Covid headache

[barkley]

For those of you that may have experienced a Covid headache, did you find any medication that helped? Can you also let me know how long the headache lasted when you had Covid? Thank you.

our household was diagnosed on 9/22. my oldest is just returning to work on saturday (w/an inhaler and work modifications), and i'm still feeling some effects. it hit my oldest and i like a baseball bat-for me the worst was the headaches, 'brain fog' and fatigue (still battling the fatigue). i have a history of migraines so i have all my go-to remedies but honestly it was on and off for a week or so despite my best efforts. i found that an ice pack helped along with staying hydrated but for the most part it is a waiting game (my cough comes and goes every few days).

As others have said, drink as much non-caffeinated fluids as possible

i agree to an extent but if a person is used to drinking caffeinated beverages and then cuts them off completely it can compound headaches. most headache meds (and some migraine) contain caffeine. i have had multiple neurologists advise me to limit my caffeine consumption but not to entirely eliminate it due to the potential for increased headaches and migraines. during the first couple of weeks i had covid i was sleeping 16-18 hours per day and only drinking water. this was a BIG MISTAKE b/c it seemed to compound my headaches and 'head fog'. while i started to have the headaches ease up a week in i can point to the day i drank my first cup of coffee as the first day i didn't have a headache that night and my 'fog' seemed to break a bit.



covid is so strange. dh and youngest got it to much less a degree than oldest and i did. different symptoms for all of us.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

I had the worst headache with the 2nd dose Covid vaccine. It felt like someone kept hitting the back of my head with a baseball bat. Hope you feel better soon.

May I ask if this is the first time you have Covid?

Yes, this is our first case of covid in our family. My son got sick on Friday and we gave him the at-home test on Saturday. His symptoms were like a bad cold. I woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat, fever and that headache and took the at-home test and was positive. All of my family members are fully vaccinated and boosted.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

I use a bag of frozen peas or corn, instead of the ice pack. I put a bar towel around the bag, and refreeze when it needs it; reusing it over and over. (I never let it get fully thawed, and once we use it for an ice pack, it's marked and not eaten.) I like using the veg because it is softer and conforms better than an ice cube (say, around a sprained ankle) and with the bar towel, it doesn't make a mess.

This is really good advice. When I'm feeling bad, I have the worst time "helping myself". I can't quite describe it, but I really wasn't thinking clearly yesterday. I used bags of frozen peas for my kids when they had their wisdom teeth removed and it never occurred to me to use frozen veg for myself. I just kept getting the washcloth wet with cold water over and over again.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

our household was diagnosed on 9/22. my oldest is just returning to work on saturday (w/an inhaler and work modifications), and i'm still feeling some effects. it hit my oldest and i like a baseball bat-for me the worst was the headaches, 'brain fog' and fatigue (still battling the fatigue). i have a history of migraines so i have all my go-to remedies but honestly it was on and off for a week or so despite my best efforts. i found that an ice pack helped along with staying hydrated but for the most part it is a waiting game (my cough comes and goes every few days).


i agree to an extent but if a person is used to drinking caffeinated beverages and then cuts them off completely it can compound headaches. most headache meds (and some migraine) contain caffeine. i have had multiple neurologists advise me to limit my caffeine consumption but not to entirely eliminate it due to the potential for increased headaches and migraines. during the first couple of weeks i had covid i was sleeping 16-18 hours per day and only drinking water. this was a BIG MISTAKE b/c it seemed to compound my headaches and 'head fog'. while i started to have the headaches ease up a week in i can point to the day i drank my first cup of coffee as the first day i didn't have a headache that night and my 'fog' seemed to break a bit.



covid is so strange. dh and youngest got it to much less a degree than oldest and i did. different symptoms for all of us

our household was diagnosed on 9/22. my oldest is just returning to work on saturday (w/an inhaler and work modifications), and i'm still feeling some effects. it hit my oldest and i like a baseball bat-for me the worst was the headaches, 'brain fog' and fatigue (still battling the fatigue). i have a history of migraines so i have all my go-to remedies but honestly it was on and off for a week or so despite my best efforts. i found that an ice pack helped along with staying hydrated but for the most part it is a waiting game (my cough comes and goes every few days).


i agree to an extent but if a person is used to drinking caffeinated beverages and then cuts them off completely it can compound headaches. most headache meds (and some migraine) contain caffeine. i have had multiple neurologists advise me to limit my caffeine consumption but not to entirely eliminate it due to the potential for increased headaches and migraines. during the first couple of weeks i had covid i was sleeping 16-18 hours per day and only drinking water. this was a BIG MISTAKE b/c it seemed to compound my headaches and 'head fog'. while i started to have the headaches ease up a week in i can point to the day i drank my first cup of coffee as the first day i didn't have a headache that night and my 'fog' seemed to break a bit.



covid is so strange. dh and youngest got it to much less a degree than oldest and i did. different symptoms for all of us.

I’m so sorry you all were sick. In any year pre-Covid, that headache would have caused me to go to the ER as I would have suspected something serious. I talked to 2 co-workers today in a different state. The one guy had symptoms just like mine. The other was more like my son’s experience of a bad cold. Best wishes to you as you all recover.

 

[LuvOrlando]

How is it going this evening? Hope everyone is doing OK.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

How is it going this evening? Hope everyone is doing OK.

It’s so sweet of you to ask . Headache is about 90% gone and I can handle it. I now have a cough and some nausea, which is all part of Covid. It’s just such a strange virus.

 

[leebee]

DD had covid in the very first round, in January 2020. I've never seen anyone so sick, but the ER/hospital said stay home, treat the symptoms. Her headache was constant for several weeks and after that she'd have multiple migraines... 2 or 3 a week.. for about 6 months. It was debilitating. She ended up with a prescription for Tylenol with codeine and twice weekly chiropractic visits before the headache went away. Now she gets migraines easily, which had never happened before, but I think these are as attributable to her high-stress family situation and full time grad school as they are to leftover covid.

My OTC "go to" for pain relief is 800mg ibuprofen every 8 hours and two extra-strength Tylenol (two 500mg pills, gel-caps are my favorites). I take the Tylenol when I take the ibuprofen to keep the schedule easier to remember, but I could take the Tylenol every 6 hours instead of every 8. This is what was prescribed for the nerve pain from a compressed lumbar disc, and it's effective.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

DD had covid in the very first round, in January 2020. I've never seen anyone so sick, but the ER/hospital said stay home, treat the symptoms. Her headache was constant for several weeks and after that she'd have multiple migraines... 2 or 3 a week.. for about 6 months. It was debilitating. She ended up with a prescription for Tylenol with codeine and twice weekly chiropractic visits before the headache went away. Now she gets migraines easily, which had never happened before, but I think these are as attributable to her high-stress family situation and full time grad school as they are to leftover covid.

My OTC "go to" for pain relief is 800mg ibuprofen every 8 hours and two extra-strength Tylenol (two 500mg pills, gel-caps are my favorites). I take the Tylenol when I take the ibuprofen to keep the schedule easier to remember, but I could take the Tylenol every 6 hours instead of every 8. This is what was prescribed for the nerve pain from a compressed lumbar disc, and it's effective.

Thank you, leebee and I’m so sorry to hear about your daughter suffering with migraines like that. I hope she gets relief from those recurring migraines soon.