Headaches when focusing too hard?

[throwaway423]

So I'm in the process of seeing a psychiatrist, and I'm just wondering if I should bring this up.


I get headaches after focusing too hard on tasks/games. Basically, sometimes I feel my head is... Sort of tense, when I'm really into something, and if I do this for a while I start to get a headache. It's really hard to describe it. It's like my head is a muscle and when I focus too hard I'm flexing that muscle,
but flexing it for too long gives me a headache, and it makes my focus worse when I am flexing it. My focus is better when my head is relaxed.



I can't figure out if it's indicative of adhd, because to me it seems like that's something that would happen to everyone.

[silivrentoliel]

are you sure it's not eye strain?

[throwaway423]

Originally Posted by silivrentoliel

are you sure it's not eye strain?

Yeah, I'm pretty positive.

[acdc01]

I get headaches whenever I'm too bored or stressed. I always thought they were tension headaches brought on by anxiety/tension.

Could that be it for you?

I also had headaches with high blood pressure brought on by stress but I'm guessing that's not you.

I see no harm mentioning it to your psych.

[throwaway423]

Originally Posted by acdc01

I get headaches whenever I'm too bored or stressed. I always thought they were tension headaches brought on by anxiety/tension.

Could that be it for you?

I also had headaches with high blood pressure brought on by stress but I'm guessing that's not you.

I see no harm mentioning it to your psych.

I guess another way to put it is that trying to focus just strains my head, and too much of this strain gives me a headache.

[Tmoney]

I'm the same way. I carry all my stress and anxiety in my head and neck. Every now and then when the stress is high, I get bad headaches.
So here is what I did.

Someone convinced me to go see a neurologist. I agreed although I didn't have much hope in it.
I made an appointment for after work so I was in the office waiting at 5pm. The Dr was with another person, so I sat down in the lobby all by myself to wait. I fell asleep.

I woke when I heard a door open. It was the doctor. He talked to me and started feeling my neck and shoulders. He said my goodness your all knotted up, you need to relax. I told him 2 minutes earlier I was asleep!

He said here is what I want you to do. Go get some relax music. Ocean, rain storm, waterfall, whatever you can find. Get head phones and go to a place where there are no interruptions. 1/2 a day listen, focus on breathing and just realx.

I left there thinking what a waist of time this was. My wife made me follow his instructions. I'll be darned if not a week later my headaches were gone!

I wish good things for you.

[acdc01]

Originally Posted by Tmoney

. 1/2 a day listen, focus on breathing and just realx.

Is that half an hour tmoney? Just checking since I'm going to give it a try.

Consistent exercise helped me too but didn't work for my coworkers.

[Tmoney]

Originally Posted by acdc01

Is that half an hour tmoney? Just checking since I'm going to give it a try.

Consistent exercise helped me too but didn't work for my coworkers.

Yes, half an hour. Sorry!

[CanineRogue]

Yes yes yes!! It's funny, I just made a post about something similar and mentioned the headache thing in there. I know EXACTLY what you mean, it's not even that you have to be physically looking at anything, so it can't be eye strain. I get jumbled like that if I'm supposed to be answering a complex question, but it was asked verbally instead of on paper. If something's on paper, I can reread it as much as I need to, but you can't ask someone to say something 20 times over! Just a good example of where it might happen that has nothing to do with vision.

Tmoney, thanks for the relaxation tips! I used to meditate when I was younger, I should really get back in to that and my yoga that I let slip to the wayside. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Jordan01]

Hi my name is Jordan and I feel the exact same way. I’m 15, I go to high school and I feel hopeless without help, I get stressed out because I’m scared of failing, please someone help, PLEASE!!! ������...

[MickeMouseFan]

I don't get a headache if I am playing fun games, but for games that require attention and multitasking, I do feel a slight 'pressure' in the head, what I consider to the a precursor to a headache. For games that require attention and multitasking for over an hour or more results in some mental fatigue (though not enough to make me stop).

But if I am hyperfocussed on a really difficult problem ie. math, then I do get a very significant headache, so I have to back off and try again later.

[concentric]

Does it feel like a band around your head? It could be a tension headache. I get it a lot if I don't take enough breaks from studying.

[sarahsweets]

Headaches should never be ignored, just ask Lunacie, you should always follow up witha doc or neuro to be on the safe side.

[Batman55]

I have had pressure headaches 24/7 for well over 10 years now. I did get it checked out with the docs and the neuro (no abnormality discovered.) It is still a tremendous impediment to functional ability by making it even harder yet to concentrate and focus (and therefore, to learn.) There is no clear diagnosis and have not found anything that helps, and I have tried a couple meds.

I'd be curious about Lunacie's insight on this, though.