Chronic pressure around brain (tension headache?), increasing immediatelly after swallowing
Could you please help me solve this mystic shit out?
For more than a few months I have a constant sense of pressure in the head, around the brain area, on the upper part of the head. It varies between mild to moderate to severe. Occasionally turns into pain for a few seconds. Occasionally I hear high pitch sound (feels like originating in the back of the head, not the ears), which is often pulsating.
This pressure increases for some time immediatelly after swallowing anything: water, food, etc. I can swallow a sip of water and it will increase as soon as the water hits my stomach. It looks like anytime there is some activity in the stomach, head pressure increases.
Also it increases anytime I experience wind while being outside, the colder the wind, the bigger the pressure.
This pressure hadn’t completely disappeared for months, I’m having it 24/7.
Other symptoms for complete picture:
small amount of pain in adam’s apple when swallowing, some food getting stuck
decreased apetite
memory not sharp
lower back pain
Test I had done:
Brain MRI w/o contrast - no abnormalities
Carotid ultrasound (neck blood vessels) - no abnormalities
Thyroid ultrasound - some nodules visible
Full abdominal ultrasound - no abnormalities
Gastroscopy - non-atrophic gastritis without infection (no h. pylor)
blood tests - all ok, except:
HGB - 163 (max 160)
Creatinine - 116 (max 115)
AST: 49 (max 34)
ALT - ok
TSH - 2.2
ESR - 1
Protein in urine - negative
UREA - 4.1 mmol/l
Na, K - ok
Cl - 97 mmol/l (101-110)
Hba1c - ok
Medications tried
Tizanidine (muscle relaxant): looks like it reliably severely increases head pressure for a few hours. Side effect extreme drowsiness
Pramiracetam (pramistar): reliably increases head pressure, tinnitus becomes more often
No change with these:
Mirtazapine with duloxetine (2 weeks)
Mirtazapine alone (1 week)
Pregabalin
Indomethacin
Loratadine
Fluconazole
Creatine
Gabapentin + amitryptiline: trying now, looks like no change
Galantamine, motherwort, horny goat weed, p5p, sulbutiamine, methylphenidate, afobazole, vitamin d, quercetin
On todo list:
cerebrolysin, h2 inhibitor, ldn