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Hello Anonymous,

Welcome to EmpowHER. I am sorry to hear that you are suffering with nightly headaches, have not been given a cause and are using narcotics to get relief. This is a serious situation.

I wonder if you may have hypnic headache syndrome. It is a recurrent, benign headache disorder that occurs exclusively during sleep and usually begins after the age of 50 years.

The headache occurs exclusively during sleep; it occurs during daytime hours only when associated with a nap. Some patients report awakening with the headache after a dream. Most patients experience the attacks between 1:00 A.M. and 3:00 A.M. or 4:00 A.M. and 6:00 A.M. The headache occurs with striking circadian rhythmicity, with onset at the same time each night.

Patients usually experience only 1 headache attack per night, but some may have recurrent bouts of 2 or more headaches throughout the night, causing repeated interruption of sleep.

To establish if you have hypnic headache, you will need to see your doctor who will need to take a full history of your sleep patterns and night time habits (including snoring and restlessness). This helps to exclude secondary causes of headaches which start at night. These causes include drug withdrawal, sleep apnoea and temporal arteritis (inflammation of the temporal artery). Other primary headaches (such as migraine, cluster headaches and chronic paroxysmal hemicrania) can also wake you at night so these need to be excluded before you can be sure that you have hypnic headache.

Anonymous, approach your doctor again and ask if you might be suffering from this syndrome.

Regards,
Maryann

February 12, 2015 - 9:38am

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