Symptoms

What symptoms can it cause?

Headache is common. It often starts as a positional headache, worse when upright and better when lying down. With time the pattern can change and may no longer be clearly positional. Some people have non-positional headaches, headaches that start after being upright for a while, cough or exertional headaches, thunderclap onset, or even headaches that feel worse when flat.

Other symptoms can include:

• Neck or between-shoulder-blade pain
• Nausea
• Ear and balance problems, such as tinnitus, dizziness, vertigo, imbalance, hearing change, or a feeling of fullness in the ear
• Blurred vision and light sensitivity
• Thinking or memory problems, from “brain fog” to more marked changes
• Tremor, slurred speech, swallowing difficulty, or Parkinsonism-like symptoms
• Tiredness
• Rarely, hormonal effects such as raised prolactin with possible milky nipple discharge