Anna's pregnancy diary: Week 16

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goodtoknow's Food and Diets Editor Anna is pregnant, so we've asked her to keep a diary of her pregnancy, telling you all the good bits and bad bits and asking for your help and comments.

This week Anna is wondering how much longer she will have to put up with her constant headache.

Bang, bang, bang. When will my head stop pounding? When? It's just horrendous! Two paracetamol simply do nothing! They make no difference whatsoever.

I open my eyes to a banging headache. Struggle to work with thundering in my head. Sit at my desk with blurry eyes and pounding brain. Struggle home with more thundering in my head. Lie on the sofa with an even louder banging in my head until I can bear it no more, get in the bath, then straight off to bed.

Seriously, how long can this go on for? I have literally had a headache for 16 weeks! Luckily I have an appointment with a doctor for a routine ante-natal check this week so I'm going to ask for help then. When I arrive, I'm introduced to a locum doctor.

She takes my blood pressure and listens to my chest and then asks me how I'm doing. I tell her that I am currently competing for the world's longest headache. I explain I have a history of migraines.

Years ago, a doctor made a link between my migraines and being on the contraceptive pill. The hormones were causing the migraines, so I came off the Pill and instead of my migraines being monthly, they then became random, and I only had three or four a year - it was such a relief.

So, I guess it was fairly inevitable that with a body flooded full of baby hormones my head would decide to throw all its toys out of the pram and embark on an epic headache.

As it turns out, the locum GP is a migraine specialist. I ask her if she thinks the headaches are related to the hormones, or something else. She tells me that it's definitely the hormones and asks what I've been taking. I tell her I've tried paracetamol, but that it doesn't make any difference.

She suggests that I try taking aspirin (which she says is safe to take up until 30 weeks), dissolved into a fizzy, sugary drink, which will hopefully give me a blood sugar boost as well as helping get rid of the pain.

She also says that as I'm 16 weeks I should really feel better very soon, so I leave relieved, positive and happy with such reassuring and good advice and the knowledge that hopefully I won't have to live with these headaches much longer.

- Coming up: Dealing with advice from other parents
- Previously: Keeping pets during pregnancy
- Read Anna's pregnancy diary from the beginning
- More about week 16 of pregnancy

More help and advice

- Pregnant? Find out what's happening to you and your baby with our week by week guide
- More information on treating headaches
- Pregnancy issues and what to avoid while you're pregnant
- Tests during pregnancy - what to have
- De-stress your body
- Having problems conceiving? Find out more

By Anna Penniceard

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