I had my first chemo session yesterday, ide been home about an hour and bang, headache arrived and i noticed it. None of my regular meds for pain have touched it and ive woken up today and its still there. Im hoping the post chemo steroids deal with it but im not hopeful. Its on the top of my head at the front and radiates to my ears, like pressure.

I had my first chemo on fri 13th. Headache started the day I had chemo. I ended up at hospital for 3 days. Thought it might be the stress built up. Headaches still there and been told Itcould be getting side effects from the meds... Got to ring the hospital if it doesn’t settle. Not looking forward to second chemo if I feel like this.

I've been on chemotherapy for almost a year and get a temple headache frequently but this is the second time I've had a headache from hell, worst ever. The first time I had to go to the hospital and I was given an injection of Naproxen which seemed to help, this was in addition to common painkillers and two lots of liquid morphine I had taken at home before the hospital which had no effect at all. I've had this second worst headache ever for the last couple of days, it started as the temple chemo headache then became a 24/7 chronic,headache that no medication helps, no matter how strong, co codamol with 30mg codeine or the naproxen, I can't sleep with it and keep thinking I'm about to have a stroke. I did take my blood pressure this morning and it was sky high, one of the chemo side effects so I've gone back on the BP medication. But this doesn't usually cause the headaches. Has anyone had similar problems. I keep feeling as though I need to go to hospital with this headache from hell. I am seeing a new Oncologist on Friday and will see what he says. It is so chronic and continuous and stops me doing anything.

Hi 

I appreciate that this is rather an old post, however I,ve discovered something that may benefit others.

Last week I started chemo for breast cancer.  First few days I felt okayish then five days in I went downhill and ended up being admitted into hospital.   Dehydrated even though I was drinking heaps of water, migraines, severe indigestion, stomach cramps and diarrhoea.   Paracetamol didn’t even make a dent in the migraine so I was given liquid morphine which eventually did the trick.

Lots of hydration, X-Rays and CT scans and I was allowed home two days later.

So last night I wished I was back in hospital when the migraine re-introduced itself.

Eventually after giving up on paracetamol as that was the strongest pain killers I had, decided to google for alternatives.   Lavender essential oils was recomended and thankfully I had a bottle.  Added a few drops to a carrier oil i.e. sweet almond oil and rubbed it into my temples, neck and shoulders.   It worked really quickly and I definitely felt more relaxed and managed to go back to sleep.  Woke a couple of hours later and redid applied.  So far so good, and the migraine has dissapeared.

Hope this post may be of benefit to others x 

Hi

im the same, had chemo on Wednesday last week and my head feels like I’m on the business end of a battering ram! I was in A&E for 7 hours on Sunday to try and get it under control. I tried co-codamol, the 30mg ones, and migraine tablets before going to hospital. They tried tramadol which didn’t work either. I was sent home with dihydrocodeine which also didn’t work. I went to my GP who increased my gabapentin, and this together with the dihydrocodeine have eased it ever so slightly, but I can still barely think straight. My second chemo is on 17th, so I hope they get it under control before then! It’s not dehydration as I drink 4 - 5 pints of water a day. This is the worst headache I’ve ever had!

My mother was the same but has started using cold brew tea nags so it tastes more like pop and juice rather than water just without the sugars and caffeine. Might help.