Headaches: Types, Causes and Treatment
Headache is defined as the aching or pain of head, face or neck region of one’s body. The pain in headache can be very sharp or dull. Headache can also be chronic, recurrent, or occasional. Sometimes the pain can be unbearable and it will not let you do your daily chores, or even the mild continuing pain can be very irritating. A person with headache can also feel nausea occasionally.
Headaches are very common problem; almost everybody feels the pain of some types of headache very frequently. Chronic headache gives more problems because it becomes a recurring event. It occurs for at least 15 days a month and continuously for more than 3 months. There are more than 45 million people in the United States who is suffering from chronic headaches.
There are three main types of headaches:
• Tension Headache
• Migraine Headaches
• Cluster Headaches
Tension Headaches:
Headaches which generally originate due to tension or stress are called tension headaches. It is the most common type of headache. A person feels a mild to moderate pain in this type of headache. However, pain can be severe sometimes. They feel some tightening around the head and neck. Tension headaches are more commonly seen in women as compared to males.
There is no clear cause for the tension headache. However, it is said to be triggered by some type of environmental or internal stress. The main sources of stress are family problems, social relationships, workplace tension, and friends.
People treat their tension headaches with pain relievers which is easily available at the counter such as Tylenol or aspirin. However, these pain relievers are not much effective for a long time because pain might rebound again after some time. This will leads you to take another dose of medicine. Headache will start whenever you stop taking medicine. If the tension headaches become a recurring event, it is better to see a primary health care provider who can able to treat the problem. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle often relieves to some extent from the tension headache. Getting a good night sleep, exercise, and eating on regular schedule is very much important.
Migraine headache:
Migraine headaches are really very intense and long lasting. The pain in migraine can be so severe that a person can become disable, don’t know what to do. This type of headache is also seen more common in women as compared to men. Exact causes are not known, but some researchers believe that it may be due to the functional changes in the trigeminal nerve system. This is a major pain pathway in the nervous system, and if there is an imbalance in the brain chemicals like serotonin, which plays a regulatory role for pain messages actually going through this pathway.
Migraine pains most of the time confined to one side of the head but sometimes it can be on both sides. The pain is so severe that it hinders daily activities, as it get worsen on doing any physical activities. It is also accompanied by some other symptoms like vomiting, nausea, and extremely sensitive to light and sound. The pain can last for hours or even few days. Most of the person sees sparkling flashes of light or slowly spreading blind spots in the vision.
Still full cure for the migraine pain is not available but medicine helps in reducing the frequency of migraine. Noting down the time and severity of the migraine in a diary and showing it to doctor will help to better understanding the cause of problem. He will then able to give you right treatment. Medications along with the better lifestyle help a migraine patient a lot in improving.
Cluster Headache:
Cluster headaches are less common as compared to migraines and tension headaches. Unlike migraine and tension headaches, it mostly affects to men than to women.
Cluster headache gets its name from the type of headache which occurs as a clustering of painful attacks over a period of many weeks. This type of pain can go to peak for 5 minutes and then continue for many hours. The pain is very sharp and usually located behind one of the eyes. A person suffering from cluster headache may get several headaches in a day for at least weeks at a time and it can continue for few months.
Well, no one knows the exact causes of the cluster headaches also. However, many experts believe that cluster headache and migraine headache do have the same cause that it begins in the nerve that carries sensation from head to brain. It is then end with the blood vessels which surrounds brain.
Other Headaches:
Well there can be headaches other than those specified above. For example, headaches can be associated due to many other medical conditions. A severe headache along with fever is very common in meningitis or an infection of the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord. If there is a prolonged or recurring severe headaches continues for weeks, one must consult the primary care physician for its treatment.
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