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Persistent headache behind the eyes and fatigue

My wife has been experiencing some very unusual (for her) headaches over the past four weeks. I'm hoping that you can help us understand possible causes. Here's the chronology. . .
  • The problem started with a very severe headache and sudden onset of fatigue one evening. There was some nausea, but no fever. My wife went to bed early and slept 10-11 hrs.
  • The next day the headache was still there although much reduced in intensity. It persisted for the entire day. And the pain was just enough to be annoying. By dinner time, she was again exhausted, went to bed and slept 10-11 hrs.
  • This pattern continued for the next week -- persistent headache, always there, significant fatigue by dinner time, go to bed early, etc. (no more nausea, though) As the week progressed however, my wife had more trouble sleeping. She'd wake up feeling anxious because the headache was still there. The lack of sleep and anxiety seemed to make the headaches worse. She has yoga 2x per week and that seemed to make it worse as well (at least the next day).
  • By the following Tuesday (9 days after onset), she was feeling very anxious. She saw her doctor, who alarmed her even more my indicating it "could be something very serious" and sent her to an opthamologist. The opthamologist found no problems other than an astigmatism in one eye. That night, she woke up feeling completely out of sorts -- nauseous, head "fuzzy", feeling so strange that we ended up going to the emergency room. After two hours in the hospital, she started to feel more normal -- even though the "low ebb" headache was still there. The ER doc was great, told her it was probably a virus but ordered a CT scan to give my wife peace of mind. No problems were noted in the CT scan. Her sinuses were also clear.
  • The rest of the week she rested, pretty much stayed in bed. By Friday, she was really starting to feel better and started to be more active. As soon as she was more active, the headache and end of day fatigue returned. She went into the following week feeling very discouraged.
  • The third week had its ups and downs. When she had the headache, it was focused right behind/around her eyes and the bridge of her nose. Some days she felt okay -- although there was always this sense that the headache was on the verge of recurring. When she was experiencing the headache, she had trouble reading or watching TV. Even closing her eyes did not bring much relief.
  • She saw her doctor again, who gave her some type of steroid nasal spray -- even though there was no indication of sinusitis. My wife opted not to take it -- concerned that the side effects might aggravate her condition. Her doctor also recommended that she take Tylenol on a regular basis -- not just when she had pain.
  • Her doctor also recommended that she see an optometrist about the astigmatism. The optometrist confirmed that her vision was improved with corrective lenses, but did not recommend glasses since she really wasn't experiencing vision problems.
  • Taking Tylenol every 4-5 hrs definitely seemed to keep the headaches at bay. She still had the sensation that it sometimes was on the verge of recurring, but she had less fatigue in the evenings and was feeling cautiously optimistic.
  • This week (the fourth week) she tried a day without Tylenol, and the headache and fatigue immediately returned -- Again behind the eyes and nose. She saw her doctor again who was somewhat at a loss to explain what could be causing the headaches. Unbelievably, she suggested that "it still could be a tumor that the CT scan did not catch." Her course of action was to recommend an MRI.
Of course, now my wife is frantic -- thinking that this persistent headache could be caused by a tumor. Her anxiety has returned and is only making things worse. There's at least a two-week backlog in getting the MRI scheduled and she'll be worried sick until then.

Based on the research that I've done (including what I've read on AskDoctorJoshua.com), it sounds like she is experiencing migraines that are being aggravated by her stress and anxiety. Her doctor said she doesn't think it is a migraine because "migraines" tend to be localized to one eye or the other -- not both. And she also doesn't have a sensitivity to bright lights. In many of the answers Dr. Joshua has posted here, he recommends seeing a neurologist as an appropriate course of action before doing a lot of expensive tests. My wife's doctor said that there's at least a four-month wait to get an appointment with a neurologist, and that's why she recommends the MRI for the next step.

Given the clear CT scan from our ER visit, and the fact that my wife has none of the other symptoms, I'm pretty confident that she does not have a tumor. She does not share my confidence, however, and is worried sick. I'm hoping that you can share some insight (experience with patients suffering from similar symptoms) that would ease her mind on what could be causing the headaches and how long she can expect to continue feeling this way.

Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Answers:


An update. . .

We decided that we couldn't wait two weeks. . .the anxiety was really impacting my wife. She couldn't eat or sleep. We went to the ER, and they were able to get us in for the MRI in a matter of hours. Everything came back clear.

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