Having austism and a headache

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I've had headaches because of backpain for the last 12+ years... and it affects ya especially when you're already a bit strange... so... and its a big struggle trying to get on with life like that because loud noises hurt ya and bright lights hurt ya and it feels like everyone is yelling at me.... but i'd just like to know how it affects other people on here... because it drives me absoluely crazy

thanks

"Drives me absolutely crazy" about covers it. If I had a constant headache, I would probably forget important things on a regular basis. It takes effort to eat properly, feed the cats, keep an apartment clean, remember the bills, and do schoolwork--effort that may not be available in the case of a headache. Thankfully, mine respond well to naproxen (an OTC painkiller), and I can often predict them because they usually start as tension in my neck or shoulder. I hurt my shoulder shoveling snow several years ago; and now if I don't move around enough or get stressed out, that's where it starts hurting... So thankfully I have an early warning system; not that shoulder pain can't make me less efficient all on its own. Often times, I can do some relaxation or massage my neck muscles to stop a headache before it starts. Being hypersensitive to all sorts of sensations does have its good points; while I can be completely out of commission due to simple things that don't bother most people, I'm also very aware of them and able to do things to make them less severe.

Well, hyper-sensitivity can cause tension headaches, of course, and in some cases nausia and even dizziness.

It can drive you crazy. Has anybody almost collapsed when they've been forced to endure prolongued exposure to sound and movement? Sometimes I stumble out of classrooms like a drunk.

Yup. There's this one grocery store in my town--the only one close enough to walk to--that absolutely refuses to change their fluorescent light bulbs on time; so they're always flickering. I try to finish my shopping as soon as possible, but I have had to lie down on the bench outside the store before I fell over from dizziness! Moral: Don't go shopping unless you're low enough on the stress meter to deal with the inevitable overload.

Ahh that sucks.. i dont think i've ever felt dizzy, it just makes me want to close my eyes and put my hands over my ears and the rest... or just get out of the situation as fast as possible and go somewhere quiet... Its in my shoulders as well so i just stretch them out... i slouched too much in school, damn depression. ;(

You should try shopping in the morning... you're noramlly too dopey to get stressed

That's a good idea SG. xD

I don't tend to get anxious in supermarkets unless they have narrow isles (so I have to constantly be on the look out for people wanting to go past), or I'm near the frozen isles- you know that annoying humming sound?

Not keen on the fluorescent lights but they don't have such an effect on me as they do on Callista, it seems. Might be because my nan has them in her kitchen and lounge and guest bedroom- I tend to get hypnotised by them if anything. I just can't take my eyes off them. They can make you feel sick though so I don't recommend.

Shopping, for many different reasons, can be quite the adventure for some of us.

Dry heat causes headaches. When I get overheated and I'm not dressed for it, I will get a pretty bad headache. Also, the winter sun (very bright) and bright lights in general, when against darkness or glaring reflections, gives me a lasting headache. And bad lighting will give me a headache at times.

I suffered from blinding headaches as a child that would be set off at the drop of a hat. It is not so bad now..
If I get upset, sometimes I get a pain right over my right eye....

There seems to be a circular system going on with headaches and my AS . The sensitivities...especially light, sound and smells can trigger a headache and the headaches will make me even more sensitive. As far as I can tell, they are generaly either sinus related and tend to get worse with barametric changes or stress-related starting in my neck and shoulders . I do a lot of messaging of face and shoulders and sometimes worry about the amount of acetaminophen I take but it usually works well enough to keep me functioning . Lack of sleep can make me more prone to the full blown migrains and then only sleep will help .

I used to get migraines associated with my menstrual cycle. They stopped when I started perimenopause early.

I also used to get migraines between periods that were triggered by stress. The stress was usually caused by my AS, either by social pressures or sensory overload.

When I got migraines, the only thing I could do was go home and go to bed. Painkillers only made them worse.

I have had migraine headaches my whole life and have tried everything from OTC pills to the new triptans, but nothing has ever helped (except sleeping it off) until I was able to isolate what caused them (Bright lights, bright sun, crowded places with too many extroverts, perfume, certain foods et al) and I have also learned a great deal about herbs, aromatherapy and medicinal food which is one of my obsessions now, I now rarely get the migraines and when I do, I can treat them without having to suffer the side effects caused by the medications I was taking for them.

The grocery store always gave me a headache in the past, now I go at night when they have closed most of the extras (deli etc) turned down the lights and the loud, smelly extroverts have gone home.