seriously or is really listening to what I'm saying, not even my parents. I need help, or else I am scared that I will hurt myself, or go crazy. Has anyone ever overcome something like this? If so, what did it take, and how long did this last?


I HAVE BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU SERIOUSLY NEED SOME1 WHO HAS SURVIVED THIS EVIL ANXIETY PANIC DISORDER MY NAME IS TEMPLE I LIVE IN TENNESSEE YOU DO NOT NEED MEDS.. TRUST ME _[removed]_

Hi



I had a viral infection a couple of years back. For the first few months I had terrible pressure in the head which would drain me out completely. I also developed constant light headedness/vertigo like when when is under water or just come out of a lift. The pressure and vertigo were really bad for the first 6 mths. Got all tests done, tried every sort of prescribed medcine. Then over a year ago I was prescribed cipralex10 mg. The medicine really started improving my symptoms after a few weeks. The pressure is gone however, the vertigo, though much better is still there. I've been told it's a slow process and will take time. I know at times it can be depressing but one has to remain postive.



I know a 13 year old who has had constant headaches for the last 2 years. Doctors have diagnosed abdominal migraine. He's been on different medicines. At times he gets better and then the headaches worsen.



Hope this info helps.

i have been diagnosed with anxiety and have been put on 100mg of zoloft. I also have had and still have the constant pressure in my head and always think the worst.... but it just goes hand in hand with anxiety. It drives me crazy at times but i just take a few deep breaths and calm myself down and this seems to help.

To truiz1980

I read your post about trouble you experienced from anxiety. I am 24 and had never had any drugs except alcohol and marijuana yet I took cocaine for the first time during a trip through South America and feel although I'm never going to recover. It kept me up all night and the next day panic hit and I had this awful light-headed feeling. I felt different; and then ever since have not stopped worrying that I have done some form of brain damage. As each day went by the anxiety got worse. It has stayed with me constantly for 3 and a half months now. I feel a constant tension/numbness/headache in my forehead. I worry constantly that I will never be the same and feel constantly on edge. I'm also constantly self-assessing my symptoms and myself. Its truly horrible although it sounds like you had a similar experience - and hopefully managed to come out of this nightmare.

If you could offer any help or advice it would be forever appreciated.

I HAVE HAD A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE..I FIND THE BEST TREATMENT FOR THIS IS ACUPUNCTURE A TAKING A LONG NAP WITH SOME ADVIL...HOPE THIS HELPS YOU IT IS RELATED TO THE LIVER/ADRENALS NOT WORKING PROPERLY SO I WOULD HAVE A BLOOD TEST TO TEST THOSE AND THE THYROID...BES TO YOU BOTH,VALERIE

I have had it for years and years and have taken every anxiety/depression med known to man...did not help at all actually made me worse. I had a CAT scan years ago but never an MRI. I suspect it is anxiety as my mother had it too .... it is simply the weirdest feeling almost like something is sticking in my head..My physician years ago said anxiety disorder. So I know it but man it is so annoying. Some other drugs help but I do NOT want to get addicted and never have. They are very very addicting drugs and it's not worth it. I'd rather have the pressure but it is totally obnoxious!

Hey dirk I know its late in aking you this but I'm having the same symptoms and I was wondering if you found the answer. I want m.y life back. Please let me now. The only person that I think is helping is a neurologist. He put shots by my ears to numb the m.uscle.

i'm 17. i remember during the summer of 08 one day i had a strange sensation, feeling light headed and not me at all. I was still aware of reality but at the same time as weird as this sounds i didnt feel in control of my own body, for example just walking around felt weird. After that the next few months passed and i was fine. Then around september 08 the weird sensation overcame me again and since then it hasnt ended.

Further symptoms have developed. I have a constant pressure concentrated in the head muscles, mainly at the sides but also around the top and the forehead. This pressure also runs down into my neck which is extremely sore and also contains many muscle knots. To be honest most of my muscles are weary and ache im guessing due to excessive contraction. I'm fatigued most of the time. Im guessing the pressure in my head is causing the weird sensation. It has completely distorted my perception of reality. Also recently i'm having problems with memory loss and also slight visual problems. It is not severe but noticeable nevertheless. The light headed feeling makes me feel faint at times and has made my life such a struggle. All of these symptoms are constant and remain throughout the day and have done for the past 8 months now.

