How to manage constant pain

Hi Deepel84, 

Sorry to hear about the constant headaches you’re experiencing and the nerve pain in your arms and legs. This must be quite debilitating and yes very frustrating.

Have you been experiencing these symptoms post a recent stroke?

Headaches

While it isn't completely uncommon to have headaches post stroke, I would be suggesting you speak to your GP soon about your headaches. They have your full medical history and list of medications and can inform you of the best treatment and if any further investigations are needed.

Questions to discuss with your GP:

• Whether you had a haemorrhagic (bleed) or ischaemic (clot) stroke?
• Do you feel the headaches have improved at all since a stroke or are they getting worse?
• Did you previously suffer from headaches or migraines?
• How long have you had headaches for?

The GP may refer you to a specialist if you have been experiencing this for a long time as it isn't something you should have to put up with long term

Some suggestions in the meantime:

- Keep a diary: record the severity of the headaches out of 10, list potential triggers (fatigue, certain foods, lack of sleep, stress), how long they last and what helps to ease them (sleep, dark/quiet room, panadol, etc).

- Ensure you are receiving adequate hydration.

- It is great that you are trying meditation. Consider discussing other medication options with your GP.

If at any stage your headache becomes severe, sudden onset and not relieved with standard pain medication like paracetamol, please call 000 immediately. It can be a sign of a stroke.

Nerve pain

It would be good to see your GP about the nerve pain in your arms and legs. They may want to do further investigations or if it has persisted for some months, they could consider a pain specialist or multidisciplinary pain management clinic. It’s great that you are exercising. Consider discussing your exercises with a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist if you feel as though exercises are flaring up your pain. You can get a chronic conditions management plan to subsidise costs to these therapists through a GP.

Here are some more resources, that list other treatment options including eg. Cognitive behavioural therapy, TENS machine and the multidisciplinary pain management clinic.

Resources

Stroke Foundation fact sheet on pain after stroke

EnableMe pain management

Pain after stroke podcast

Emma Gee’s blog about pain post stroke

Don’t hesitate to call us on StrokeLine on 1800 787 653 (Mon- Fri 9am-5pm AEDST)  if you’d like to speak further to a health professional.

Warm regards,

Kath (StrokeLine)

my tip is ignore it , when you get 4 headaches a day or your effected are and legs start shaking then let them , after all your brain went thru alot , more fun trying to  straighten out you leg or arm , now thats kind of uncomfortable . Tablets help just to many put you in lala land . Who knows they might let me look at my MRI  scans . Just remember your not the only one who gets pain , and medicine cant do miracles .

Hi Deepel,

Here are some more comments and words of advice from the community:

Lee Moran Cormack Ask your gp to refer you to a pain management specialist. Also look for an Exercise Physiologist

Janelle Finch I discovered that barista coffee (I like McDonalds latte) eases my post stroke headaches within about 10 minutes. I like mine half strength and usually only have 1 or 2 daily. I find headaches and nerve pain are worse when I am tired and fatigued. Best thing to do is rest often.

Neil Augustine Perhaps Acupuncture may be of assistance’ worth a try , Hope you get some relief for yourself from it if you havnt tried it as yet.....

Marree Nightshade if u havent already, see a neurologist,,my mum has pseudo epilepsy from her srtoke, and in a wheelchair,, the pseudo is because it mimics epilepsy, but is from the brain damage, when she has turns she looks like shes having a new stroke, her face gets droopy again, and she gets worsening pain and headache, she is on meds for it, doesnt cure it, but helps manage it a bit,, u may have a similar thing going on, not the face droopy, but
it could have triggered something else in ur brain neuropathy.

Susan Lovas Try and see if acupuncture may work, after my stroke I had severe pain in my calf and upper thigh due to muscle contraction. I also take a magnesium tablet daily. Good luck. Oh and acupuncture did relieve a lot of my pain.

Catherine Griffiths I found magnesium oil spray and epsom salt baths helped a lot with nerve pain. I had a stroke in 2013 and still get horrid headaches so am following eagerly

Graeme Marshall Left side of my head, face aches a lot, to go to a neorsurgeon who injects a steroid into back of my neck, gives me some relief

Jennifer Harding I'm on a smaller dose of Amitriptyline (Endep) for nerve pain. It definitely helps a lot.

Jessica Capelli After my stroke I suffered badly from headaches but I believe it was from the medication as it did ease when they lowered my dosage. Might be worth having a chat to your dr to see if they could offer any alternatives. I also found that if I took the heavy medication at night I was able to sleep through some of the headache. Nerve pain is so challenging, the only thing that worked for myself was lots of hot baths, keeping hydrated, magnesium and exercise stretching. I did try Osteopathic manipulation and physio, but it really was time that helped with the nerve pain. Sending you lots of support as I know how tough it can be 🙏

Melanie Steenhuis 10 years out, headache 24/7 and nerve pain terrible , work 7 day a week like Ashley says keeping busy is the key. I also have a spinal cord stimulator meant to help with head and nerve pain

Ashley George Wright Gday , I have constant headache since my stroke 9.9.19 ,personally I deliberately keep myself busy ,exercise a lot just try my best to keep my mind elsewhere than thinking of pain ,over the countered dont work for me either .My motto DETERMINED ,use it mate.

Samantha Crossley I was on Gabapentin immediately following my stroke as I had pretty bad nerve pain, helped but was very sleepy but apart from being fatigued I didn't have any other side effects. after my body got used to it and stopped responding they changed me to Lyrica which is an awful drug, that one I suffered many side effects from.

Sherrin Dishon I have massages and see osteopath and try to take life easier as when fatigue sets in nerve pain is worse. 🙏

Julie Williams Excersices I do that have really helped so much are called: Median Nerve Glide, Bilateral Median Nerve Glide and Levator Scapula Stretching. See a proper Neuro Physio if you havent already.

Davina Foster I found I cried with nerve pain in the arm.... it would even wake me... I would place a pillow under my arm to prop it up ... just go slower, be nice to yourself breathing helped but not in the early days... nearly to years later and that pain still makes an appearance more when I have overworked it, it’s cold or best yet I’m tired and fatigue has come along too ...
I’m interested to here others too.

I agree with Garry's point. Ignoring the pain is what I always do especially when I got ill. I know it's hard but believe me, it works.

Thank you all for your tips. Whenever they start to come on I try to keep myself as occupied as possible. I’ve also changed my diet so that’s helped. I’m still all so new to this and working with my doctors on how to manage all of this naturally!

Hi Deepel, I had headaches (before and after stroke) and after my stroke took on the advise of my late dad and measured my blood pressure 3x a day (3x in the morning, lunch time and evening) and created a chart which I presented to my GP who then prescribed the right medication. As far as I know elevated blood pressure is not good and is know as the 'silent killer'. Pls speak to your GP, be persistent! Take care, Michael

Should note that my dad suffered from strong migraines and elevated blood pressure. Also a lot of stress due to his profession. We often underestimate how stress affects our wellbeing - in the long run! Take care