I often take painkillers (acetaminophen aka paracetamol), but I’ve noticed that it’s much more effective if I take them TOGETHER with my ADHD medication (ritalin aka methylphenidate) + my morning coffee. If I don’t take them AT the same time, the painkiller is far less effective.
I do not exceed the maximum dosage of painkiller (1gram per intake, mornings), but alone this would barely suffice to kill my morning headache.
My hypothesis is that since the LIVER has to convert all three, I am effectively overdosing on either substance (painkiller or ADHD meds), and damaging my liver in the process.
good question, I wish I knew… I am perfectly healthy as far as I can tell. Have had it since I was 10. Perhaps stress that I am incapable of getting rid of, even if don’t have ANY obligation. It’s like its an inherent part of me, never letting go of me…
There is a plethora of causes for “headache”, but you could maybe figure it out based on where and how it hurts. Get it checked.
I have AuDHD, and… yeah, I sometimes get so tense that I get muscle aches because of stress that I create myself.
That being said, I also suggest you talk to a doctor, because it would be way better if there was a way to fix it. If you can’t, then harm reduction in painkillers makes sense, but if there’s a simple solution (like nighttime stretching or going to bed earlier), you’ll save yourself a lot of worry and pain.
Additionally, please don’t feel pressured to discuss this here (though I’m happy to talk to you further about it, I’m just not trying to pry), but something to consider: I tend to, as a result of my AuDHD, process really unpleasant personal situations somewhat subconsciously. What I mean is that I’m often not aware of negative emotions until I notice their psychosomatic effects on my body. I used to get headaches 3-5 days a week that would basically send me to bed after work. When my awful boyfriend broke up with me, they went away. I was incredibly unhappy with him and didn’t realize it, but I still carried a lot of tension that expressed itself physically.
For another example: I’m now in grad school and I’m a stereotype of an ADHD student (not everyone with ADHD is like this, but I definitely procrastinate until deadline stress can carry me through), so it’s very difficult. Since I started my master’s, I’ve also started vomiting, a lot. I’m getting checked out (tomorrow, actually) to see if there’s a physical cause, but I’m 90% sure it’s just stress. I’ll be done with my degree in February, but if it were a job instead of a temporary thing, I’d probably have to quit or develop some more effective coping skills.
I just wanted to throw that out there and suggest that you might be physically reacting to a source of stress or tension in your life, and you might want to weigh whether that tension is worth the headaches or whether you can employ coping skills and assertively reduce that stress.
yes… what you describe is actually my main hypothesis regarding headache as well. Subconscious stress build-up, basically. But to make this problem probably unsolvable is that I’m even subconsciously stressed in the holidays. Even if I go live with my mother for a few months, not having to do ANYthing but relax, I think I am still not relaxed. Perhaps it’s not stress but I think it probably is. So I think I have to force relaxation somehow, because apparently I am unable to do so myself. Being tense does run in a family a bit. I’m just fucked.
Perhaps botox injection in the scalp can help. I know, it sounds perhaps crazy if you’re not familiar with it, but this is legit practice, the acid forces the tiny muscles around the scalp to temporarily relax. Just throwin’ it out there :S