I've seen my local GP who thought it was something viral, possibly glandular fever. iv had that checked with a negative result. i've seen a neurologist and had an MRI scan to check for irregularities in my head and neck such as tumours or any other possible causes. Nothing came up. Ive had my blood tested. That is all fine. I've had physio and she thought it was all to do with bad posture. i've been working on posture exercises for the past month and regularly exercising but there has been no improvements.

I have always been quite an anxious and shy kind of person and am used to moments of uncomfort. i believe i have what is called 'socialphobia'
it has never caused me severe continual problems like i have now. I really wish there was a cure to all of this. My parents dont believe my pain anymore even though my dad is a neurologist himself. i had a prosperous life ahead of me with many ambitions. now im not sure if i can withstand all of these problems, them causing me to worry further. the main problem is the light headedness making me feel faint. Luckily i've never experienced a panic attack so far.. but i know it will eventually get me if these problems persist.

i hope to go to uni after i graduate. im thankful it hasnt affected my grades to such an extent. my a levels begin tomorrow :S

i dont want any medication, taking antidepressants and such drugs at such a young age cannot be beneficial. If anyone has any help i'd gratefully accept it.

:-) :-) :-)

You should all have an MRI and have them specifically look into the possibility of a chiari malformation of the brain. That's what has been causing all of my pressure, dizziness, and tinnitus.

i have this same problem..the sides of my head feel like they are in a vice that slowly tightens more and more. I cant sleep, im not hungry, i worry about everything, panic attacks...i feel like im losing my mind and i dont know what to do anymore. I have been seeing my doctor about this for the past year and we have tried every single depression/anxiety medication he could throw at me. He's a young doctor so im not sure he really knows what he is doing somtimes.. the medicine usually only made me want to kill myself and i would have to talk myself down or take a bunch of benadryl so i could go to sleep and hopfully when i wake up i wouldnt want to kill myself anymore. There has to be a logical answer why we all have this same problem. there has to be a medical answer.

Im going to call my doctor right now about getting a mri done.

im only 20. How could i be so messed up so young. Its not fair at all...

Hey guys,
I know what you're gonig through. I was feeling that terrible head pressure for weeks on end, and then I was so worried about what it could be that it led to intense anxiety--I've dealt with anxiety all my life, but this was the absolute worst it had ever been because the head thing freaked me out so much. So I just went to the doctor and she started me on Klonapin (which is affordable even without insurance) and a small dosage of Lexapro. I've only been on it for two days and I'm already feeling 80% better. My heart feels back to normal, the head pressure is almost entirely gone. The slight feeling of depersonalization is still there, but I'm hoping it'll go away with time. The meds are making me a little sleepy, but I'll take sleepy over crazy any day! My advice is to get all the help you can--your problem might not be anxiety like me, so get second opinions and MRIs and everything you can do to make the weirdness go away. Best of luck!

WORD OF CAUTION: IDEAS AND THEORIES IN THE POST ARE JUST THAT, IDEAS AND THEORIES. YOU MAY BE ON MEDICATION THAT WILL INTERACT BADLY WITH SOME SUPPLEMENTS SUGGESTED OR MAY HAVE A PRE-EXISTING CONDITION THAT CONTRADICTS A SUGGESTION HERE. IF YOU ARE UNSURE TALK TO YOUR PHYSICIAN. FROM HEREAFTER IS MERE SUGGESTION AND IS NOT INTENDED TO CAUSE HARM. I TAKE NO LIABILITY FOR ANYONE WHO USES THIS INFORMATION.

It is somewhat uplifting to know that many people are experiencing the same medically unexplained symptoms, although it is terrible to see that many people have the same awful trouble that I do.

First panic attack at 10 years old, linked to movies about incurable illnesses and suicide. Full on body tingle/numbness chest pain racing heart feeling like I was going to faint etc. That was brutal.

