New Daily Persistent Headache Support Group

I'd like to just get some feedback on this. I find that my headache pain is less when I get up in the morning (after a good night's rest).

I also find that as I'm going about my day, the headache begins to increase. After coming home from work, I feel tired and my headache is strong. I find that I am able to reduce the headache by taking a nap or lying down for a while. I wonder if other people have experienced relief through sleep/rest as well. I know Elisemarcel says that her headache is weakest right when she wakes up in the morning.

Lately my HA is most painful when I wake up in the morning. Kie this morning, I woke up after sleeping 8.5 hours last night with a pain level of a 7, I am usually a 4 or 5. I have been extremely fatigued this month and sleeping 8-10 hours every night and still exhausted when I wake up. I had a cold at the beginning of the month and suspect I am still not completely over it. I kept a diary for a long time and never coule make rhyme or reason out of what was making it worse or what was making it better.

Hello.. I've had my headaches for 4 and a half years. In the beginning, they very distinctly were not as bad in the morning and got worse as the day wore on. I found napping in the afternoon was helpful. For the past few years however I've had no distinct pattern, with pain fluctuating throughout the day, and usually naps only make them worse, though it's so hard not to sleep when they're bad. How long have you had yours for? I really don't know the reason why they were like that in the first place and then switched, though it seems sleeping affects them one way or the other. Also, I know it's pretty much standard with ndph but have they ruled abnormal csf volume?

Hi,

The afternoon "nap", although I often don't sleep, is key to fending off a serious headache in the evening for me. We've developed a ritual -- I ask my wife what I can do to help with dinner, and she kindly says she has it under control and why don't I go lie down? What an angel!!

I generally have some neck tension along with my headaches, so I attribute the improvement from a nap to getting the weight of my head off my neck and shoulders.

I've had these headaches for 18+ years, so I laughed when my new neurologist (who's fantastic!) labeled them "New" Daily Persistent Headaches. While I understand the reason for the terminology, my headaches are certainly daily and persistent, there's nothing new about them to me!

Mark -- I am RIGHT there with ya on this one!! A lot of times, however, I don't plan on these naps. They happen by themselves because of the pain level growing too high, and they just really knock me out. Sometimes if I am going to be doing something important in the evening, however, or if I need to stay out late, I will certainly lay down and attempt a map... they DEFINITELY make a difference!!

I've just recently gotten to a point where an afternoon nap or even just a laying down and taking a break helps me. This became the case after I got my migrains under control with Topamax. Of course, now I'm a bit of an idiot and can't remember my own name half the time but I feel better.

Seriously, though, I will be asking my doctor about NDPH because the symptoms sound a lot like what I'm dealing with. I'm curious if NDPH could've been triggering migrains all along. It seems to be the case.

Resting during the day really helps for me as long as I don't actually fall asleep. Taking a nap, unless I am severely fatigued, always makes my head hurt worse and I feel groggy when I wake up.

Hi,

I am also at my best right after I wake up. My headache increases through the day and I frequently get what I term a "late night headache" about an hour before I go to bed that signals me to go to sleep. I also tend to sleep off the headache when it gets above my current pain tolerance, which is around 3 or 3.5. I'm glad someone else experiences this as well!

My head is best in the morning and has always gotten worse as the day progresses. Many times a short nap will restart the clock for me if the pain has been escalating through the day. Some days when the pain has been the worst I have HAD to sleep-it might knock the pain back from a 7+ (at 4 PM and going up) to a low 6 and let me get through until bed time when I take enough medicine to knock me out. Like Kymark, I have a problem with neck pain associated with my headache, and taking the weight of my head off of my body seems to help. On the positive side, I have recently made some good progress with my headaches (after 2 1/2 years) and am hopeful that things will continue to look up.

Well, it's been a couple months since I last posted so I thought I'd give an update. I haven't really changed much but there is a little bit of progress. The side effects of the Topamax have either eased a bit or I've learned to cope with them. I believe the latter is more of the case because I still have trouble remembering names even worse than I ever did. I can definitely say that I can head off an afternoon headache with even a short bit of relaxation at times, sometimes an hour or more, but this NEVER worked in the past. Stopping a headache without medication is VERY significant for me. I attribute this to the Topamax breaking my cycle of breakthrough migraines and Zanaflex for easing the muscle tension in my upper neck/occipital area, both of which I take daily.

I'm not out of the woods yet and I am still hopeful that there may be a better way of solving this problem so that I won't have to stay on Topamax indefinitely (I hate the side effects) but at least I do see some light through the trees. I am scheduled for a trigger point pain treatment tomorrow and am hopeful that it will yield some positive results. Everyone please cross their fingers for me. I'll keep all of you in my thoughts.