Antidepressants for PTSD... severe headaches/Migraines... advice?

Question: Antidepressants for PTSD... severe headaches/Migraines... advice?

Answer:

Full Question:

I'm a 32-year-old female. Diagnosed with Complex PTSD. Have been on 30 mg Prozac in the morning and 25mg Amitriptyline at night for 2 years. I am in therapy (9 months now) and most weeks after my session I develop a headache which doesn't respond to treatment with Paracetamol. It is usually situated above one or both eyes, at the bridge of the nose or occasionally it feels like the roof of me head is going to explode, sometimes there is accompanying nausea and sensitivity to light. Are these headaches due to stress?? I often get stressed before going to a T session, but, usually relax once I get there and am totally relaxed by the time I leave. Within 30 - 60 minutes after a session I can feel the first signs of pain. Prior to going on anti-depressants I had headaches almost every day, but they were never as severe as the ones I get now. Any advice, hints would be appreciated. Amanda.

Answer:

Dear Amanda,

Seems to me like you are exhibiting what Edmund Liveing wrote in 1873 in his book "On Megrim": when the stress is less, the headaches are more (I'm paraphrasing). Migraines and headaches can come out when stress is lessened. Paracetamol is not really a treatment for a Migraine. Have you tried a triptan?

Good luck,
John Claude Krusz

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