Sunday, January 13, 2013

Description of symptoms of pressure sensation in head

I have been trying to find a solution for the pressure sensation in my head during this school holiday. It started since June last year, and has persisted everyday and is present with me all day long. It could be due to stress because I had a number of anxiety attacks during that period of time due to bad school results and difficulty coping with a moot competition. The sensation feels like something is pressing upon my brain from every side, or a pressure pressing upon the top of my brain. The sensation changes in intensity in the way it pushes against either sides my brain when I move my jaws. When I slide my upper teeth, there feels to be a grinding or clicking of muscles/nerves/arteries/veins within my head or upper jaw region. There does not seem to be any predictability to the intensity of the pressure sensation. It is usually mild to moderate, but on a particular occasion, quite severe as to be painful so much so that I went to the emergency ward at a hospital to see a doctor. It seems that the intensity of the sensation is mild in the morning, but is heavier later in the day. It also seems to increase after an afternoon nap. The sensation is usually around the head region, but on a particular occasion, seemed to migrate to my jaw area. The painkillers that I have been prescribed, such as paracetamol, naproxen, and tramadol, do not seem to relief or alleviate the pain or intensity of the sensation. On a related note, I have also been experiencing nervous tics and involuntary utterances since about the same period of the onset of this pressure sensation in the head. I also seem to be experiencing difficulties in my cognitive capabilities, such as finding it difficult to concentrate or understand my study materials.

I have visited two different dentists on two different occasions, one in July to remove my upper wisdom teeth, and another in December to remove my lower wisdom teeth because I initially suspected the problem to be due to pressure from wisdom teeth. I was admitted to Alexandra hospital in August when I had a fainting spell at the school library after what seems to me to be an anxiety attack when I read in the internet about the symptoms of brain aneurysm and suspected that my pressure sensation in the head was due to it. After I described my symptoms to the doctors at the emergency ward, I was admitted to a ward. The doctors first conducted a strength and balance test on me and concluded no apparent abnormalities. During the next few days, I was given blood tests, electrocardiogram (ECG) tests, oxygen tests via pulse oximetry, blood pressure tests, electroencephalography (EEG), and an MRI scan of my brain. The doctors concluded that I was not suffering from any abnormalities and referred me to a psychologist. The psychologist at Khoo Teck Puat Hosital dismissed my symptoms as psychological, and recommended stress-relief exercises

I went to see a doctor at the emergency department at Khoo Teck Puat hospital in October after I had a very strong painful pressure sensation around my head during the evening. I refused a preliminary CT scan because of my fear of radiation. I was admitted to a ward thereafter. The doctor at the ward said that he did not recommend another MRI scan because I had taken a previous MRI scan not too long ago and it was thus unlikely I was suffering from any brain abnormalities. A senior doctor conducted a preliminary dental check and diagnosed gingivitis. I was discharged with prescription of painkillers.

My dad brought me to see a Chinese Sinseh in December. The Chinese sinseh did what seems to me to be acupoint nerve massage on my neck, back, arms, and hands. The intensity of the pressure sensation seems to alleviate substantially but not completely subside after the treatment. However, it seems that immediately subsequent to treatment, the frequency and severity of my nervous tics and involuntary utterances increased, but decreased to the normal frequency after a few days.

The pressure sensation aggravated after I did some jaw stretching exercises. I think I overly exerted while stretching. My jaw now seems to experience a popping sensation if I move my lower jaw to the side, and it makes a cackling sensation when I open my mouth.

I would suspect that the symptoms I have are indicative of either a tension headache, or temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD).  I think it should be safe to rule out more lethal conditions like brain aneurysm or brain tumour since the neurologist has not made such diagnosis after the MRI scan, but I am worried that the neurologist may have missed out certain details when examining the MRI images, or that the condition was not apparent even in the MRI scan.

Any useful information on what I may be suffering from or possible remedies would be greatly appreciated.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shaun here. Read thru a few of ur posts n i must say im impressed with ur writing style, clear cut engaging descriptive n good vocab. Cognitive deprovements can occur as a side effect of anxiety. Tension headaches are mainly attributed to tension, aka anxiety. I also have daily tension headaches. Can try taking anxiety meds, alprazolam is useful. Taken it myself. Rly helps. Does ur heart rate increase?


I also noticed tt u exhibit hypochondriac traits like u said u were. Yup need to be more aware of it n believe tt most things are safe. Eg ct, accunpuncture, idk how to advise u but i know tt u gotta control it n nt let it control u. Sometimes its just blind faith. I have slight ocd of hygiene as well n it rly unnerves me.


Oh yeah jeslin feels inadequate in sch as well. I told her tt shes in a cohort of smart n hardworking ppl n so are u n its natural to nt perform as well as before. What more of the increased difficulty of workload... To me, so long one passes to the next level, one is proficient enuff. Haha. I sound like im shrugging ur worries offf n placating u. But its kinda hard to type on ipad n i will share more with u personally.

Samuel Tee said...

Heart increase from the tension headache? Nope, don't think I experience any such effects. I tend to be skeptical of the safety of things because I don't want to do things that worsen my health or condition. It takes me a while to take a leap of faith.

I have been looking up health forums to see if anyone has found a solution to the symptoms I am experiencing. There are many other sufferers out there who are similarly angst with the difficulty in finding a solution to this ailment.

Some suggestions to alleviate the tension includes yoga, pilates, and trigger point massage. I think the form of massage given by the chinese sinseh is quite akin to trigger point massage. I am giving it a look up on the internet to see how I can perform this on myself.

Shaun said...

just saw ur reply.

that's good tt u dont have increased heart rate, do u feel more stressed or nervous generally? tt will cause tension headaches.

Yup pilates is plausible. yoga isn't Godly though. can check up gotquestions.org

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