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Managing headaches with IPF
A myriad of unpleasant symptoms come with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). For those who have heard of this life-threatening lung disease, they may guess that it causes things like a dry cough, shortness of breath, or dizziness. It’s easy to conclude that a lung disease might cause these symptoms; however, there are a number of other symptoms many people wouldn’t associate with IPF.
For me one of those pesky symptoms is headaches. I suffer from these seemingly more than many of my peers, which is frustrating and can sometimes be debilitating – especially if they become migraines! Thankfully, Tylenol usually rids the headaches quickly but I try not to take it too often as I am on enough other medication to manage my disease. Sometimes I find peppermint on my temples also helps relieve headaches, which is a more natural option but I am always curious how others deal with headaches.
If you suffer from headaches due to IPF, how do you manage them? Is there anything you do proactively to try and mitigate headaches?
I’d love to hear from you!
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1 Reply
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Hi Charlene,
I can certainly sympathize with your frequent headaches, they seem to come from nowhere for no reason.
My own remedy is to have a gel filled eye mask that I keep in the fridge so it’s cool and ready at a moments notice (got it from Amazon). I also try to make sure that I don’t “overdue it” all the time. That’s something I’m so bad at; I often push myself too far. Make sure you’re eating good quality food in small portions throughout the day. Keeping your blood sugar level helps.
I hope you get lots of ideas from all of us here, we understand just how frustrating and tiresome all these symptoms can be.
Take care, Teri
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