Lurkers in the background

Does anyone else experience headaches that seem to be lurking in the background? By this I mean I will often wake up feeling like a headache is lurking, threatening to start up, but after I get up and get going, it seems to go away. Or at other times of day it will seem, not like any real head pain, but like one may be imminent. Sometimes it will progress to a real headache, and other times it will just go away.

Don't get me wrong. I'm really glad when they don't manifest into an actual headache. I just find the experience odd. I'm probably getting these lurking feelings 3 or 4 times as often as an actual headache these days.

Every morning, I have to wait an hour or so, to see if the headache will get worse or not. Most of the time, it gets better. To me, I think that they are due to muscle stiffness.

Martin

ditto - sometimes I find if I get busy with something they go away and the minute I sit and do nothing, it comes back. I too wake up with a lot of muscle stiffness.

Yes, I often have lurkers. Co workers don't understand why I come in everyday when Im obviously not feeling well. I'm hoping it will go away. And sometimes they do.

I have that all the time, that's my main problem. Good description, btw - a lurker, lol



Risa

I often wake up with one but after a mug of tea etc. it clears up (thankfully). I'm always glad when it clears up and I haven't taken any meds.

Thanks for all the input. It really makes me curious to understand why some lurkers disappear on their own and others progress to a real headache. If we understood how that happened, seemingly all on it's own, maybe we could do a better job of getting rid of the others.

Every morning...

Since I have figured that barometric pressure drops are a trigger for me, if there's a storm front about 200 miles away, I start noticing the lurker. There are times that if I medicate then, and the front is minor, it'll go away, but if there's a big front on the horizon, it will progress.

Sorry, it double posted

Sounds like you're talking about Chronic Daily Headaches.

For me every day is a crap shoot. Something is always lurking in the background and can escalate at anytime. It really sucks as it makes it hard to find and hold a job. It's a curse really.

Migrainegirl wrote:Does anyone else experience headaches that seem to be lurking in the background? By this I mean I will often wake up feeling like a headache is lurking, threatening to start up, but after I get up and get going, it seems to go away. Or at other times of day it will seem, not like any real head pain, but like one may be imminent. Sometimes it will progress to a real headache, and other times it will just go away.

Don't get me wrong. I'm really glad when they don't manifest into an actual headache. I just find the experience odd. I'm probably getting these lurking feelings 3 or 4 times as often as an actual headache these days.

I spent yesterday that way all day, just hoping it would die down. It never did. I cancelled most activities except the grocery store, which was getting rather important. It was the first sunny day we have had in Atlanta in 'forever' and I wasted it on a headache! It was all I could do to fumble through the day to make it to evening when I could take something to knock me out where I could sleep it off.

Yesterday aside, I get that "background headache" all the time it seems, probably more days than not, and some days it passes and some days I just wait until evening when I can sleep it off with some strong pill(s). Usually I can 'stave it off' with some less powerful pills and make it through my job and necessary activities unless it turns bad and I get the flushed feeling, green skin, nausea, vomiting, etc. that keeps me totally indoors. Sometimes I just feel like a "walking migraine!"

It was my description of this exact thing that caused my doctor to ask me to stay away from ALL ANALGESIC FOR 30 DAYS! I did it, but it wasn't easy!

I get them also, but not every day, since I have many painless gaps between h/aches and migraines.
When I do get these lurkers, I wake up in the morning and my head is not too bad, max level 3 or so and pain usually goes away after my first coffee. Soemtimes the pain hangs about at this level most of the day, lurking in the background, but I can carry on, doing various tasks of the day. It is like having a nuissance fly buzzing constantly about my head but I can distract myself from it. I do not take any pinkiller for it as I hate the idea of rebounds.

But sometimes when I wake up, the pain feels different and coffee does nothing to clear it away, but pain gets more intense. It is no use taking any painkillers, I need to take Imigran (Imitrex) since I know, that I am into another cykle of migraine (which usually takes 3 to 5 days to clear up).
After migraine ends, I often get my pain free days. These are the best and most productive days for me, they can last up to two weeks at times.

I can see from the responses, that we all have a different pattern to these lurkers.
I am not quite sure which ones qualifie as CDH, and what degree of pain means CDH.
I know that generally, if you have pain on more then 15 days a month, this is a definition of CDH.
But, I wonder how strong the pain needs to be toqualify for CDH diagnosis, since many people with no history of migraine also tell me, that they often have this type of nagging headache, specially at work.

Oh yes! Good description! I always called it my stalker!!! Yes I get this a lot. This is my dilemma, if it is just lurking, then i am always on the fence on whether to medicate or not! Sometimes I am too late to nip it in the bud, because I don't want to take the medication if it is going to just stay the way it is. I have screwed myself many times not being ablt to make up my mind, or rather my mind won't make the decision and let me know!!!! Yes, I despise the lurker!!!

