What are "Thunderclap" Headaches?

Picture this….You’re relaxing in your favorite chair, or out with friends for coffee or perhaps enjoying a delightful soothing bath, when unexpectedly, BAM!!, you’re struck with this horrendous pain in your head; the worst headache pain you’ve ever felt. It’s different from a migraine and termed a “THUNDERCLAP” headache.

During the warmer weather, two years ago, for a couple of hellish months, I’d been lucky to dodge migraines for a few days here and there. But, no time for celebration, as I was suddenly contending with these sudden ‘BAM!’ headaches as well. The pain was directed in the middle of my forehead, top of my head and covering my entire face, not a typical migraine for me, which are bilateral.

For two weeks straight I’d experienced six of those headaches but one just before a weekend was by far the most severe, finding myself at emergency (I avoid the ER as much as possible with the rolled eyes when you arrive with a ‘headache’, noise, lights, long waits and I’m usually forgotten about with a low priority status).

The ER doc wasn’t very obliging and didn’t appear to be alarmed by my symptoms as I blurted out that this was the worst of any headache that I’ve had in the past two weeks (I googled beforehand if this type of headache had an actual name or category).

I asked him if these were ‘Thunderclap Headaches’, he was skeptical, yet returned later, agreeing that it falls under the symptoms of “Thunderclap”, thus ordering a CT scan which turned up with no abnormalities. He arranged for an MRI which was done the following YEAR (my city is seriously backed-up), and the results showed no abnormalities also.

The ER doctor was useless with his only ‘lightbulb’ remedy, “take Tylenol and call your neurologist”. Thanks, Doc for that helpful advice!

I saw my neuro, he gave me a medical jargon description of these headaches, but the positive is that I’ve only had a few over the past two years.

Written and copyrighted by Deb McCarthy/2017

Other info: Severe Headache Expert

Originally posted on both my main blog "Living in Stigma" http://cherished79.com
and blogging platform Niume.com https://niume.com/profile/25982#!/posts