After talking to some of my patients, I realized that many of them do not consider headaches to be a real health problem because, as they say, " it goes away easily after taking a painkiller". Moreover, when the pill doesn't help anymore, they don't go to see a doctor, but switch to stronger drugs and even injections.
This made me concerned, and at the same time I realized that many people don't consider headaches to be a health threat.
Unfortunately, ignoring a headache often turns out to be a waste of time. Time that you could have spent, but didn't want to, to discover the problem that your body is persistently signaling. After all, headaches are not an independent condition; they can be a symptom of serious illnesses.
Not many people know but there are various types of headaches that have different causes and treatments. In this article, I will describe the different types of headaches, their causes as well as their symptoms.
Hypertension headache
People who suffer from hypertension often experience headaches. This type of headache signals an emergency when your blood pressure becomes dangerously high.
Symptoms: Hypertension headaches usually occur on both sides of the head, usually in the back of the head, are throbbing in nature and get worse with any activity.
Treatment: Do not take headache pills for high blood pressure on your own! Even if you know for sure that the cause of a headache is a pressure spike – the mechanisms of its occurrence can be many.
Usually the doctor prescribes drugs from the group of analgesics, antispasmodics, calcium channel blockers or selective beta-blockers. In some cases, diuretics are also recommended. By eliminating fluid from the body, blood pressure is also reduced.
Tension headache
The most common type of headache is a tension headache, which repeats rarely and in only 3% of cases becomes chronic. It occurs due to injuries to the muscles of the neck and head, as well as due to severe stress.
Symptoms: a feeling of tightness or pressure in the top of the head, the muscles of the eye sockets and forehead may be very tense and difficult to relax.
Treatment: if the tension pain is occasional, it is better to use simple painkillers, as well as try to be outdoors more often, do light exercise, stretch the neck and shoulders.
Cluster headache
Cluster pain affects about 1% of the world's total population. Interestingly, cluster pain bothers men in 80% of cases. Its causes are unknown.
Symptoms: Pulsating intense pain on one side of the head, usually near the eye. It lasts 15-60 minutes and is accompanied by tearing, red eyes, blood rushing to the head, and a runny nose. Sometimes the pain can become so sharp that the person cannot even speak. Cluster pains occur at regular time intervals at the same time of day – once a month, once a week.
Treatment: This condition is difficult to treat because it occurs and passes unpredictably. Drug injections and oxygen therapy are used for prolonged attacks.
Migraine
Migraine is not the result of trauma, glaucoma, stroke, or hypertension. Rather, the throbbing nature of the pain is due to vascular problems. Provoking factors of migraine: change of climate, reaction to weather conditions, taking contraceptives, alcohol or abuse of nuts, cheese, chocolate, as well as the destructive force of modern life – stress, nervous tension.
Symptoms: a migraine is a type of headache on one side of the head that lasts from 4 hours to 3 days. Migraine is often described as a stabbing, throbbing pain. Migraine attacks are usually recurrent and are often accompanied by nausea, dizziness, and sensitivity to light and odors.
Treatment: Migraine cannot be completely cured, but medication prescribed by a doctor can relieve some of the uncomfortable symptoms.
Sinus headache
This is a type of headache caused by sinus inflammation, polyps, or allergic sinus swelling.
Symptoms: The subjective sensations of a sinus headache are similar to a migraine in many ways. The main distinguishing feature of sinus headache is an increase in pain and a feeling of pressure in the sinuses when tilting the head forward.
Treatment: It can only be eliminated by treating the underlying condition.
Medication-overuse headache
Self-medication using available over-the-counter analgesics has led to widespread prevalence of this condition in developed countries. People with high levels of anxiety, depression are more prone to medication addiction.
Symptoms: This type of headache is felt most strongly in the morning, changing its intensity throughout the day.
Due to prolonged cephalgia, patients experience irritability, worsening depression, decreased concentration, performance. If a person drinks more than 10 pain pills a month – it is necessary to consult a doctor.
Treatment: The main point in treatment is the withdrawal of the drug that caused abususus, the prescription of adequate therapy of the underlying disease. Often people suffering from medication headaches have hidden depression, and the task of the specialist is not only to relieve the person of an unpleasant symptom, but also to improve his mental state.
Brain tumor headache
If the headache is associated with a brain tumor, which happens in about 4% of cases, it occurs in the morning and is accompanied by vomiting. These attacks recur periodically and get worse each time.
Symptoms: convulsive seizures, sudden weight loss, personality changes.
Treatment: depends on the size, location and type of formation.
With a headache, you should not delay a visit to the doctor and tolerate such an unpleasant symptom. The causes of pathology can be very diverse, and they are not always as harmless as it may seem from the outside.
Be more attentive to your health!