Headache/stomachache

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

For a while now I've been having these headaches. They usually come on about noon or so and last for most of the day. It starts at the base of my skull, and eventually feels like two needles poking through my head to pop out above my eyes, one on either side. Lately these headaches have been accompanied by nausea. I never actually throw up, but I feel pretty crappy. Somehow when I eat, the nausea goes away and the headache is lessened, but within about 20 minutes of stopping eating, it's back full force. I can't just eat constantly, so what do I do? Any ideas what could be causing this, or how I could fix it?

[MoveAlong]

Hey I know the feeling and it sucks. Let me ask you a few questions so we can get a few things out of the way.
I may not be able to answer your question, but your answer to these questions will probably help other people who may reply anyway.

Is this your time of the year to get allergies again?
How long has this been going on?
Have you been stressed lately?

[Atonement]

Really, I do not believe that we all can give you a medical break down of what to do. So, I highly suggest going to a physician. I hope you feel better.:)

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

MoveAlong, it has been windy lately which stirs up my allergies, but the headache doesn't seem to change based on the weather. The headaches.... off and on for about a year now, but lately it's been more and more frequent, almost every day. Some days I almost can't function for the entire afternoon, and no amount of Tylenol or Excedrin helps. As for stress.... I'm always stressed. It's hardly ever to the point that other people notice unless I tell them, and I can't always identify why so it's hard to fix. I hadn't even thought of stress as a potential culprit, hm.

[MoveAlong]

This sounds like something directly related to stress.
Sorry to bring up a different post in a different thread of yours, but in your intro thread you said that you recently found out that you were bipolar. That could cause a lot of stress which could definitely explain the headaches and stomach aches and nausea and/or them being more frequent.

Of course it could be something else, but like I'm really qualified? pfft ya right :P I say that evidence suggests that this might be related to stress. Maybe you should try a little bit of relaxing

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

Relaxing is hard for me. My brain works differently than most people's, I never just think one thing at a time, I've always got at least three or more things going on in there. One's usually the main focus and everything else runs in the background. I shut one off and I've got more to deal with still. I compare it to a large circular room, with a projector in the center that manages to point at several different screens around on the walls, all at once. One is bright and colorful and the rest is in black and white. Sort of a pleasantville effect. And almost nothing works to shut it off enough to fully relax for very long.

[Gumleaf]

do you sleep enough jessi? lack of sleep can sometimes cause things like that. when my sister had exams coming up, she did 2 all nighters studying in a row and ended up with terrible headaches and stomach aches. once she started sleeping again, she was ok.

[MoveAlong]

I understand the thinking about a lot of things thing. sometimes that's just the way it is
But usually people take the wrong approach to relaxing. Relaxing isn't forcing yourself to do something you don't want to do because you're supposed to get better. Relaxing is just chilling out, doing something new, doing something not as complicated as what you normally do, and doing something so nice that it gets your mind off of whatever you're stressing over etc.

you sound very creative. maybe you should express yourself creatively. Or you should go for a walk somewhere. something to get your mind off things

to trigger - lol I should of asked that question too. The amount of sleep you get can really mess you up if it's not enough, and can cause your body to be so tired that your eyes strain and therefore you get headaches, and lack of rest could cause nausea.

Also, how's your diet?

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

I have a love/hate relationship with sleep. I have trouble sleeping at night, that's my problem. During the day I fall asleep easily. If I just sit and close my eyes for maybe 20 minutes, even if I'm not tired in the least, I'll end up out for hours, pretty much until someone wakes me up. But at night... I'd rather be awake. Still, lately I've been getting about 14 hours of sleep per day. Not all at night, at last 4 or more hours are in the afternoon/evening-ish. Until I have another explanation for that I'm blaming the Lithium for sedating me.

[email protected]:
Express myself creatively... Is it weird to say that since I've been on meds I'm not very creative? I think a lot, but I have trouble committig anything to paper. I've always been a crappy artist without a picture to go off of (which isn't too creative, haha), and I concentrate on music anymore, don't have the patience to practice. I blame BPD for that. I was always great at concentrating, but in the past year or two, since I've started developing more BP symptoms, I can't do it. I can't even do my math homework anymore, which pisses me off. I was always great at math, and I understand the gist of what I'm doing but I can't sit down and do it. I make little mistakes, I get through three problems and find myself staring out the window for an hour, it just doesn't work. I'm failing Precalc. Point is... right now I don't seem to have the attention span to do anything. I try, I'm not going to give up trying things, but I don't always get anywhere.

And my diet sucks. I get hungry but food never sounds appetizing. Occasionally I crave something specific but it's always something disgusting and fatty. I'm trying to work on that.

[Gumleaf]

well i guese thats my theory out the window if your getting 14 hours sleep.

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

Pretty much, yeah. Good theory though.

[RIP_banana]

migraine.
i think you are getting really bad ones.
i would go see a doctor.
because i know from experience that they are not goood at all!

[byee]

Internet diagnosis, STILL my least favorite thing here.

OK. headaches can be caused by a zillion things, we really can't determine what the cause is. But, in general, I think the easiest way to narrow things down is to start with the most obvious.

In your case, those would be the meds your taking for BPD (I wasn't aware of this). Especially if you feel better after you eat, that would suggest your head ache might be a side effect of the meds. Food helps slow down the absorption of the meds, so you're less likely to get side effects because they are a bit diluted by the food. That's why a lot of meds are suggested to be taken with meals.

Talk with your doc about this, maybe the time you take them needs to be adjusted.

[angryhalfdemon]

Ya, I agree. The two most likely culprits are stress and those pills of yours. Based on what IAMSAM said about food slowing absorption, it's probably the latter.

I never thought about that. Wow, now that I think of it, almost ALL the medications I know about are taken with meals. I guess it makes sense :P

[MoveAlong]

Talk with your doc about this, maybe the time you take them needs to be adjusted.

I agree, I was just about to say that

also yea meds can really screw you up, in fact almost every aspect of your life (first hand experience here), that's why good psychiatrists are so expensive :P

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

Yeah, I understand that you guys aren't medical professionals and can't give me a real diagnosis here, just wondering if anyone had any suggestions. I suppose it could be the meds... I hadn't thought about that. I just finally got a stable mix of medications, guess I didn't want to think that I might need to change it again. Thanks for all of your ideas everyone, I'll be getting this checked out at the doctor's soon. :)