General description

A headache is a very common condition that causes pain and discomfort in the head, scalp or neck. It is estimated that 7 out of 10 people have at least one headache every year.


Headaches can sometimes be mild, but in many cases, they can cause intense pain, which makes it difficult to concentrate on work and perform other daily activities. In fact, approximately 45 million Americans often have severe headaches that can deactivate. Fortunately, most headaches can be administered with changes in medications and lifestyle.


Primary causes of headaches.

Physicians have identified several different causes of headaches.


The main causes of headaches are causes that are not related to separate medical conditions. These headaches are the result of an underlying process in the brain. Examples of common primary headaches include migraine, cluster and tension headaches.


Secondary causes of headaches.

Secondary headaches are those that are due to an underlying medical condition. Examples of secondary causes of headache include:


Brain tumor or cerebral aneurysm

The presence of a cerebral tumor or cerebral aneurysm (cerebral hemorrhage) can cause headache. This is because there is only so much room in the skull. When the skull begins to accumulate with additional blood or tissue, compression in the brain can cause a headache.


Cervicogenic headaches

The cervicogenic headaches occur when the discs begin to degenerate and press in the spine. The result can be a significant pain pain, as well as headaches.


Medications Available headaches

If a person takes a significant amount of pain medications daily and begins to decrease or discontinue them completely, a headache can occur. Examples of these medications include hydrocodone.


Headache related to meningitis

Meningitis is an infection of meninges, which are membranes that line the skull and enclose the spinal cord and brain.


Post-traumatic headache

Sometimes, a person will experience headaches after the trauma at the head, held during an event as a fall, car accident or ski accident.


Sinus headaches

Inflammation in sinus cavities normally full of air on the face can cause pressure and pain that leads to sinus headache.


Spinal headache

A spinal headache may occur due to a slow leakage of the cerebrospinal fluid, generally after a person has an epidural, a spinal tap or a spinal block for anesthesia.


Types of headache

There are several different types of headache. Examples of these types of headache include:


Tension headaches

The tension headaches are the most common type of headache and occur more frequently in women over 20 years. These headaches are often described as feeling like a tightened band around the head. They are caused by an adjustment of muscles on the neck and scalp. Bad posture and stress are contributing factors.


The tension headaches generally last several minutes, but in some cases, they can last several days. They also tend to be recurrent.


Cluster headaches

The cluster-headaches are non-throbbing headaches that cause unsustoring pain, burn pain on one side of the head or behind the eye. Usually, they make the eyes break and produce nasal or rhinorrhea congestion (nasal secretion). These headaches can last for prolonged periods of time, known as the cluster period. The cluster period can be as long as six weeks.


Cluster headaches can occur every day and more than once a day. The cause is unknown; However, this type of headache is rare and, in general, it affects men from 20 to 40 years.


Migraines

Headaches in migraine are severe headaches that can cause throbbing, coup pain, usually on one side of the head. There are several different types of migraine headache. This includes chronic migraines, which are migraines that occur 15 or more days a month.


Hemiplegic migraines are those with symptoms that resemble that of a stroke. A person can even experience migraines without headache, which means that they have migraine symptoms, such as nausea, visual alterations and dizziness, but without headache.


Bounce of head

The rebound headaches are those that occur after a person stop taking medications they used regularly to treat headaches. It is more likely that a person experiences bounce headaches if they take medications such as acetaminophen, triptans (Zomig, imitrex), ergotamine (ergomar) and analgesics (such as Tylenol with codeine).


Headaches in thunder

Headaches in thunder are abrupt and severe headaches that are often found very quickly. Usually, they will appear without prior notice and will last up to five minutes. These types of headache can point a little