r/Occipitalneuralgia

Hey girls, anyone here dealing with ON, How do you manage your hair?
I cut mine short because tying it was starting to hurt, but now styling it is a whole other problem. Leaving it open feels uncomfortable sometimes, and even things like headbands can trigger the pain.
How do you manage day to day, especially for work/gym/going out? Any hairstyles, clips, haircare or styling tricks that don’t put pressure on the back of the head?

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Male, early 30s. Constant head pressure/tightness for \~5 years — not sharp pain, more a band-like tightness always present at some level, fluctuating 2-8/10 by the day. Doesn't stop daily tasks but is a real drag on quality of life.

Saw 5-6 doctors early on, all said "tension headache." MRI done early — clean. Not on any medication now; stopped chasing it after a couple of years since nothing changed.

On high-severity days specifically:

\- Temples, jaw, neck, and face feel tender to touch — feels good to massage those spots

\- Neck feels tight when stretched upward

\- My jaw/surrounding muscles tighten and lips shift to one side — I can keep this still if I'm consciously focusing on it, but it happens whenever I'm not actively paying attention. Also shows up in candid photos I wasn't posing for

\- Faint lines visible inside my cheek, exactly where upper and lower teeth meet when biting down

No tobacco/alcohol. "Tension headache" hasn't led to any actual treatment.

Anyone dealt with this combo — constant pressure, tender muscles, involuntary jaw/lip movement, clean MRI, "just tension headache" from every doctor? What was the real diagnosis, and what helped?

Lately I've noticed that if I put pressure on one spot at the back left of my head it gives me this sharp shooting pain. It starts in that spot and hurts on the side of my head down around my ear and maybe a little behind my eyes. It will last several seconds and go away. It doesn't ever happen on its own, just if I'm putting pressure on that spot.

I am very susceptible to getting a crick in my neck if I sleep just a little wrong.

Had this procedure done, in 3-4-5-6 as a diagnostic tool, I was mildly sedated (?) if that’s even a thing. But I felt super aware and felt the entire process I think.
I think I had pretty much no pain to touch in my head and just felt numb. Headache seemed to go away also. I was able to move my neck pretty much all ways with no pain besides the injection site. Pain I remember was when I got home, lying in the pillow, the pressure still caused some pain though not as bad as usual. Not sure if that was due to the soreness of the injection sites again or not.
But yeah the other thing is my neck still pops non stop and hair air bubble noises. Idk why I expected that to ho away but ya, considering going thru RFA if these results are acceptable but gotta work on just manually getting my beck in good shape also.