Headaches are a frequent occurrence that nearly everyone will encounter multiple times throughout their lives. The primary symptom of a headache is pain in the head or face. There are various types of headaches, with tension headaches being the most common. Although most headaches are not serious, some can indicate a significant underlying health issue.
What is a headache?
A headache is characterized by pain in the head or face, often described as throbbing, constant, sharp, dull, or pressure-like. The type, severity, location, and frequency of headaches can vary significantly. They are a common ailment that most people will experience multiple times in their lives, representing the most frequent form of pain. Headaches are a leading cause of missed work or school days and visits to healthcare providers. While most headaches are not dangerous, some can indicate a more serious underlying condition.
What are the types of headaches?
There are more than 150 types of headaches. Primary and secondary headaches are the two basic groups into which they occur.
Primary Headaches
The malfunction or overactivity of the head’s pain-sensitive elements is the primary cause of primary headaches. They are not symptoms of or caused by an underlying medical condition. Some individuals may have genetic predispositions that increase their likelihood of developing primary headaches.
Types of primary headaches include:
- Tension-type headaches (most common type of headache).
- Migraine headaches.
- Cluster headaches.
- New daily persistent headaches (NDPH).
Certain conditions or elements of one’s lifestyle can cause some primary headaches, such as:
- Alcohol, particularly red wine.
- Certain foods, such as processed meats containing nitrates (food-triggered headaches).
- Consuming nicotine (nicotine headache).
- Changes in sleep or lack of sleep.
- Poor posture.
- Physical activity, such as exercise (exertion headaches).
- Skipped meals (hunger headache).
- Coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose, straining (e.g., during bowel movements), or laughing or crying vigorously (cough headaches).
- Primary headaches are generally not dangerous, but they can be extremely painful and interfere with your daily life.
Secondary headaches
Secondary headaches are caused by an underlying medical condition and are considered a symptom or sign of that condition.
The following types of secondary headaches may indicate a serious or maybe fatal illness:
Types of secondary headaches that can be a sign of a serious or potentially life-threatening condition include:
Spinal headaches: Spinal headaches are severe headaches resulting from spinal fluid leaking out of the membrane surrounding the spinal cord, typically following a spinal tap. While most spinal headaches can be managed at home, if left untreated for an extended period, they can lead to life-threatening complications such as subdural hematoma and seizures.
Thunderclap headaches: A thunderclap headache is characterized by a sudden, excruciating pain that hits like a clap of thunder, reaching maximum intensity within a minute and persisting for at least five minutes. Even though they can sometimes be benign, it is critical to seek immediate medical attention as they may be a sign of:
- Head injury.
- Brain bleed.
- Reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome.
- A sudden, severe rise in blood pressure.
What distinguishes a migraine from a headache?
One kind of primary headache problem is a migraine.
A frequent neurological disorder called a migraine is characterized by a pounding headache on one side of the brain, among other symptoms. Lights, sounds, odors, and physical activity can all exacerbate migraine symptoms. Usually, they endure for several hours or even days.
Who do headaches affect?
Headaches can affect children, adolescents, and adults alike. 96% of individuals report having had a headache at some point in their lives.
Tension-type headaches affect roughly 40% of individuals worldwide, while migraine headaches affect about 10% of people.
Symptoms and Causes
What is the main cause of a headache?
Headache pain occurs due to interactions among signals in your brain, blood vessels, and surrounding nerves. When a headache occurs, various mechanisms activate specific nerves that influence muscles and blood vessels. These nerves then transmit pain signals to your brain, resulting in the sensation of a headache.
Are headaches hereditary?
In instance, migraines tend to run in families. Additionally, most kids who get migraines usually have at least one biological parent who does as well. As a matter of fact, children are up to four times more likely to get migraines if their parents do.
In addition, common environmental elements within a family’s home can cause headaches. These factors include:
- Consuming certain foods or ingredients such as caffeine, alcohol, fermented foods, chocolate, and cheese.
- Exposure to allergens.
- Inhaling secondhand smoke.
- Overpowering perfume or home chemical scents.
What headache symptoms require immediate medical care?
If you or your child experience any of these headache symptoms, seek immediate medical attention:
- A sudden, new, and severe headache.
- Headache accompanied by fever, shortness of breath, stiff neck, or rash.
- Headaches following a head injury or accident.
- Onset of a new type of headache after the age of 55.
Also, seek prompt medical care if your headache is accompanied by neurological symptoms such as:
- Weakness.
- Dizziness.
- Sudden loss of balance or falling.
- Numbness or tingling.
- Paralysis.
- Speech difficulties.
- Mental confusion.
- Seizures.
- Personality changes/inappropriate behavior.
- Changes in eyesight, such as blind spots, double vision, or hazy vision.
Diagnosis and Tests
How are headaches evaluated and diagnosed?
Speak with your healthcare physician if you get severe or frequent headaches.
It’s critical to accurately diagnose headaches so your healthcare practitioner can recommend the right kind of treatment to make you feel better. In addition to performing a physical examination and talking with you about your headache symptoms, your physician will also go over your medical history. This discussion is a component of a headache assessment.
Your healthcare professional will inquire about your headache history during the evaluation, covering the following topics:
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- The sensation of your headaches.
- Frequency of occurrence.
- Duration of each episode.
- Intensity of pain experienced.
- Triggers such as specific foods, drinks, or events.