It seemed to wane until I was 14, then it was a gradual incline of symptoms and mild to moderate panic attacks until the summer of grade 12 when I did copious amounts of various stimulants and hallucinogens. The september after this summer is when I stopped using drugs so frequently and the head pressure became really severe. It was to the point of not being able to pour cereal and milk into a bowl because I wasn't sure how the box or lid on the milk worked. I began believing I had a serious condition brought on by dirty drug use or something to that extent. Between thoughts of brain tumors/defects and viral infections such as meningitis the condition got seriously worse. I know it's anxiety/panic, which is a normal and useful bodily response to states of extreme physical stress (such as having a very angry bear standing in front of you roaring loudly).

How does one run from the bear that doesn't ****ing exist? How does one eliminate such destructively circular thoughts about impending doom?

There is NO quick fix(unless you actually have a physical condition, and if you do you will know soon due to symptoms causing serious physical dysfuntion). I have tried EVERYTHING the doctors have to offer (save for high dose anti-psychotics). YOU are PROBABLY not depressed nor psychotic. You for some reason have overactive adrenaline and a strong response to stressful situations.

It is ok! You will live! No matter how terrible it gets, no matter how close to death you figure you are due to these symptoms, you will still exist!

What do I think helps and suggest to people trying endlessly to combat these terrible symptoms?
I believe if you can live for a relatively long period without anxiety (4-6 months) you will be mostly rid of the memory.

DRINK 8 8oz(250mL) GLASSES OF WATER A DAY. You will stop urinating so frequently after this becomes habitual.

1. Remove some stress from your life. Don't go to large crowds, raves, clubs, etc. Avoid driving during rush hour if at all possible. Take a hot bath with bubbles occasionally while listening to your favorite calming music. Read a cheery book. Go see a christmas movie. Who cares if your friends consider it "silly" or "stupid". It may be a part of your ticket to a happier life.

2. Choke down three healthy medium sized meals a day, or if that's too difficult choke down 5 small ones. Make sure to include some meat for protein and tryptophan(high quantities of tryptophan found in turkey, relaxing). Include a good variety of vegetables, I find carrots to be very helpful due to the vitamin A in them. Make sure to get your starches, such as potatoes or noodles, you need LOTS of energy to deal with the amount of adrenaline running through your system. Try to have a milk or milk-alternative product for the enrichment (vitamin d/calcium).

3. Grab some vitamins. Take them daily. The combination I take is a general adult multivitamin, B100 complex(don't take more than one a day unless instructed by a physician, high dose B6 can be very harmful), omega 3-6-9 fish oils, and vitamin d3. Adrenaline is a strong stimulant, you are sapping yourself of nutrients every time you have a panic/anxiety attack. Fish oils are partially responsible for seratonin stability, they are also calming when taken habitually.

4. Use your body. A panic/anxiety attack is your bodies' "fight or flight" response. Since we have nothing to run from and nothing to attack/kill, this response is now obsolete. Unfortunately it still exists in some of us. Consider yourself stronger of the olden times, your body is ready to run or fight all the time. Stretch, run, lift weights. Even doing only two jumping jacks every day will help. Done daily, a small amount of exercise will help you to move your nutrient blood filled around and use up some of that excess adrenaline.

5. Do some research on natural supplements that have calming effects. My favorite is 5-HTP, the precursor to seratonin. Others are valerian root, theanine (found in tea, mainly green tea, I suggest decaffeinated). I have also found L-Tyrosine (precursor to norepinephrine and dopamine) to be helpful in regulating if not preventing the fatigue and faintness after a panic attack has finally been overcome. L-Tyrosine is not strong, so it shouldn't push you further into panic.

6. Slowly eliminate stimulants as much as possible. Things like caffeine, even stimulant based decongestants(ephedrine and pseudoephedrine) bring up your heart rate and headaches. They heighten anxiety. Be warned that if you quit coffee cold-turkey you will probably experience withdrawal anxiety along with other caffeine withdrawal symptoms. Go slow, you have lots of time to heal yourself.

