My husband was diagnosed w oral cancer that has spread to his jaw bone, enlarged lymph nodes were shown on CT scan, waiting for surgery next week, he has severe headache, is it a common symptom for oral cancer?

Thanks

Welcome to OCF, Heather! Im very sorry to read about your husbands recent diagnosis! You have found a great resource to help you both get thru everything you both are facing.

As far as having a headache goes, it may be associated with the oral cancer (OC) or could be from all the recent stress and worrying which all newly diagnosed patients and caregivers go thru. Im sure you both are feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders right now. Sometimes patients have some inflammation which can push on nerves causing pain, maybe the headaches are from inflammation? The shock of a cancer diagnosis causes unneeded stress, anxiety and leads many to "what if" thinking which causes more stress and is detrimental to your health. Ive been there myself and remember it took me a little while to get my head on straight, take a deep breath and face the facts of my tOC diagnosis and treatment head on. For many patients OC unfortunately does not always present obvious symptoms which is why its so important to get OC screenings every year at your dental check up. Who would think having an ear ache, scratchy throat, ear pain, trouble swallowing intermittently, and/or a painless bump/lump/sore that is red or white thats been there for over 2 weeks, and many other seemingly minor ailments could be something as serious as OC? This is why often OC isnt discovered until it is in its later stages. Even a patient diagnosed as Stage IV can be successfully treated regardless of what, if any symptoms they have had or might not have noticed. Hopefully on his road to becoming diagnosed with OC, his doctors have given him something to manage his severe headache, something stronger than the usual over the counter pain meds. Headaches like what you described your husband has can be debilitating. If his docs havent given him anything to help, call on Monday and ask for a prescription to be called in.

Im sure you have your hands full right now. If you have any close friends or relatives who offer their assistance you might want to consider having them help out while your husband is in the hospital by staying there so you can take a break and attend to anything else you need to do. If at all possible, someone being there around the clock to run interference with the hospital staff will be a huge help to advocate for your husband. He may not feel very good after the surgery being in alot of pain, possibly unable to speak clearly or without great difficulty. Anyone who offers to help can help you both later too. Theres a million small things that can add up to be a huge help when a cancer patient is going thru treatments or is recovering and not feeling strong or up to doing too much. Things like walking the dog, picking up prescriptions from the pharmacy, doing a load of laundry, bringing you a home cooked meal, mowing the yard, vacuuming, taking your car for an oil change or service, if you have children taking the kids out for a day of fun or taking them to their activities or playdates, hanging out with your husband for a few hours to give you a break so you can go out to lunch with friends, take care of your own things, take a long walk, go to a movie, etc . In all of this going on I am sure you have your head spinning. Make certain you make time for just you to be able to have a change of scenery and catch your breath. Being a caregiver is work... hard work!!! I greatly admire caregivers as they carry the weight of the world on their shoulders all the while having a genuine smile on their face and hiding any of their concerns. Caregivers are taking care of all their usual household duties, plus taking on what their spouse normally handled, most will continue to hold down their job, make a million phone calls plus keeping track of appointments, remembering which doc does what and who to call for what ailment for your patient, managing medications, special dietary needs that are different than yours, being a nurse to their patient, keeping in touch with friends and relatives about your husbands changes, procedures, or surgeries and all kinds of other things. All of this can be overwhelming to many caregivers who already had a full plate before cancer forced its way into their life. Its alot for anyone to manage which is why its so important to take time here and there thats just for you.

Hope this info helps. Please feel free to ask questions. We're here to help you both and make it as easy as possible to get thru some difficult things. Best wishes with everything!!!
Below is a link to our main OCF site where you will find lots of interesting reading to help you both.

Main OCF site, Understanding Oral Cancer

Thank you so much for replying, Christine.

Seeing him suffering the headache is really hard for me, since there is nothing I can do to help. And yes, the Oral surgeon did gave me pain meds, but in between 2 pills, it still hurts a lot. Just have to tough up a few more days. It is just that I did not see many post stating headache would come with OC. But yes, could be one of the reasons you stated. A friend of mine whose husband had stomach cancer experienced should pain, but after cancer removal, shoulder pain went away.

Thanks for advice on keeping myself healthy emotionally. I talked quite a few of my friends who are either cancer survivor and cancer patient's spouse, they offered a lot of emotional support, which is what I need the most now, after surgery probably help with errands and around the house would be needed, I have not given much thought at the moment. Oncologist did described tough road when rads started.

Thanks again.

I had migraines almost every day for 2 weeks before my lymph node swelled up. Doctors did not have any explanation for the migraines, saying that it was possibly unrelated or due to stress. I wasn't stressed, so it wasn't that. In my case, I get migraines with auras, which your husband may not, but still, headaches. Also, the migraines went away after the tonsillectomy and neck dissection. I have had 2 in the past year whereas I used to get 1 or 2 per month before treatment. So, for me, there is a correlation. Doctors may not understand why it is or even acknowledge it, but they don't know everything about everything. My radiologist was the only one to say that it could possibly be related, saying that "we don't fully know how the body is integrated and connected." He said the headaches could have been caused by the cancer. Until our understanding of medicine is farther along, we can't know for sure. I appreciated having a doctor be honest and say "I don't know." It was also nice to hear "I believe you and don't think you are creating it through stress or imagination."
Good luck!!

Headaches can be caused by lots of stuff. Migraine can be triggered by lots of stuff. I don't see why cancer (the particular kind your husband is dealing with, the treatment, or even just the stress) can't be a possible cause. Unfortunately that doesn't make the pain go away...

I started getting migraine-type headaches after my daughter was born. It's actually common for those lovely pregnancy hormones to reset our bodies to weird new normals. I figured having daughter would give me headaches in her teen years, not that early, LOL. But it's been 'me' now for a pretty long time. I've got lots of triggers, including stress and environmental factors, but that's the closest to a 'flipping the switch' event that I can pinpoint. (Clearly not his issue!) Since it IS migraine, though, that opens up different medication options. Some help, some not. But it's worth asking ... are they treating it as just pain, or as migraine? (if that's what it is) Worth checking into. Also, nerve pain has different options from muscle pain, and so on. Again, some work better for some folks than others ... but it can be worth asking about. All those nerves getting affected by treatment, stress, whatever ... they can cause 'referred pain' where it hurts in a different location from the actual source. That's a trial-and-error sort of discovery with treatment, but if it helps, go for it. (The stuff like gabapentin seems to be the first medicine prescribed in those situations, nerve pain ... works great for some, just have to watch side effects.)

Random thoughts, but maybe something in there would help. Hope pain relief comes soon! ((hugs))