Connect
← Return to New Daily Persistent Headache
Discussion
Comment receiving replies
My wife has constant daily head pressure/headache for several months. We believe it may be NDPH, which was suggested by an ER doc - but her current neurologist (#3) believes it is instead a pinched nerve and that surgery on the cervical spine may offer some relief. An odd feature of this is that she feels tactile sensations (floating pieces of metal) in her mouth that cause her a great deal of discomfort as well. We have not heard of anyone experiencing that with NDPH, but we wonder if the pinched nerve might be causing it as well. We would welcome hearing from anyone else who may have a similar experience.
Replies to "My wife has constant daily head pressure/headache for several months. We believe it may be NDPH,..."
Hello corxdv: My husband has dueling diagnoses: ndph versus cervicogenic (cervical spine) headache. Because his neck MRI and X Rays showed arthritic changes in his neck (bone spurs, swollen facet joints) he was treated with cervical spine steroid infections and nerve blocks by a physical medicine and rehab specialist. The nerve blocs did not work and the physical medicine and rehab doc offered referral to a surgeon for "nerve decompression surgery" of his cervical spine. We are leary of this surgery since the cervical spine nerve blocks did not pinpoint the location of the problem. A neurologst recently diagnosed NDPH on the basis that (1) the cervical spine nerve blocks did not work; (2) he has no neck pain and can move his neck freely; and (3) his history and negative imaging tests are consistet with ndph. Please let us know if your wife had surgery and if she has found relief.
Connect
Hello @corxdv, welcome to Connect. I moved your discussion and combined it with an existing discussion on New Daily Persistent Headaches. I did this for a couple of reasons, one so that you would have the chance to read through some of the previous posts from members on this diagnosis and two, so the members already discussion this diagnosis would see your message. This discussion was started some time ago, but it has been recently active, so if you are reading from the beginning do not be thrown off by the date. If you are responding by email, I suggest clicking on VIEW & REPLY so you can see the whole discussion from the beginning and you can participate where you feel comfortable.
@corxdv, you mentioned that your neurologist thinks that surgery is a viable option. How comfortable are you and your wife with that and is the neurologist confident that will help? I only ask because surgery on the spine sounds intimidating.