Symptom Tuesdays

    This is the first post of a series I would like to start on this blog: Symptom Tuesdays. This is a chance for me to talk about symptoms that I have had from IIH (but I'm not gonna knock you if you share some of yours in the comments down below!)
    This week, I would like to talk about the number one complaint (and first sign) of IIH: headaches. Now, before you hypochondriacs start getting scared because you have constant headaches, I'm talking about a certain kind of headache. When you have IIH, headaches feel like your brain is being squeezed from the inside out, because that is quite literally what is happening. You have excess CSF in your ventricles, trying to get out.
    Headaches can range from "I can pop a couple of ibuprofen to make it through the day" to "OMG I am dying." "I can pop a couple of ibuprofen" type of headaches are headaches we get on the daily. They are annoying but not debilitating, unless you forget to time your doses of ibuprofen correctly, then they are annoying until the ibuprofen kicks in.
    "OMG I am dying" headaches tend, for me at least, to mostly be incredible sensory headaches where I want to murder my boyfriend for chewing pretzels in the same room as me. These headaches are so incapacitating that members of the support groups I am in, refuse to call them headaches as people who do not experience their brain being squashed can't really relate to the pain and tend to just write it off when you tell them they have a headache (as a result some use the term flares instead). You see double, you can't stand people even whispering in the same room as you, and even morphine administered by a doctor barely takes your pain down from an 11 on the Wong pain scale. Do you know how bad pain has to be for morphine to barely ease your symptoms and pain?
    Headaches, or flares, are some of the most constant and persistent of all of my symptoms. And if you have minimal treatment/no treatment, they are some of your biggest hurdles. But remember you can get through it. You're a warrior, with a pain in the ass disease.

Video: It's hard to visualize a headache, it's even harder to get one on camera and explain it. Here you see a video I sent to my boyfriend explaining why I could not get over my sensory headache. The cause? Our annoying cat, Yetti. We swear he's part Siamese because of his yowl. Here you see that I have not even brushed my hair as just the pressure from the brush hurts my head and makes the situation worse than better. 


Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I have no medical background beyond being in and out of medical offices. I am just relaying what I have learned from my doctors and the internet, this article is not meant to be a diagnosis of any sort. If you suspect you have IIH, please speak with your doctor