Headaches

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Basic facts about Headaches
Twenty million Americans see their doctors each year because of a headache.  Although headaches can be very uncomfortable and temporarily disabling, most are not associated with serious illness.  They can often be relieved by resting in a quiet room or by taking a nonprescription painkiller such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen.

When a person has a headache, several areas of the head can hurt, including a network of nerves that extends over the scalp and certain nerves in the face, mouth and throat.

Rarely, headache is a symptom of a dangerous condition such cerebral aneurysm, brain tumor, stroke, TIA, meningitis, or encephalitis.  Very high blood pressure can cause headaches and this situation is a medical emergency.  However, high blood pressure usually causes no symptoms at all, despite the damage that years of high blood pressure can do to blood vessels, heart, brain, and kidneys.  If you have any doubt about your headache, contact your physician.

Headache Basics
The most common type of headache is "tension headache."  Tension headaches generally develop gradually, often involve the entire head as well as the neck and shoulders.  They probably are not actually caused by increased muscle tension, although muscle relaxation techniques can be very useful in treatment.  Most people get tension headaches occasionally and these can usually be treated simply.  Some people get them often, but there are usually some useful interventions to help decrease the number of sick days.

Migraine Headaches are "bad headaches."  With classic migraine, the headache is preceeded by a feeling that a headache will develop (prodrome) followed by visual phenomena such as dark or bright spots, streaks of light, or tunnel vision (aura).  The headache then develops, usually on one side.  It is throbbing in nature, accompanied by nausea and increased sensitivity to light and noise.

Most people with migraine headaches do not experience prodrome or aura.  Common migraine headache, like classic migraine headache is treatable and often preventable.

Migraineurs, those who develop migraine headaches often have a family history of migraine headache and they have headache triggers.  People who get headaches when they don't have enough of their daily caffeine are migraineurs.  They would have fewer migraines if they completely eliminated caffeine.  Chocolate, red wines, nuts and cheeses are common food triggers. Migraines before or during menstrual periods are common.  Not all migraineurs get terrible headaches, but some certainly do. Migraine is an important cause of lost days of school, work and enjoyment.

Women who smoke and who experience migraine headaches with aura have more than twice the risk of stroke if they take estrogen-containing birth control pills than those who use nonestrogen-based contraception.  Changing to a nonestrogen or very low-estrogen contraceptive not only can reduce the risk of stroke but can dramatically decrease the number of headaches.

Cluster headaches are headaches lasting minutes to hours that occur day after day at a similar time over a period of weeks.  They are sharp.  People with cluster headaches often describe the pain as similar to an icepick.

They are more common in men, and are more difficult to treat than most headaches.  Interestingly, oxygen therapy will often stop a daily cluster headache.  Many of the medications used to prevent or treat migraine headaches are used to treat cluster headaches.

Sinus headaches are those frontal headaches that some people experience with sinus infection and with changes in the weather.  Allergies can also provoke them.