Her Doctor Thought Her “Burning Scalp” Was Tension Headache. Apparently, It Was Something Else Entirely

After a punishing week at her demanding marketing job, Galen Warden lay down in a hot bath. As usual, her neck and shoulders were in knots, so she thought that she would be relaxed, as she would usually be, in the hot bath she prepared. However, that did not seem to be the case this time.

When she sat up about 30 seconds later, Warden recalled, “it felt like my entire scalp was on fire.” Her face, neck and shoulders were unaffected, but her scalp felt as though it had been doused with acid.
It would take nearly three months before the cause of Warden’s unusual symptom, which was repeatedly attributed to a tension headache, was revealed. During that time, the emergence of other symptoms failed to prompt the specialist treating her to reconsider her initial diagnosis.
If anything, the new problems seemed to harden the doctor’s conviction that Warden’s problem was stress-related.

Apparently, her doctor was clearly wrong, as it was not tension headache. It was something more serious.

Find out what the disease is on The Washington Post.

(Image Credit: Cameron Cottrill for The Washington Post)


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I sympathize with this story. One time I had a health issue that lasted 9 months and then finally went away. After a few doctors (and a couple different meds), we still don't know what it was. I think I lost like 70lbs during the entire process. I eventually regained all the weight, but it's jarring to go through a health issue and come out the other end with no diagnosis. Especially from the smartest people you know.
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