73

So obviously I know that this isn't the solution, but would a hole in the head equalize the pressure and relieve pain? Or are pressure headaches within the bloodstream or something internal?

Really wish I had a tire valve on the back of my neck to balance out.

all 28 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 53 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Do not put a hole in your skull. No. The headache is not caused by cranial pressure.

Your sinuses may be inflamed, and relieving that pressure might provide temporary relief (like pressing on your forehead) but a hole in your skull wouldn't fix the underlying sinus problem, and would likely result in worse infections and irritation.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 26 points 11 months ago

Don't listen to this person. Drill a hole in your head. The documentary, Pi, showed that this works.

[-] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago

I shouldn't be surprised at this comment, Piholes seem fairly popular on Lemmy

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 11 months ago
[-] riodoro1@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

That movie was fucked up.

Shame they cropped out the greek subtitles so poorly.

[-] 3ntranced@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

Oh dont worry, this is all purely speculative.

The pain is almost always centered right behind and above the eyeballs. Even when first waking up or not actively straining eyes, usually accompanied by barometric shift.

It's not like ocular migraines because it doesn't give any visual flashing or anything like you'd associate with usually.

It's likely my sleeping, switched to shkikifuton & tatami to try and counteract backpain from soft matresses, but my neck seems to suffer instead.

[-] linearchaos@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago

And even then you should only let your doctors 16-year-old daughter drill the hole...

/s

[-] 3ntranced@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago

Too soon lol

[-] Orange_prose@ttrpg.network 1 points 10 months ago

They make earplugs for migraines caused by barometric shifts. The company is called weatherx. I'm wearing mine right now.

[-] 3ntranced@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

That's the first I've heard of that solution. I'll definitely look into them, thanks!

[-] godzillabacter@lemmy.world 43 points 11 months ago

Am doctor. Outside of very rare and specific causes of headache, no this wouldn't fix anything, just put you at risk for infections.

[-] philpo@feddit.org 24 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

sighs Oh god. No, it wouldn't. Here we go.

The name pressure headaches come from the feeling of pressure,not from actual pressure - actually most pressure headaches are not caused by a process within the cerebral cavity at all. Most are related to sinuses, especially the frontal sinuses, teeth, the middle ear/auris media, tension headaches(which are usually cervical/muscular). Only migraines as a cause for pressure headaches are actually within the cerebral cavity but have nothing to do with actual pressure. (Okay, actually we don't really know how they start - but we are really sure it's not the pressure)

As the brain matter itself has no pain receptors it does not actually feel pain - but the root of nerves like the Trigeminus, Occipitalis and the layers of tissue covering the brain (Meninges) as well as the vessels can absolutely feel pain. A lot of pain.

Cerebral bleeds, post aneurysm or trauma, usually happen in a very acute form or very slowly - with patients suffering from minutes to month from occasional headaches,often rather mild and not "pressure" headaches. Often after an initial knockout punch. (And at that point I must remind people that someone who has been knocked out needs a brain scan urgently. It's NOT something to joke about and feel ultra manly,eh, toxic masculinity, about)

The acute form is totally different though - it's one of the nastiest ways to go. Patients have a sudden onset of massive,life-changing pain, described by survivors as a catastrophic, sharp(*), pain associated with a fast onset of other neurological symptoms.

Another misconception is the fact that the cerebral cavity has no openings - it has quite a few and when the pressure within the skull is increased by a pathologic event like a cerebral bleed or the swelling of the brain the brain gets pushed in these holes - mainly the hole connecting to the spinal column. Which is why cerebral bleeds are so deadly - because the brain goes "stem first" through there - and it's too small even for the brain stem. And the stem is what regulates breathing,etc.
Other nerves get simply sheered off/cut by the pressure. (This is part of the pain mentioned above - Large nerves being cut by your own blood pressure)

Nevertheless even in these cases the removal of large parts of the skull as it is done by neurosurgeons does not alleviate the pain - the damage to tissue, nerves, etc. is done. The goal is to give the brain room and stop the bleeding. But thankfully we have good options for pain relief these days and these patients are in a very deep sedation/coma for a good reason.

(There are of course rare special cases like hydrocephalus cases, but that's a bit far fetched here)

So no, it would not help a bit painwise ,even in the most extreme situations.

So as a healthcare professional I generally would advise against drilling into one's head. It will make a lot my colleagues very angry.

And if you really feel you must do that please consult the nearest psychiatrist first. And if you then still feel like you must do that, make sure to do it during business hours, make also sure you livestream a video of it for the loolz of a lot of HCPs around the world, get a testimony recorded so your next of kin can sue the earlier mentioned shrink that he did not admit you to a closed ward and most importantly get a organ donor registration.

And due to a call a decade back I might also add: DO NOT drill into your own Sinuses as well,even if they are clogged up. Even if you are a doctor. You might accidentally (almost) lobotomize yourself.

Source: Am a paramedic. Seen shit. Seen people do shit that started as an internet hoax.

[-] sanguinepar@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago
[-] new_guy@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago

I think you might be interested on this Wikipedia article: Trepanning

[-] 3ntranced@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

I think a video essay on this was what originally put the thought in my head years ago

[-] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

You should look up trepanning. It is the earliest form of surgery we have archaeological evidence for (like back in caveman times). Basically, intracranial pressure would be relieved by drilling small holes into the skull using flint. Something like 5% of all skulls archaeologists find have evidence of trepanning, and it's clearly deliberate, not a war wound.

[-] 3ntranced@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

That's where I originally got the idea years back. I'm like "cavemen seemed to manage DIY brain surgery pretty well, can't be that hard"

Then again, the ancient patients could have "survived" but suffer extensive brain damage, we don't really know.

[-] VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago

Also we don't really know why they did it, could have been religious or a punishment for all we know

[-] spittingimage@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

The thing all those patients have in common is that they are dead.

[-] 3ntranced@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Fact: 100% of people to breathe air eventually die. Coincidence?

[-] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Only if the headache is caused by a hematoma (which would need a brain scan to diagnose).

[-] lurch@sh.itjust.works 7 points 11 months ago

you should know the brain itself doesn’t have nociceptors (pain receptors). i'm not a doctor, but i conclude that any headache does not origin from inside the skull, except if neuroligical pathways that interpret pain signals are not working properly. It may feel like the headache comes from inside, but it's actually coming from outside or the skull itself. thus a hole would only make it worse.

[-] 3ntranced@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

I know the brain doesn't have nociceptors, but the surrounding cavity surely does, so theoretically wouldn't a positive pressure change put strain on those receptors?

[-] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 months ago

Short answer, probably not. Anatomy is complex, and the source of the pressure may or may not be at the single point where you most feel it. Even if it is a single point, you wouldn't be dealing with what caused the pressure, and the body would seal the wound as quickly as it can.

[-] algorithmae@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 11 months ago

Even if it did, it would extrude your brain out like a can of pillsbury biscuits

[-] 3ntranced@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

I know there's pressure a pressure difference but it's not delta p

this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2024
73 points (100.0% liked)

No Stupid Questions

42540 readers
607 users here now

No such thing. Ask away!

!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.

All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.



Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.

If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.



Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.

If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here. This includes using AI responses and summaries.



Credits

Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!

The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS