Nerve pain in back of head :(

[Jess Watkins]

Well I've been sick since Monday with the flu and now I am just dealing with nasal congestion and post nasal dripping from the "aftermath". Last night I noticed a very sharp pain in the far back of my head, not where a headache is usually located, but literally at the back of my head, about 2 inches away from my ear on the left side. It has been hurting off and on and it feels like there is a pressure with it too. It comes in spurts and lasts only about 2-5 seconds and goes away. It seems to act up when I twist my head or grind on my teeth. There is def muscle tension because all thru-out my illness my body felt like it was run over by a truck.

But I'm not worried about that. I'm worried because I looked it up last night and found Occipital Neuralgia which can be caused by constant tension to the neck muscles. Ever since September of 2014 I have been having this head pain but for some reason it has come back since being sick. What made me scared is that apparently there is no cure for it (and it's permanent) because once the nerves are damaged, they're damaged. That scares me because I don't want to live with this awful pain that feels like a tumor (no joke...it literally feels like there's something up there...pressure and all) for the rest of my life.

I guess I don't know what I'm asking or what I want reassurance for...I just want to share my fears with someone besides my family because I am tired of going to them with all this health fear stuff...I know they get tired and annoyed hearing it. I just need caring ears right now. :)

[NixonRulz]

Ah, health anxiety....how I loathe you

Do I feel like it is tension, stress and anxiety related, why yes I do. Seems like TMJ and I got to experience the same pleasures from it

I would go to the doc on this one though. No harm in goin and it's not like you rushed there at the first sign of the pain

When I was at my worst, I made a pact with myself that I would wait 2 weeks before seeing a doc for one of my many concerns..if it was still there after those weeks, no harm in seeing the doc. Waiting the 2 weeks made me feel. Ore in control of my anxiety

I am sure it's nothing but have them take a look

[lexi3309]

I actually experience this on a regular basis. Recently had an EEG done and I had a scan on my brain on an ER trip because I was convinced I was dying. Of course everything always came back normal. I still have trouble talking myself into not going to the ER when it happens, but I have more positive evidence to back me up so it helps. I would suggest going to the dr just to clear your mind and help ease your worries if you can. Also, I do what NixonRulz suggested as well. When I have some strange feeling or pain, I always give myself a time frame or a pain tolerance level and before I know it, it's subsided and after an hour, I'm still alive and functioning and I relax a little...at least on the health anxiety part. I am new to health anxiety and actually didn't even know it existed until my anxiety started but once I found out about it, so much fell into place and made more sense to me.