LEFT SIDE OF HEAD FEELS WEIRD

If your left side of head feels weird it may come in a number of forms, like numbness, pain, tingling sensation, or pressure. It happens for a number of reasons, which might be non-serious or serious. This weird feeling may come on gradually or all of a sudden. This weird feeling may be accompanied with pain which may radiate to other parts as well, like neck, eyes, or teeth.

If your left side of head feels weird and goes away in a few hours, it is mostly because of a non-serious cause, and might not need any medical intervention. But in case this feeling remains for more than a few hours, and does not go away, you might have to see medical help for further investigation.

In this article, we will discuss the causes of why your left side of head feels weird, which include:

 

Headaches

Migraine:

Is a type of headache that usually affects one side of your head. This might be one of the reasons why your left side of head feels weird. It might also cause moderate and severe headache on either side of your head.

A migraine attack usually has a few periods before and after it. Migraine attack is preceded by prodrome, aura, and after the attack you may have a set of symptoms grouped in postdrome.

Prodrome happens hours or days before an attack. This includes you being sensitive to light or sound, weakness, cravings or loss of appetite or change in mood. Aura involves seeing black dots, vision problems, one side of head or body feels weird, change in smell or taste.

After prodrome and aura, once the attack hits you, you will experience a severe headache that lasts for hours till more than three days. Some may have a set of symptoms that remain after the attack including tiredness, being cranky, muscle pain, or feeling refreshed or happy.

 

Cluster Headaches:

This headache occurs on one side of your head, which may be the reason why your left side of head feels weird. Cluster headaches are very painful, and awaken you from your sleep in the middle of night. This pain may be felt in or around the eye on the same side.

This headache comes in periods, period of headache which remains for weeks to months, with a subsequent phase of remission, where you have no headache at all. This remission phase can last for months to years.

Symptoms of cluster headaches are:

• Pain on one side of head.
• Restlessness.
• Runny nose on the side that is affected.
• Red eye on the side that is affected.
• Sweating on the side that is affected.

 

Chronic headache:

It can either be migraine or tension headaches. These kinds of headaches stay for at least 15 days in a month for more than six months.

It causes headache on one side of your head, which might be the reason why your left side of head feels weird.

 

VASCULITIS

Vasculitis is the inflammation of your blood vessels, which may occur because your body is attacking your vessels (autoimmune), due to an infection, or due to some medicines that you use.

Giant cell arteritis or temporal arteritis is one type of vasculitis, where blood vessels of your head are affected. It is usually seen in people over 50 years of age. It may be one of the reasons why your left side of head feels weird.

This headache is very severe, peaks in 1 minute and stays for 5 minutes at least. This pain is usually on one side of your head, or behind your eye. This pain may be exacerbated when you chew.

 

BRAIN ANEURYSM

It is a condition where a blood vessel in your brain bulges. This does not cause any symptoms as such, unless it ruptures. Rupturing of an aneurysm may cause a stroke, of hemorrhagic type (where the vessel bleeds into the brain).

Symptoms:

• Severe headache, usually on one side of head.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Vision issues.
• Light sensitivity.
• Seizure.
• Confusion.
• Loss of consciousness.

If the aneurysm is unruptured, it may cause a few symptoms based on how large the aneurysm is. Symptoms include numbness on one side of head or face, which may cause a condition where left side of head feels weird.

 

SINUS ISSUES

Allergic rhinitis:

It is also known as hay fever. It occurs when your body shows allergy to an allergen. Pollens are most common allergens that cause seasonal allergic rhinitis. Other allergens that might cause allergic rhinitis are grass pollens, dust mites, animal dander, or mold.

Symptoms include:

• Headache on one side of head.
• Right or left side of head feels weird.
• Stuffy nose.
• Sneezing.
• Watery eyes.
• Fatigue.

Common cold:

It is caused by viruses, and is a viral infection. It affects your upper respiratory tract (which includes nose and your throat). Even if it seems very hectic to tolerate, but this condition is usually non harmful.

Most of the people see improvement within a week. If you are a smoker, these symptoms may last longer.

Symptoms include:

• Runny nose.
• Sore throat.
• Cough.
• Sneezing.
• >Slight fever.
• Right or left side of head feels weird.

Sinusitis:

Sinuses are spaces within your bones of eyes, cheekbones, and forehead. There job is to keep your nose moist by producing mucus. They do not let allergens go inside your respiratory tract.

