busybee

I get a bad headache almost everyday that starts in the morning, within 1-2 minutes of getting out of bed. I can wake up and lay in bed for 20+ minutes with no headache, but as soon as I stand up, the pounding starts and it takes most of the day to go away. It affects my a lot because I don't have patience for my little kids when my head hurts and I can't go do the things I want to do. I take 4 Advil and 2 cups of coffee and a mid day nap and if I'm lucky that finally makes it go away. I see a specialist for TMJ and he recently prescribed Elavil, 10mg, to take at bedtime. He said some people who wake with a headache aren't getting enough "delta" sleep, or deep sleep. I felt like the headahces are more likely related to the surge in HR i get when i get up in the morning, but i was willing to try anything and it does seem to be helping.

Thank you both so much for the replies! I don't know... I live near Atlanta, Ga, which is a pretty big city so chances seem good that there would be someone. I feel like I should start with my GP first to rule other more common things out since I haven't even had a physical in quite awhile. I plan to call in the morning. The headaches and fatigue are bad enough and frequent enough to be compromising my quality of life.

Hi, I'm new here. I'm wondering if POTS could be the reason for my symptoms. I've always described myself as a low-energy kind of person. I just never had the get-up-and-go energy that others had. For years, most days I feel like I never fully woke up until somewhere between 11am-2pm and then by the time I was feeling fully awake, I was starting to get tired from the day's activities. On family outings to the beach or a hike, the sun would give me a headache and I'd need to take breaks more than the others. I've also gotten very mentally foggy over the past 5 years. It started when I was pregnant with my first child and I can remember sitting in my boss's office talking about something important and finding my words coming out in a jumble. I can't do simple math like making change at the store. I find it very hard to focus on any type of mental work. I also get pounding headaches that begin within a minute of getting out of bed in the morning and take hours, plus 4 advil and 2 cups of coffee, to relieve. The fatigue was to the point that I was just about to make an appointment with my GP a few weeks ago to talk about it, when I learned that my cousin was diagnosed with POTS. I had never heard of it before, but as I read about it, I wondered if this could be my problem as well. The related symptoms I have include fatigue, headaches, mental fogginess, irritable bowel, excessive urination, migraines (sporadically), intolerance to sun/heat (although I like hot baths), aching neck/shoulders (this is almost all the time and I just figured I slept funny or spent to much time at the keyboard, but I could especially relate to one story on here who said she feels it in her shoulders after a few sips of alcohol). I've read all the stories posted on the main site and had a little time to look through the forum. So, I tried to do a poor-mans tilt test at home at various times of the day on different days. Here are my results from that: Test 1 Time HR BP 8:40am 76 101/60 lying down 8:42 98 110/72 standing 8:44 101 112/77 " 8:46 108 110/75 " 8:49 105 112/76 " 8:52 62 102/57 lying back down Test 2 Time HR BP 7:23am 67 101/60 lying down 7:25 114 109/71 standing 7:29 134 103/73 standing - felt like I was going to puke 7:33 57 103/59 lying back down Test 3 Time HR BP 7:22am 78 104/65 lying down 7:24 110 110/70 standing 7:26 105 114/75 " 7:30 116 107/70 " 7:32 89 120/76 sitting down Test 4 Time HR BP 12:10pm 63 101/62 lying down 12:12 92 113/74 standing 12:17 97 110/70 " 12:20 98 113/73 " 12:23 68 102/58 lying down Test 5 Time HR BP 10:59pm 70 99/62 lying down 11:01 69 117/75 standing 11:04 80 113/78 " 11:09 87 117/78 " This morning I was putting on make-up a few minutes after getting out of bed and I felt that pounding headache coming on, so I took my BP and got a HR of 114 and BP of 106/72, so I laid down for a few minutes and took it again and it was HR 62, BP 102/63, I laid there for a few minutes and the got up and got dressed then took it again and it was HR 96, BP 111/73. It does seem like I get the higher HR in the mornings and not so much in the afternoon or evenings. Since my HR does increase more than 30 points upon standing I do wonder if I could have POTS. But I don't have the severe symptoms that most of the stories on here describe. I don't think I've ever fainted in my life or even felt like I was going to faint. I wanted to see what the people on here thought before I go running to the doc with a self-diagnosis of a rare syndrome. Thank you for any insight anyone has to offer!