Intermittent, sharp, throbbing pain. Anyone else?
So for four days now I've had severe, sharp, throbbing intermittently throughout the day. The severity varies and sometimes I vomit from the pain. I have had this sort of pain before (though not for 4 days) and my doctor put me on Fiorinal. For the past two days I've had to take 4 Fiorinal every day ( about every 6 hours) as the bottle states to bring the pain down from a 9 to a 2 or 3 but the pain never totally goes away. I have CP so my posture is poor which adds to the pain. Has anyone had pain like this and do you have suggestions? I'm calling my doc's after hours line today (it's Sunday) but I was hoping for other ideas in the meantime. Thanks!
Hello, PPS,
What diagnosis did your doctor give you? How long are these episodes? If they're only a few seconds long, they could be primary stabbing headaches, aka ice pick headaches. See https://migraine.com/pro/ichd-migraine-diagnosis/primary-stabbing-headache-ichd-2/ for more information.
A couple of things you should know about Fiorinal is that it has a very high propensity to cause medication overuse headache (see https://migraine.com/blog/living-with-migraine/help-how-can-i-not-overuse-migraine-medications/) and, if these are a form of Migraine, the butalbital in Fiorinal is a barbiturate, which increases the risk of Migraines becoming chronic. In other words, it's one of the worst medications a Migraineur can use.
With your CP, do you have any neck issues? I ask because neck issues can lead to cervicogenic headaches. For more information, see https://migraine.com/blog/cervicogenic-headache/
Wish I had more information for you, but without a diagnosis, I'm not sure what else to tell you.
Please keep us posted?
Teri