They usually have air in them, but if fluid is blocked in them infection can occur. Common cold, allergic rhinitis, polyps, or deviated septum may cause these sinuses to block.

Symptoms are:

• Right or left side of head feels weird.
• Facial pain.
• Stuffed nose.
• Loss of smell.
• Fever.
• Bad breath.
• Fatigue.

 

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

It is an autoimmune condition where the covering of your nerve cells is damaged. The affected nerve cells are usually of brain and spinal cord. It can cause many symptoms including your right or left side of head feels weird.

Symptoms:

• Vision issues.
• Tingling and numbness.
• Pain.
• Weakness.
• Problem in balancing.
• Confusion.

 

DIABETES

When diabetes is uncontrolled, it means there is high sugar or glucose content in your blood. This high blood sugar level causes damage to your nerves, a condition which is known as diabetic neuropathy.

Not only diabetes, neuropathy can be caused by many other factors including alcohol abuse, toxin exposure, tumors, vitamin B deficiency, other autoimmune diseases, infections, and some medications (like chemotherapy).

Symptoms include:

• Right or left side of head feels weird.
• Numbness.
• Pain.
• Inability to gain balance.
• Exaggerated sensation of hot or cold.

 

BRAIN TUMOR

Brain tumors can be cancerous or noncancerous. Cancerous brain tumors may primarily originate from brain or may spread to brain from some other part.

Symptoms may vary based on what type of tumor you have, and where the tumor is located. But there are some general symptoms of all brain tumors including:

• Headaches- severe, wakes you up from sleep, severe when you wake up, along with vomiting, worsens with activity.
• Seizures- they are not specific to brain tumors, and may be caused by some other diseases as well.
• Mood swings.
• Personality changes.
• Memory issues.
• Confusion.
• Weakness and fatigue.
• Numbness of head, face, arms, or legs.
• Right of left side of head feels weird.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Weight loss.
• Loss of appetite.
• Vision problems.
• Speech problems.

 

BELL’S PALSY

It occurs when your facial nerve is swollen or compressed. Facial nerve controls muscles of your face, hence with bell’s palsy you may have weakness or paralysis of your facial muscles.

This condition is caused by infections, usually viral, including herpes simplex, HIV, herpes zoster, or Epstein Barr. Sarcoidosis, or Lyme disease may also cause this condition.

This causes one side of your face to droop down. This condition is temporary and may improve in a few weeks.

Symptoms include:

• Drooping of face on one side.
• Right or left side of head feels weird.
• Numbness and tingling of face.
• Headache.
• Drooling.

 

TRANSIENT ISCHEMIC ATTACK

These are attacks which manifest itself as stroke but is temporary and last for a few minutes only. These attacks go away in an hour, or may last up to 24 hours in rare situations.

Symptoms are like that of a stroke.

 

CARDIAC ISSUES (AF, AND ARRYTHMIAS)

AF or atrial fibrillation is a condition of heart in which your heart beats abnormally fast and irregularly. There are many other arrythmias that can cause your left side of head to feel weird.

 

STROKE

Stroke occurs when blood supply to your brain is interrupted or is reduced, making less or no blood supply to reach your brain. This causes stroke to occur, which may manifest itself as weird feeling in left side of head.

 

SEIZURE

It is an uncontrolled disturbance of electrical impulses in the brain, which causes abnormal movements, feelings, or even changes in behavior. This may also cause you left side of head to feel weird, and also may result in you losing your consciousness.

 

When to see a doctor

When your left side of head feels weird, it may go away on its own and might not cause any serious problems for you. But in case this weird feeling stays, and is accompanied by pain that doesn’t go away, seek medical help.

Seek medical help especially if you see the symptoms mentioned below:

• Issues in vision.
• Fever.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Loss of appetite.
• Weight loss.
• Numbness of body.
• Headache that awakens you from sleep.
• Change in pattern of your headache.
• Headache that keeps on getting worse.
• Headache that worsens with activity.

 

Takeaway

If your left side of head feels weird, and this feeling does not remain for long and improves by itself in some time, it is usually nothing to worry about. Even though this can be caused by many a factor that are non-serious and do not require any medical intervention, there still are serious causes that might make you experience the said thing.

Know your symptoms, and when seen, visit a doctor. Good thing that we see here is that almost all of these causes are treatable, and you will feel fine with the proper diagnosis and treatment.