Need quick answers please

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-03-2003
Need quick answers please
6
Tue, 03-30-2004 - 1:44pm
am finally getting up the courage to talk to my doctor about feeling sad all the time. here are most of my symptoms...really really tired.i m ean i get 9 hours of lseep a night and i feel like i haven't even slept. I have headahces everyday, i can't eat properly becasue most food make me sick, and i am just tired of dealing with all of these problems since i am only 25 years old. I am confused about why i always feel like this and am not sure if it depression causingthe headcahce and tiredness and eating problems or if it is the headahces and the rest causing the depression. I just don't know how to bring it up with my doctor. i have been to see him about 3-4 times in the last month regarding the headaches. the first time he thought migraine because i had had a really bad headache that was then followed byt a constant daily headahces. then it went away for a few days but came back. a week after it came back i was in tears everyday becasue it made me feel awful. so i went back to the doctor. he then told me i had sinus and allergy problems..i had alot of pressure in my nose. he gave me flonase nasal spray. i have been using htat for about 5 days now and although i felt better for one of those days i still have the headaches. so i calle dand amde another appt today. i am jsut at a loss of what to so about the headaches. i know that if i didn't have them i wouldn't be nearly as sad and i would be able to go out and do more. what is a good way to bring this up with my doctor. sometimes i just feel like he must thin i am crazy becasue nothing helps the headahces. i even think sometimes that i bring them on myself..but if i am doing htat i need to find out why adn how to stop it. i hope he can help. I guess i am just looking for any advice on what to say to him and how to bring it up. I have read that some doctors do use antidepressetns to treat headahces. which ones are good whit no side effects?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-22-2003
Tue, 03-30-2004 - 2:22pm

Hi and welcome!!


I can understand how debilitating headaches can be hun and Im sure they are making you sad.

*hugs             

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-09-2003
Tue, 03-30-2004 - 6:43pm
I don't know which antidepressants are used to treat headaches. I think that's an excellent question for your doctor. Tell him what you read. Tell that the headaches are really getting you down. You don't have to say you are depressed because you don't want him to stop trying to treat the headaches. However, I used to get headaches every day with depression. I felt like it was all this repressed anger that I had. That can cause headaches.

As you probably know, headaches are caused by constrictions in the blood vessels going to your head. You get less oxygen to your head and it hurts. Drinking a lot of water can help. Sleeping can help.

Headaches can also be caused by exposure to chemicals or a bad diet. I lived far inland in LA one summer. The air was literally brown with smog. I got headaches every day from the smog.

Have you tried migraine medicine like Excedrine Migraine. I think "Migraine" medicine comes in several brands.

With something long-term like that you usually have to try everything you can until you find something that works. Hot baths and yoga might help destress you and open your blood vessels. Chamomile tea might help. Getting the sugar and fried foods out of your diet almost certainly will make a big difference. Vegetables and fruit will help you feel better overall.

And talk to you doctor about what you read about antidepressants helping headaches some times. I'm sure he will want to help you in whatever way he can. If he doesn't find a doctor who does.

Good Luck,

Maria

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-09-2003
Tue, 03-30-2004 - 8:58pm
I wanted to give you another suggestion. You said that you wake after 9 hours and feel like you haven't slept. I just read that people who have daily headaches are twice as likely to be snorers. Apparently, snoring can keep you from getting enough oxygen to your head during sleep. Interesting, huh?

A friend of mine's husband found out after two years of sleep problems and constant snoring that he had sleep apnea. He had to go to a sleep clinic for 4 hours in the middle of the night for them to monitor his sleeping. Now he has to sleep with a gizmo on his face and he's getting a good night's rest for the first time in quite a while. It's been a miracle for him to find this out.

Sleep apnea apparently means that you actually stop breathing every couple of minutes while you sleep. That causes sleep to not give you rest, as well as snoring.

Regular snoring can be helped by wearing those Breathe Right nasal strips at night. Then you can get the oxygen you need through your nose. Try those first because they are the easiest solution.

Hope this helps.

Maria

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2003
Wed, 03-31-2004 - 6:48am
i sorta had the same symptoms as you when i first went to my doctor about depression. mainly the lack of sleep and not eating. i just told him straight out that i was feeling really depressed and was looking for help. he gave me a prescription for efexxor which has helped tremendously tho i still have those hard to get thru depressed times (like now) and am thinking of seeing about upping the dosage maybe. also have you thought about talking to a counsler or therapist? i started at the same time and she helped me out alot as well.

but like they said in before it is better to rule out all medical reasons for the headaches but then it doesnt hurt to help the sadness in the meantime.

sarah

Visitor (not verified)
anonymous user
Wed, 03-31-2004 - 12:08pm
Hi codcart. HUGS to you and Im sorry to hear about your troubles. I hope everything works out. I think at your next appointment I would tell him ALL of your symptoms and he should put two and two together. If you are uncomfortable to say you think you are depressed, then I would just tell him the things that you are noticing and he will probably just think its depression on his own. You can also write down your symptoms and hand it over to him to read. Just say "Ive recorded the things that have been bothering me" and give him the paper with a list of things like the tiredness, etc.

I hope you feel comfortable with these ideas and please keep us posted. Take care and the best of luck to you.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-26-2004
Wed, 03-31-2004 - 12:27pm

Honey, I really wouldn't be concerned about telling your doctor you feel depressed.

AcornLeaves