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Head Pressure Thing - A Revelation

2 years ago794 words

I intended to post a Weekly Update today... but haven't yet finished what I wanted to do before it, largely due to a distracting feeling of pressure on the top of my head which has been a source of concern and anxiety for years. I think I've finally come to a realisation about what's causing it, though!!

It's something I've probably written about before, because I've been experiencing it on and off for much of my life. Sometimes it goes away for months, other times it bothers me every day for a week. And I've devoted a whole lot of mental time and energy to wondering what terrible cause there must be behind it.

I always used to worry that maybe it meant I had a brain tumour. Then when I found out that I did have a brain tumour, and got surgery for that, I thought that explained it and I'd seen the end of it.

But it came back, so I wondered whether it was just a consequence of my brain's apparently permanently engorged ventricles causing pressure against my skull or something... though if that were the case, why do I only get it sometimes, and why do I have no other symptoms associated with neurological issues, like disruption of balance?

I've been noticing when it happens that I'm also experiencing a lot of bodily tension - especially clearly felt in my shoulders and jaw - so I've wondered whether anxiety might be causing some subconscious tensing of scalp muscles or something. Other people with anxiety do report all kinds of weird symptoms, after all, headaches very much among them. But muscle relaxation exercises never seemed to make it go away.

I also thought maybe it could be due to dehydration, so I've been trying to drink more for a few weeks or months now. But clearly it wasn't that, because the pressure feeling's still here.

I had a thought randomly just an hour or two ago: Maybe it's because of a lack of sleep?

I've been busy this week renovating this website, and that's involved setting up info sections and associated visuals - videos and images - for my games, Atonal Dreams in particular. I've mostly finished with it - I'll write the Weekly Update after finishing off a few more bits - but it's taken way more time than expected (as always!!). It's a change from the usual, though, so I've been able to focus on it for way longer, and I've been excited about working on it, so I've been going to bed later - and struggling to fall asleep when I do - and waking up sooner.

The app I use to track how much I sleep has been saying I've been getting about 6 hours a night, which I thought was probably fine, especially since I haven't been feeling tired, really...

I mean we're meant to get between 7 and 8, or something, and that's close enough, right?

Well. I just googled it, and found ∞ this article ∞, the abstract of which reads:



That seems to be talking about what I'm experiencing more accurately than anything else I've found when wondering about this in the past! (I haven't taken any painkillers though so I don't know if that bit's accurate or not.)

So it probably is just that! Not my brain tumour coming back and blocking my brain's ventricles again and causing a return of the hydrocephalus which will mean my death in the near future!! Good!!!

So yes, this is unlikely to be all that interesting or relevant to anyone else, but it's something that's plagued me for years, and this felt such a relief and a revelation that I wanted to make a note about it.

Hopefully I won't just forget this though next time it happens and start worrying about it again!!

Also, I'll have an early night tonight, and take it easy tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get around to finishing the site and posting the Weekly Update though!