headaches

[Carla]

Hi Ladies:
I haven't posted in awhile, but here I am with a woe. I have had a headache for about 2 weeks, and it especially hurts if I laugh or cough. I had a bad headache last night when I went to bed and a bad headache when I woke up this morning. I talked to the nurse at my oncologist's, and she said she would talk to the dr. about a CT scan of my head. My question is--how does a CT scan compare with an MRI? I think I've read here before about people's preferences for one over the other. I have had neither.
A brief history--I had mets to liver and bones dx'd aug 2002. I received a vaccine for her2++ metastatic b/c in Aug/Sept 2003. The dr. told me in Nov that I'm in remission (yeah!), but the vaccine is like chemo--it doesn't cross the blood/brain barrier, so of course I am always concerned about my brain.
I'm very interested in your opinions about headaches and diagnostic tests.
Thanks so much.
Carla

[Christine]

Carla,
The major difference between the two is that the MRI does not use radiation, but the CT scan does.
I found an interesting site that compares the two procedures.

Hugs
Christine

[Lolly]

I have only had an MRI(because of headaches) so can't speak from personal experience, but after reading the article Christine posted it does sound as if an MRI would be the more definitive test. I think any unusual symptoms need checking out, especially headaches. Keep us posted...
hugs,
Lolly

[Cindy H.]

Carla, I had a brain mri in March 2003 after experiencing lightenting-like headaches. A single met was discovered which was successfully gamma knifed. Since then, I've had periodic mri's. Twice, I've had a brain mri and a chest/abdomin ct on the same day. I think my onc is very up on things. Good luck and hopefully neither test will show a problem.

[Alicia]

Hi all!
I have been getting headaches...really strong ones that do not go away...just dull on ibuprofrin. I am going for an MRI of the brain on Tuesday. I just had one back in Jan. that showed lesions but not breast cancer, they were akin to MS type lesions. I don't know if allergies are bringing these on but when I wake up I feel like my head is in a vice. I'll report back as soon as I know. I am stage IV with mets to bone only (hip). Diagnosed exactly one year ago. I have my City of Hope 5K walk this Sunday! I'll be thinking of you all!!! Alicia

[Beth]

Good Luck Alicia! Please let us know the results and I will say a prayer for you tonight.

[Lolly]

That's so great you're doing the Hope 5K, we'll be thinking of you too!

I'll be hoping for good news for you on the MRI; I have periodic headaches like that, last about 3 days and nothing really works against them. I've had MRI's and nothing shows up, so have decided they're allergies, but I'll keep having MRI's anyway, just for the peace of mind;
no pun intended :)

Love, Lolly

[Lyn]

'Hi, how have you been sleeping, I went for days with lack of sleep and the headaches I got made me feel like I wanted to faint and throw up, just a thought, soon as I started sleeping properly they went away.

Praying everything goes well for you.

Love and Hugs Lyn

[Annemarie]

I had head aches and I checked out Dr. Susan Love's advise. She said that when you have head aches that are very bad in the morning and seem to get better during the day it may be an indication. Both times this was true for me. Only a brain MRI can confirm this so get checked!