Could there be something in the air that's triggering my extreme headaches?

Sounds like allergies.

In the air…tonight? Maybe Phil Collins music gives you these headaches.

@marinelife: Pretty extreme allergies, if that’s it. How would I find out what the trigger is? What would I be able to do about it?

Are the headaches centered around any particular area of the head?

@Adirondackwannabe Sort of. There’s about 5 different spots where the headaches pop up, with unique pain in each spot – dull aches around my eyes and in my forehead, a stronger ache in the base of my skull in the back, and sharp, shooting pain (think being-stabbed-in-the-skull-with-a-butcher-knife) that runs along the top of my skull on one side or the other. Sometimes a different sort of a stabbing pain in/around my ears. One or more of the pains might be active at any time.

I have allergies and get some pain around the eyes and the forehead. The other one’s are baffling. You haven’t had any ear infections recently have you?

Not that I know of. I actually think the ache in the base of my skull might be from hunching over my school books all day, so I’m not so worried about that. The stabbing in the top of my head is what’s alarming.

I think you’re right about the base of the skull one, but I don’t have a clue on the other one.

I get sinus headaches (nothing as severe as the symptoms you describe) during the winter when the air is very dry and I can’t open the windows.

Have you tried running humidifiers in your bedroom and living areas?

Do you get any relief when you take a very hot shower?

This does seem like band-aid advice, given what you have told us here.

I am relieved that you are seeing an MD., who, I hope, will order neuro tests, an MRI and CT scan, in order to have a peek inside your head.

@gailcalled: I mentioned this on another thread – our house is sealed up so well that we can’t humidify at all because the moisture goes condenses on the windows right away, without giving us any relief. It drips down the window and the sills get moldy within a few days of running the humidifier. The windows in the kitchen look horrible because of steam from boiling water. Needless to say, winter gets miserable. Thank goodness spring is just around the corner!! (50* is more common that 20* – yahoo!!)

Why don’t you focus on possible solutions instead. For example, what I would do is buy a good air purifier with a HEPA filter and see if that helps (you’ll find a bunch on Amazon). If it helps problem solved. Also it’s a purifier and not a humidifier, so it does matter if your house is sealed.

I’ve just noticed that you experience this in your car and other buildings too. So although air purifier is not a total problem solver, you might still want to give a try. I would suspect a high sensitivity to certain materials might be a problem though. Try Googling “Sick Building Syndrome” for more on this.

Could be allergies or maybe something in your diet you’re not getting enough of, such as potassium. I heard from a doc that a lack of it makes you have headaches. Bananas are rich in potassium. Try entering them in your diet more?

@Mr_Saturn512: I eat 3 or 4 bananas a week. I’ll look into some other potassium-rich foods.

Is the headache in your sinuses? Front of the face and front of the head? That could be mold. Does anything smell “damp” or mildewy in your house? Could be dust also. Is it worse at night and when you wake? Try buying a new pillow to sleep on.

@JLeslie: Sometimes I’ve got slight discomfort in my sinuses, but not bad and not often. I don’t think it’s a part of the rest of this, since it’s not significant. We’ve done a lot of work in different areas of the house to remove mold and mildew in the last few years, so I hope there’s none of that any more, because that’s a hassle to deal with.

I also just remembered that we dealt with radon gas in the house a year and a half ago, in case anyone was going to suggest that.

I am not a doctor, but I think the mold can hang around in the sinuses. Have you tried taking a broad spectrum antibiotic like Augmentin (which actually kills some molds) or levaquin?

Nope. There are a few questions that come to mind with that possibility, though. (1) If mold were hanging around in my sinuses, would I have had any relief after we renovated the house? Because I did have relief from the symptoms directly linked to the mold. (2) Would the current symptoms come and go so instantaneously with fresh air?

@RandomGirl I’m really not sure. I would think yes you would have relief after renovating, because the spore levels in the air would be much lower. If there is still an infection in your sinuses symptoms might wax and wane depending on other aggravating factors and your immune system. Has your doctor treated you for mold? Maybe it is worth a shot? I think they can tell if your sinuses are inflamed on xray, did they do anything like that? I don’t know a lot about it. I once became very very sick from a moldy house, but the air was thick with mold spores.

@JLeslie No, no one has checked for a mold infection. The last time we were at the MD for all this was about 5 months ago. Ever since then, we’ve been checking out all these other possibilities, especially my teeth and vision. The really horrible part is that we would think for a week or two that we’d figured it out, and then it’d come back and we’d start all over again. I think all of these possibilities will be checked out next week when I go in.

@RandomGirl I think some doctors treat mold like an allergy, which I don’t understand. I would think there is an actual infection. Again, I am not a doctor, maybe when you talk to your doctor he can tell you the various options. It concerns me that treatments might squash the immune system if there is an infection.

I used to get splitting headaches with bouts of nausea when visiting a couple of friends in their trailer. They would come on out of nowhere about 30 minutes after I got there and would go away about 2 hours after I left. Betweentimes it felt like someone had split the side of my head open with a blunt axe.
They moved about ½ mile down the road into a house they built. They took their furnishings, pets and kids when they went. I never had another violent reaction when visiting them.
It did not affect them or anyone else who went there with me (although they did say they had another friend who had the same problem) so I assume it was something in that trailer home that I could not stand.
Based on my experience, I would suggest you look for something in your enviroment, such as insulation, particleboard (they use formaldehyde to make it) or some other product that could cause the problem.