I wake most morning with terrible headaches, close to migraines. Any help for me?

I have a similar lifestyle and have had many periods in my life where I would wake almost daily with headaches that would usually turn into migraines.  A few years back my OB/GYN prescribed a muscle relaxer, Flexaril, for me to take at night, and that broke the cycle for a while, until I ran out of the refills.  I recently started having the wake-up headaches again, and my neurologist suggested I take 0.5mg of Xanax at night, and so far that has helped to stop the morning headaches.  Don't know if you've tried anything like either of those options, but it seemed to work for me so I thought I'd share. Good luck!

I'm not sure what you mean by "close to Migraines." A headache isn't a Migraine just because it's severe. Migraine is a genetic neurological disease, and Migraine attacks have other symptoms in addition to headache. The pain of a Migraine doesn't have to be severe, and some people have Migraines with no headache at all.

That said, waking up with headaches or Migraines is very often a sign of sleep problems -- too much, too little, disrupted, or poor quality sleep. Try keeping a log of the time you go to bed and get up, if you wake during the night, and anything else of note about your sleep and talk with your doctor about it.

If you think working at the computer is part of the problem, be aware of your posture and ergonomics. Be sure the monitor and keyboard are in the proper positions to reduce back and neck strain. An occupational therapist could help with this.

Good luck,

Teri