7. The second last, and the second hardest. Try your hardest not to fall to intoxication. Limit if not remove your alcohol consumption, it may feel like the drink is calming you but it's hurting your brain and helping to continue the problem. Street drugs are especially bad, namely ecstasy, cocaine, and crystal meth. Downers such as barbs and heroin are bad too, but for the after withdrawal effects that can cause psychosis, as well as being destructive in your brain. There is much controversy on the calming effects of cannabis on people suffering from GAD and Panic Disorder. I recommend you stay away from cannabis, but some people swear by it. Cannabis will make you lazy and unmotivated and thus further trapping you somewhere and causing cabin fever. Cannabis is becoming medically legal now though, so it's your choice. Personally, I feel that cannabis aggravates and initiates a panic attack.

8. The last and hardest. Don't worry. Don't let it get to you. Don't let it bring you down. It's the worry that recirculates the panic that recirculates the worry. You can't end the panic, so end the worry. It's hard, but life is going to do as it's going to do. You have the choice to exist or the choice to not, and I figure the latter is a pretty ugly and silly choice.

I am ADD(attention deficit), OCD(obsessive compulsive), SAD(seasonal affective), GAD(generalized anxiety), Panic Disorder, Mild Tourettes, HPPD(hallucination persisting perception). I have fallen into drug induced psychosis twice, once with LSD and once with Cocaine. My first pediatrician believed me to be strangely autistic, my brain doesn't work like the majority of the people on this planet.

I am currently taking Concerta(methylphenidate), a stimulant for my ADD. This heightens my anxiety, but I can't drive without the stimulant or I forget that I'm driving. A word to those with ADD and anxiety: DON'T MIX YOUR MEDS WITH CAFFEINE. I take a large dose of vitamin d3 to combat my SAD, upwards of 5000UI some days.

I miss who I was once, I'm trying to return to that person. Once I get to that person, I'm dedicating myself to the study of abnormal psychology/psychiatry (study of disorder, etc.) I want to be a milestone in the development of effective treatment for people suffering so greatly so that people like me in the future can find help and not suffer like I have.

I wish a world of love to you all, and I hope you find some peace.
-

God bless you, sir. I hope you manage and find peace, and maybe you can one day help others like you and myself.

Hi i am 14 years old.

I Beleive this has to do with depression and anxiety.
I became just like this in May dureing my semester exams. While studying one night I became light headed and my breatheing became light and short, and my heart was beating super fast. I ran to my mom, for help. For weeks my chest has been feeling tight and heavy and makeing it hard to breathe. Also I was more prone towards getting a areythmia or another panic attack.

Dureing the summer:
I went to a cardio doctor and he put me on a monitor. He made all these test on me even an x-ray! And everything was fine.
Also dureing relaxing summer days I felt fine, but when I go home I get scared or anxious the scary symptons will come again I even developed a fear of direing, and that has been makeing things worse for me.

Currently:
Now it is September and now I am in High School and the changes has been dramatic for me. I had a long history of emotional abuse in middle school, and I think all that has affected my self being, health, and self confidence!

Now sometimes I am in social groups I feel my heart pounding hard a little light headed.

New Symptoms:
Now my symptons have gone to my head. Now I feel this pressure onmy forehead when I am nervous or on top of my head. Also it feels heavy. Also my neck feels stiff :-(.

My Conclusion:
Even though these feelings feel so scary, most of it is in our minds. All this nervouseness and anxiety has worked up our bodies to the max and have caused it internal stress. Sometimes we are anxious with out noticeing becuase we are so used to being in that state of mind

Ways I like to get rid of theses symptoms:

head: massage it but not too hard!

Stress: a lavendar bath or a pine bath

anxiety: takeing deep breathes and thinking about wonderful things

breatheing: squeezing a pillow and trying to regulate yourself

okay this is all I have.

WE ARE NOT DIEING WE JUST TIRED OUR BODIES OUT!

hi all,i have had this problem 4 months tried all medicines nothing seems to work,but somebody suggested almond oil i tried it and the pain is gone an to sum extent it also helps with the pressure.jus massage it in to your scalp.good luck