QuestionQUESTION: Hello, I'm a 22 yr old healthy male. I woke up tuesday morning at 6 am, which was 14 days ago. I was sleeping on the couch and I woke up and moved my head and I felt something like pop on the back of my head, immediately after that I just had a bad headache. I tried to go back to sleep but couldn't so I got up and then I started feeling nausau's and then I got worried and looked up what it could be and found anuerysms, so this made me really worried so i went to the ER, and told them about it they just talked to me and I told them what happen so they gave me some pain medicine and it worked a little so i went home, then later it started hurting again. It's been like that since, it will come on gradually as the day goes on and sometimes with sharp shooting pains in that same spot in the back of my head. It won't go away. I went back to the walk in clinic wednesday and they just listened to me and gave me some more medicine and sent me on my way, I guess the only thing that would put me at peace of mind would be a ct scan of the head to look for anything serious. what do you think this could be? today is the 14th day and its still hurting bad in the same area it started, back right side of my head, but it seems that every now and then it will just hurt my whole head in general, then that will go away and just go back to the spot it started. its like a constant dull pressure, with occasional sharp stabbing pains, and sometimes radiating to the front of my head. it dont hurt first thing in the morning its after i wake up and get moving around, it gets worse as the day goes on, it intermitting pain, mainly localized to the spot it started in, on the back right side of my head, like an inch above and behind my right ear. i have also noticed that my right eye is closed a little more than my left, not really noticeable, i dont know if its always been like that am i just noticing it or not. and when i go outside and the sun is out i notice i cant help but squint when i try and open my eyes all the way the sun hurts them. i also have been getting ringing in my right ear. i have a cat scan appt. for dec. 5th, but thats like 2 weeks away. i need some advice. thanks
ANSWER: a cat scan may not answer your question about an aneurysm.... you would need an MRA... magnetic resonance angiogram to look for an aneurysm......
but most likely, isn't anything serious, probably a viral illness..... I would wait another week or so and have further w/u if it doesn't resolve...........
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QUESTION: so....what symptoms should i really be watching for, and when should i call the doc or go back to the er. my sinus's are kinda messed up right now but just how the headache started that one day and still never went away, and the kind of intermittent, localized head pain that it is, thats what scares me. ever heard anything else like this? im having a ct scan of the head with the contrast dye, that wouldnt show anything?
AnswerI would use some Afrin nasal spray (OTC) and see your doc after the thanksgiving holiday if the symptoms continue..... I see a lot of this and it is almost never anything "bad." The CT may or may not show an aneurysm... if it is small it will miss it......
