One-sided headaches at night - what helps?

[amylynch]

I experience one-sided headaches at night on my AN side.  I am six-months post retrosigmoid surgery for a 3.5+cm tumor.  The headaches did not start immediately following surgery but did start in the first three-months.  The pain is from the base of my skull up the back of my head.  These headaches frequently (but not always) occur when I am sleeping and wake me up.  They respond to Tylenol in 15-30 minutes.  They will happen multiple nights in a row and then not happen for a few days. 

I thought they were related to whether or not I slept on my AN side, but they seem to happen regardless of which side I sleep on.

Has anyone experienced similar headaches?  If so, did you identify a root cause and a better solution than waking up and talking Tylenol?  Thanks!

[kzanana]

Try going to bed with an ice pack. Ace makes a great flexible gel pack I get at Walmart. This is my nightly ritual for almost 3 years now.

[staypoz]

amylynch, you might also try sleeping with a wedge pillow.  I find that a regular pillow doesn't give me the support I need and keeping my head elevated lessens head pain.

staypoz

[heels1982]

I have been able to treat my headaches by taking a hot shower right before bed.  For whatever, the steam and heat seem to relieve them.  I also go to sleep with a microwavable hot pack.  Additionally, sleeping on my side seem to help too.

I know everyone is different, but this seemed to help me.

[Syl]

Amylynch,

I wake up often with that head pain you mention. Tylenol is wonderful & it works fast, but I limit my Tylenol intake because the body can become dependent on the stuff. I discovered that the hard way. For that reason, Tylenol is usually my last resort.

I discovered recently that the position of my head & neck, while I sleep, affect the pain. I tend to sleep on my side. When I’m woken up by the pain & I find that my head is leaning backward on the pillow, something so simple as shifting my head forward relieves the pain. So my tendency now is to maintain this position when I sleep.

If that doesn't work, then I apply heat to the neck. I keep a heating pad plugged in at night. I also like using the heating pad at the end of the day even if I’m not in pain.

My neurologist recommended ice for the pain. He suggestion was to apply ice 5 mins on & 5 mins off. Keep that up for an hour twice/day. I prefer to do this when I’m not in pain & when the weather is warmer. It seems to help. But icing my neck when I'm in pain only makes the pain worse.

There are products you can apply topically to the area. I sometimes do this before bedtime. Flanax is the liniment that best helps sooth the pain. The key ingredient to look for is Capsaicin. These products do tend to have a strong odor, like Ben Gay. But I prefer to put up with complains about the odor than the pain.

I always keep Tylenol in my purse in case I get a headache when I’m at work, where I don’t have my heating pad handy. Or when I’m out & about around town. Sometimes I have to use it several days in a row, but I use the smallest dose possible. I don't see Regular Strength Tylenol in any stores anymore so I have switched to generic brands of acetaminophen. I keep away from the quick release Tylenol formula because that one seems to give me rebound headaches with even minimal use.

I hope this helps you as I have found relief from the pain. It's taken 3 years to finally have a 2 week span of time between headaches. Quite a change from the almost daily early morning headache.

Syl

[mk]

Are you experiencing a "headache" or "headpain"?. I didn't have headaches after my retrosigmoid, but I did have what I describe as very superficial "headpain" (i.e. it didn't feel like it was inside my head, but rather superficial, starting from the base of the neck, towards the ear). Same as you, the pain didn't start right away, but I think that it started when the sensation started to come back on the back of my head. This lasted for quite a few months. I did the ice packs as Syl mentioned (I actually found this advice from one of her old posts), before going to bed. I also had shoulder/muscle pain, for which I used warm compresses.
I took quite a bit of non-steroid antiinflammatories, like Aleve and a product called Tylenol for muscle and joint pain (or something like that). What really helped me was an orthopedic foam memory pillow. I couldn't sleep on a regular pillow for months, as I would immediately start to be in pain, but this foam memory pillow saved my life.  I am much better now, and I can sleep well even using the regular pillow.
I hope your pain will go away soon.

Marianna

[JLR]

Had CK. Headaches on the AN side were as Phyl calls them "ice pick" headaches.  Aleve is the wonder pain reliever. Hope you feel better. Joan

[Janet]

The "chin down" position seemed to trigger mine. I wore a soft white neck collar to bed, so I couldn't put my chin down while sleeping. A good supportive pillow and mattress helped.

[Mei Mei]

Speaking of pillows, someone here recommended the Chiro pillow which you fill with between 4 to 5 gallons of water and some bleach.   It's been great.    My nurse practitioner switched me to Zonalon cream because the lidocaine and voltaren cream wasn't helping since people with Ehlers Danelos Syndrome like me don't get relief.    Her guess that Zonalon on the neck and scalp would help and she was right.   The first three days it made me sleepy but now I'm all right with it.    I use the microwaveable neck wrap when I go down for breakfast and use two long ice pack that wrap around my neck and head on going to bed.    Life is much better but still have some fine tuning when I see Dr. Ducic in Jan and see Dr. Amjad also in Jan for my second round of Xeomin Botox shots for my neck and scalp.

Oh and yes, I don't have headaches anymore but when I did, they were always one sided.

Mei Mei

[Soundy]

I have went through tropicals , Tylenol , neck collar and many pillows to find what works for me ...

sleeping on wedge pillows on my back is what  work for me ... you may have to experiment to find your solution

[RAB]

I love to go to sleep with a moist heating pad.  I find it very soothing.

[sharondaniels]

Probably not good, but I take two extra strength excedrin in the mornings.... keeps the stabbing headache pain at bay for most of the day. 

[designergal]

I get most of my headaches at night...usually brought on from a intense dream....I take Aleve most nights before bed but trying to stop....i have been using a product called Raw Ice.  Stops the pain and acts as an Ice pack for at least 2-3 hours.  I also use Valerian Root as a pain reliever...works just as good as Tylenol without side effects!  the link to Raw Ice is below!


http://www.rawhealthintl.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=55