Muscle Tension Headache
Muscle tension headache is simply what the term suggests. It is caused by tensed muscles in the head or adjacent areas like the neck and shoulders which are caused by tender points or trigger points. Having said that, tender points and trigger points located near the neck and shoulders are likely the reason behind muscle tension headaches in fibromyalgia.
Treatment:
Treating muscle tension headaches involves alleviating the tensed muscles that are causing the headaches. Although there is no known treatment to eliminate tender points, the characteristic symptom of fibromyalgia, there are certainly ways to get rid of trigger points. Fibromyalgia trigger points can be treated with trigger point injections, massage therapies like myofascial release or even pharmaceutical muscle relaxants like Zanaflex or Norflex. Furthermore, there are also other natural muscle relaxers for fibromyalgia such as taking an epsom salt bath or foot soak, rubbing chamomile oil on affected area or drinking cherry juice.
I’d like to add another horrible headache feeling to the list. Sometimes my head & back of the neck will feel like all the nerves are just alive & “screaming”. It can envelop my head, and when it goes across my forehead, that’s when I can no longer really think well and don’t want to move. I get very quiet if I try to speak at all. I would try and rest through it, except that closing my eyes makes the pain worse, as if just the muscles of the eyelid are enough to pull at the pain in the forehead, it’s horrible.