- Daily caffeine intake.
- Stress levels.
- Sleep patterns.
Accurate diagnosis of your headache requires:
- Noting the onset time of the headache.
- Determining if there is a single type or multiple types of headaches.
- Assessing whether physical activity exacerbates the pain.
- Inquiring about family history of headaches.
- Identifying any symptoms occurring between headache episodes.
Following the medical history assessment, your healthcare provider may conduct physical and neurological examinations to detect signs and symptoms of any underlying conditions contributing to your headaches.
- Fever
- Infection
- High blood pressure
- Muscle weakness, numbness, or tingling
- Excessive fatigue
- Loss of consciousness
- Balance problems and frequent falls
- Vision problems (blurry vision, double vision, blind spots)
- Mental confusion or changes in personality
- Seizures
- Dizziness
- Nausea and vomiting
Neurological tests aim to exclude conditions that may also cause headaches. Serious headaches may suggest a disorder of the central nervous system.
Following an assessment of your headache history, physical examination, and neurological evaluation, your doctor should identify the type of headache, determine if a serious issue is present, and decide if further tests are necessary.
They might recommend you to a headache expert if they are uncertain about the cause.
What tests will be done to diagnose headaches?
While scans and imaging tests are crucial for ruling out other diseases, they are not typically used to diagnose migraines, cluster headaches, or tension-type headaches. However, if your healthcare provider suspects that your headaches stem from another medical condition, they may order various imaging tests.
Tests such as CT scans or MRIs can assist in identifying any central nervous system issues that may be associated with your headaches. These imaging techniques provide detailed cross-sectional images of the brain, revealing any abnormalities or underlying problems.
Management and Treatment
How is a headache treated?
Treatment for headaches varies depending on the type.
Identifying triggers is essential in managing primary headaches. Keeping a headache log can help pinpoint triggers, potentially reducing headache frequency. Once triggers are identified, healthcare providers can customize treatment plans accordingly. For instance, stress or tension triggers can be managed through counseling and stress management techniques, effectively reducing stress-induced headaches.
Medication is not always necessary for every headache. Various treatment options are available based on headache type, frequency, and underlying causes. Treatment options may include:
- Stress management.
- Biofeedback.
- Medications.
- Treating the underlying medical condition/cause.
Stress management for headache
You can learn coping mechanisms through stress management. Stress management is aided by relaxation methods. To relieve tension, you employ deep breathing, muscular relaxation, visualization techniques, and music.
Biofeedback for headache
Biofeedback trains individuals to recognize and manage tension in their bodies. By understanding how their body reacts to stress, they learn techniques to promote relaxation. During biofeedback sessions, sensors are attached to monitor involuntary physical responses associated with headaches, such as changes in:
- Breathing rate
- Pulse
- Heart rate
- Temperature
- Muscle tension
- Brain activity
Through this process, individuals gain insights into their physiological responses and develop strategies to alleviate symptoms and manage stress more effectively.
Medications for headache
Over-the-counter pain medications typically work effectively for occasional tension headaches. But be warned that abusing these medications can lead to persistent daily headaches (also called pharmaceutical overuse headaches).
Your clinician may suggest prescription headache drugs if you experience severe or frequent headaches. A migraine attack can be stopped using triptans and other medications. When a headache appears, you take them right away.
Sometimes, medications used to treat depression, seizures, and high blood pressure can also stop migraines. To lessen the frequency of headaches, your doctor might advise you to try one of these drugs.
Treating the underlying medical condition causing secondary headache
Treating the underlying medical issue that is generating the headache is part of the treatment for secondary headaches.
For instance, in order to address the underlying cause of a secondary cough headache, surgery is frequently required.
How can I get rid of a headache?
The rare mild headache can be treated at home with over-the-counter medications.
Using hot or cold packs on your head is one of the following self-care methods for treating headaches.
• Stretching with exercises.
• Massaging your back, neck, or head.
• Dozing off in a silent, dark room.
• Going for a stroll.
Prevention
How can I prevent headaches?
Finding the source of a headache is essential to preventing them.
Everybody has extremely different triggers; what gives you a headache could not bother others. You can reduce or avoid your triggers once you’ve identified them.
For instance, you might discover that powerful smells irritate you By staying away from scented products like perfumes, you can drastically minimize the amount of headaches you have. The same holds true for other typical triggers such uncomfortable foods, insufficient sleep, and bad posture.
But a lot of folks can’t identify triggers or can’t stay away from them. In such instance, a more individualized interdisciplinary strategy involving a headache expert is frequently required.
Can headaches or migraines be cured?
Head pain can be removed by treating medical conditions like high blood pressure that contribute to headaches. Our knowledge of the causes of headaches has advanced recently in a number of ways.
Primary headaches currently have no known cure, despite scientific progress bringing us closer than ever to one. The goals of treatment are to reduce symptoms and stop recurrences.
When should I schedule a headache consultation with my doctor?
If any of the following conditions or symptoms apply to you or your kid, get in touch with your healthcare provider:
• Having at least one headache every week.
• Having headaches that refuse to go away and just keep getting worse.
• Having to take a painkiller for your headaches almost daily, if not every day.
• Requiring more than two or three over-the-counter pharmaceutical dosages per week in order to treat the symptoms of a headache.
• Experiencing headaches brought on by strain, coughing, bending, or hard work.
• Having had headaches in the past, but your symptoms have changed recently.