Headaches are the most common symptom among humans, which also causes suffering for the patients. Headaches result from multiple internal and external factors, so they can be divided into subcategories. Therefore, insights about commonly found headaches can be beneficial as a guideline for taking care of yourself to stay away from the symptoms.
Causes of headaches can be categorized into 2 main types as follows.
- Brain-related headaches include brain tumors, brain hemorrhage, abnormally increased brain pressure, meningitis, etc. They can be diagnosed by a brain check and history taking for essential headache details, including characteristics, location, time duration, and severity of the pain. After some clear indicating information, a patient may undergo Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computerized Tomography (CT Scan), or lumbar puncture for further diagnosis.
Is the “headache” I am suffering… caused by brain disease? Let’s see…
- Brain tumor usually begins with severe headaches after one wakes up in the morning. The symptom alleviates later on in a day. It can be stimulated by coughing, sneezing, forcing to pass stools, and nausea or vomiting. Tumors can sometimes cause double vision or other symptoms depending on where they compress, such as numbness or weakness in the arms or legs.
- Brain hemorrhage causes acute and excruciating pain, which persists for a long time even after a painkiller is taken.
- Abnormally increased brain pressure can result from many reasons, such as tuberculosis, taking certain skin care vitamins, or birth control pills. Patients will have chronic headaches, blurry vision, and double vision.
- Deep vein thrombosis in the brain can be caused by taking birth control pills. Overweight patients may experience a sudden headache, which may be accompanied by seizures.
Headaches without apparent cause
- Tension-type headache is the most common type of headache, often caused by inadequate rest from work and stress. A patient feels tightness or pressure on both sides of the head and neck. The pain is usually mild to moderate with tension in muscles around the head, neck, and shoulders. A tension-type headache usually does not interfere with daily activities and is not accompanied by nausea or vomiting.
- Migraine headache occurs frequently, especially in working-age women, and is often misdiagnosed. Symptoms are moderate to severe and are worsened by external triggers, such as light, sound, or smell. Some patients may experience nausea or vomiting. The pain from migraine headache mostly lasts for at least 4 hours, and up to 3 days in some patients.
- Cluster headache is a rare but excruciating type of headache without proper diagnosis and treatment. It often affects men more than women, causing sudden and severe pain around one eye or temple that usually makes a patient agitated and restless. The headache can last approximately from 15 minutes to 3 A patient also experiences parasympathetic symptoms, such as runny nose, a red weepy eye, and sweaty face on the same side of the headache.
- Chronic daily headache is defined as the presence of a headache on more than 15 days per month for at least three months. Some patients may experience tension-type headaches or chronic migraines, while chronic daily headache among others is cause by medication- overuse headache due to misdiagnosis, self-medication, and painkiller overuse that all make the headache more chronic. In addition, some other causes of this type of headache include sinusitis, stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cancer, etc. Diagnosis requires history taking, thorough physical examination, and performing additional examinations for differential diagnosis, such as an MRI, etc.
Dangerous signs of headaches
Although most headaches are not caused by serious disease, a patient should see a doctor immediately if the following symptoms happen. Since they may be caused by fatal factors, such as brain hemorrhage or infection in the nervous system, etc. Dangerous signs of headaches are as follows.
- Sudden and severe headache
- Headache with fever and stiff neck
- Headache with abnormal neurological symptoms, such as weakness in the arms and legs, confusion, personality changes, etc.
- Headaches in cancer patients or those infected with
- Deteriorating headache that does not respond to treatments.
Patients who experience the above symptoms need to be diagnosed as soon as possible for accurate and prompt treatments.
Who should take extra care… if headache occurs?
- People who experience an unprecedented acute headache.
- Those who are older than 50 years old.
- People with congenital diseases such as breast cancer because it may have spread to the brain; and patients infected with AIDS.
Treatments of “headache”
- A doctor will proceed to treat any detected disease that causes headaches and related pathology, such as surgery of a brain tumor in some cases.
- In the case of non-severe headaches and no pathology is detected, a doctor will treat symptoms accordingly as follows.
- Take painkillers, muscle relaxants, or antidepressants, along with following advice on how to avoid stimulants.
- Injection to treat headaches by blocking neurons. This method is mostly used in foreign countries since it can effectively and quickly alleviate many types of headaches, such as migraine, cluster headache, and medication-overuse headache.
- Injections can reduce nerve function and treat migraine with Botox. They help block nerve endings that signal pain to the brain. As a result, severity and frequency of headache symptoms can be prevented.
- Physical therapy, massaging, muscle stretching.
- Consult with a psychiatrist.
Self-care guidelines for headaches
- Take pain relief medications as necessary. For example, an adult may take 1 – 2 tablets of Paracetamol (500 mg) every 4 – 6 hours for no longer than 3 consecutive days. Consult with a doctor if the symptom persists.
- Avoid treatment that can be dangerous, such as harsh massages.
- Alter working environment, such as properly adjusted, ergonomic desk and chair, appropriate lighting without blinking lights.
- Have your eyesight checked if you experience any abnormal headache for proper glasses.
- Avoid triggering events or factors that cause stress and headaches.
- Relax from stress and get enough sleep.
- Refrain from drinking tea, coffee, alcoholic beverages, and smoking.
- Consult with a doctor.
If you are in a working age, abnormally nearsighted or farsighted, experience a lack of sleep, or regularly take some medications, seek for medical advice for proper diagnosis and do not be complacent when unusual headaches occur.
