- Joined
- Apr 17, 2005
- Messages
- 13,100
- Reaction score
- 3,419
So one day while I was working out, after a particularly tough set, I noticed I got a mild headache that wasn't there before. I thought I am about to have a flu/cold/covid, something along those line. But what ended up happening is that the headache was persistent, but I never develop any cough/fever/nasal congestion typical of those illnesses. Since the headache was quite mild and wasn't impeding on my daily activities, I was hoping it'd go away on its own. But after a week of continuous headache, which slowly developed into pressure around the lower back of the skull like someone is squeezing my head from behind, I decided to see a Neurologist in case it's something bad. I was prescribed painkiller and muscle relaxant as the doc had determined it was tension headache, the most common type of headache.
So I took the meds and went about my days as normal but then my headache have not improved after a week and the meds did not help at all. I decided to visit the Neurologist again and was prescribed a more powerful painkiller. I've seen enough movie and documentary to know this is a slippery slope and people can easily be hooked on opioids even though I'm just being prescribed NSAIDs so far. I tried the painkiller, the med did help but only for a few hours, so I know I wasn't getting better, it's just the drugs masking my symptoms. I wanted to look for ways to make me feel better so I decided to try acupuncture. I went to a headache specialist that does acupuncture, while diagnosing me, he did some chiropractic moves and identified that my shoulder and neck were extremely stiff, then proceed to stick about 30 needles around my temple, head, neck and shoulder. It wasn't painful, the pricking feeling fade away in less than a second when the needle goes in. In total, the needle was in me for about 15 minutes. About 10-15 minutes after the acupuncture, I felt a noticeable relief of pressure around my head. I continue to get acupuncture twice a week for 3 weeks, each time I go, my headache continued to get milder. Last week, I decided to see a specialist that does myofascial massage. It was a very painful experience but in one hour, he located and flattened a bunch of knots (myofascial trigger points) I had around my neck and shoulder
The massage significantly improved my headache. The pressure sensation is now episodic and not constant. And I can make it go away by doing some neck/shoulder/head massage on myself. But I think the best prevention is that I need to stretch more before/after workout as I haven't really developed the habit to do it regularly. I'm not a medical professional and this is not a medical advice. I know that headache is fairly common, and I hope in sharing my experience in how I dealt with my problem can be a useful if you're suffering from persistent headache.
So I took the meds and went about my days as normal but then my headache have not improved after a week and the meds did not help at all. I decided to visit the Neurologist again and was prescribed a more powerful painkiller. I've seen enough movie and documentary to know this is a slippery slope and people can easily be hooked on opioids even though I'm just being prescribed NSAIDs so far. I tried the painkiller, the med did help but only for a few hours, so I know I wasn't getting better, it's just the drugs masking my symptoms. I wanted to look for ways to make me feel better so I decided to try acupuncture. I went to a headache specialist that does acupuncture, while diagnosing me, he did some chiropractic moves and identified that my shoulder and neck were extremely stiff, then proceed to stick about 30 needles around my temple, head, neck and shoulder. It wasn't painful, the pricking feeling fade away in less than a second when the needle goes in. In total, the needle was in me for about 15 minutes. About 10-15 minutes after the acupuncture, I felt a noticeable relief of pressure around my head. I continue to get acupuncture twice a week for 3 weeks, each time I go, my headache continued to get milder. Last week, I decided to see a specialist that does myofascial massage. It was a very painful experience but in one hour, he located and flattened a bunch of knots (myofascial trigger points) I had around my neck and shoulder
The massage significantly improved my headache. The pressure sensation is now episodic and not constant. And I can make it go away by doing some neck/shoulder/head massage on myself. But I think the best prevention is that I need to stretch more before/after workout as I haven't really developed the habit to do it regularly. I'm not a medical professional and this is not a medical advice. I know that headache is fairly common, and I hope in sharing my experience in how I dealt with my problem can be a useful if you're suffering from persistent headache.
Last edited:
