What kind of headache do you really have?
You have to differentiate between a migraine and a tension type headache, which can be tricky with complicated headaches. Misdiagnosis, which is common, will lead to little or no relief and will also prevent you from seeking the right type of care.
Typically, migraine headaches will be triggered by an issue with hormone changes, foods, food additives, alcohol, sensori stimuli like bright lights, strong smells, sleep disturbance and intense physical stress, barometric pressure change and medications and other chemicals. Headaches are often on one or both sides of the head, there may be an aura or visual disturbances, pins and needles in the arms or legs, facial weakness, difficulty speaking, etc.
Tension headaches typically materialize as the day goes on. Mental, chemical and physical stress will cause them. This sometimes makes it harder to point at a trigger. They tend to present in the forehead or back of the skull. The headaches can also be “full head” headaches, and may get bad enough that they lead to triggering a more migraine like headache. If this happens, patients are often medicated, when what they need is stress management. What I often see is tension headaches related to stress triggering migraines that are then treated with meds as migraines and the underlying tension headaches in the causes of those are ignored, so the headaches never resolve. You have to hit ‘em at the cause or you’re stuck in a medicated cycle of pseudo-relief.
It sounds like you’ve got the meds. Why does the headache still last 5 days? Ultimately, it’s harder to get relief if your being treated for migraines when you have tension headaches or visa versa. Medications that are strong enough will zap either one, but it doesn’t mean that because you are taking a migraine med, and it works, that you have migraines. Remember, if all you have is a hammer, all you will see is a nail. If you go to a doctor that has been trained to prescribe medications to treat problems, you’ll leave with a medication. It’s like a president that’s a business man and decides to treat a planet and its’ citizens like a business instead of a planet with people. It doesn’t work well. Let me know if you have any questions. Hope you feel better, good luck!
Schedule a new patient examination and at the report of findings (what’s wrong and what to do), we’ll give you a free bottle of Formula 303 herbal muscle relaxants – great for tension headaches! Just let us know that you read this blog post!