Can a mini stroke cause sore spot on back of head?
Patient: Can a mini stroke cause a person to have a sore spot on the back of the head? I went to local er because I was having slight chest pain and very bad headache but I woke up that morning with a real bad sore spot on the back of my head. At the er they did ekg xray and gave me baby aspirin and treated me for migrane My Blood pressure was going up as well and I am on bp meds. can you help me understand why I still have this sore spot on my head and my heart feels like its fluttering at times. Doctor: Hello!Thank you for asking on HCM!I read your question carefully and understand your concern. Your symptoms seem to be related to high blood pressure and migraine. I would exclude any possible stroke related to your symptomatology. You should know that high blood pressure can cause vascular type headaches, mimicking migraine attacks. The sore spot on your head is related to a temporary dysfunction and vessel constriction in that area from the vascular headache and high blood pressure. I agree with your doctors that the best therapy to control your symptoms would be aspirin (for the prevention of possible vessel occlusion related to the constricted vessels) and arrangement of your antihypertensive therapy. Regarding the palpitations (heart fluttering) that you have been experiencing I would recommend performing a careful physical examination, a chest x ray, an ambulatory 24-48 hour ECG monitoring and some blood lab tests like: - complete blood count- thyroid hormone levels- kidney and liver function tests- fasting glucose- blood electrolytes , etc, to rule in/ out any possible cardiac arrhythmia and investigate for any metabolic cause, related to this clinical scenario.  If all the above tests result normal, anxiety should be taken into consideration as a possible factor contributing in high blood pressure and tachycardia. Hope to have been helpful!Best wishes, Dr. Iliri