Yes Steph, this is my quandary too. Will it go away and be nothing, or will it turn into a real headache and you are supposed to quick with the abortive meds? I've gotten to where I often need to put an icepack on my head to be able to sleep. There is no real pain or headache to speak of. Just this lurker in the background that won't go away and won't let me sleep.

paradox wrote:Yes, I often have lurkers. Co workers don't understand why I come in everyday when Im obviously not feeling well. I'm hoping it will go away. And sometimes they do.

I agree 100%

Yes, it is like hearing the thump, thump, thump, of a drum. But you are the only one that hears it. In the beginning it is in the distance, but then...is it getting closer? Is it still far away? will it come closer? Will it die out? There is never an answer to those questions until it is too late!! UGH!!!

very well put steph!

Mini wrote:I get them also, but not every day, since I have many painless gaps between h/aches and migraines.
When I do get these lurkers, I wake up in the morning and my head is not too bad, max level 3 or so and pain usually goes away after my first coffee. Soemtimes the pain hangs about at this level most of the day, lurking in the background, but I can carry on, doing various tasks of the day. It is like having a nuissance fly buzzing constantly about my head but I can distract myself from it. I do not take any pinkiller for it as I hate the idea of rebounds.

But sometimes when I wake up, the pain feels different and coffee does nothing to clear it away, but pain gets more intense. It is no use taking any painkillers, I need to take Imigran (Imitrex) since I know, that I am into another cykle of migraine (which usually takes 3 to 5 days to clear up).
After migraine ends, I often get my pain free days. These are the best and most productive days for me, they can last up to two weeks at times.

I can see from the responses, that we all have a different pattern to these lurkers.
I am not quite sure which ones qualifie as CDH, and what degree of pain means CDH.
I know that generally, if you have pain on more then 15 days a month, this is a definition of CDH.
But, I wonder how strong the pain needs to be toqualify for CDH diagnosis, since many people with no history of migraine also tell me, that they often have this type of nagging headache, specially at work.

I have this same experience, Mini. The past two days I made it through without Imitrex (I had a shot ready this morning), but sometimes I wish I hadn't waited because they get so bad. My neuro asked me how often a headache "just went away" and it was about twice a year until the nortryptiline. Now, I can say they go away more often. Thanks for the interesting post.

stephgood wrote:Oh yes! Good description! I always called it my stalker!!! Yes I get this a lot. This is my dilemma, if it is just lurking, then i am always on the fence on whether to medicate or not! Sometimes I am too late to nip it in the bud, because I don't want to take the medication if it is going to just stay the way it is. I have screwed myself many times not being ablt to make up my mind, or rather my mind won't make the decision and let me know!!!! Yes, I despise the lurker!!!

Me too. I get them as well. I got them the past three days. Like you said - the big decision is whether to take something for it or wait it out. I waited it out three days ago and it turned into a migraine. I was so mad at myself for waiting it out. Then yesterday, I got the phantom/lurker again.. and in between trying to wake up and getting my bottle of medication & drink -- it went away..

Today - it is sort of barely lurking, so I am going sans medicine.

Some days I will take medicine because I am sure it will turn into something big if I don't.. then 5 minutes or so later --- before the medicine has a chance to even dissolve, much less kick in-- the headache goes way..

It is such a tricky thing, because my headaches can go to zero to migraine with quickness. So if I don't snap on it with some Excedrin - I will end up having to take a triptan.

Great thread topic, migrainegirl. Because I am often faced with the same dilemma.. it's always such a crapshoot on guestimating whether it is worth taking medicine or not.

It's interesting how many people report this problem with lurkers, yet I've never heard or read any thing about it before. The assumption is it's either no headache, all is fine, or you have a headache coming on that progresses to a full headache unless aborted with medication. Yet at least anecdotally we all report a frequent situation where we feel one coming on that never really does. If they could figure out why those dont progress, maybe they would develop a way of stopping these things. Or if they figured out what chemically or mechanically caused that lurking feeling in the first place.

It's nice to know others have lurkers too...i have my coffee before i decide to medicate because my insurance company is stingy with the meds but i have convinced them to approve botox for me! YAY! Hope it works...

This week I've had a lurker sitting there at about a 1 or 2, and it won't either sh1t or get off the pot (please pardon the language, but it's the best description I can come up with). It doesn't help that our weather has been all over the place, sub zero wind chills Sunday to nearly 80 today (in C it would be about -20 wind chills to 27). I'm almost to where I wouldn't care if it did get worse, since then I would be able to justify medicating it away