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Have a Headache? Is it Stress?
No surprise- Stress is the most common cause of headaches. So it follows that tension headaches are the most common type.
Which of these sound like you?
A pain starts at the base of your neck and shoulders, and it moves up your neck to the base of your head, creeping forward to your skull, getting to your temples and forehead. You can't stand it and want to do something about it right away.
Or maybe your headache is the type that starts in the front of your face: perhaps behind or in your eyes or throbbing at your temples. Your head feels pressured, almost like a vice pressing on it.
Or perhaps your eyes feel like daggers are piercing them.
Wherever it starts or leads, a headache can ruin anything that's happening. So solving it becomes your primary focus.
We can help. Let's first understand a little more.
The muscles in the head and blood vessels along the surface can experience pain because they have sensitive and delicate nerve fibers. The bones of the skull and brain tissue can't have pain because they lack nerve fibers.
The end of pain-sensitive nerves that cause headaches are affected by numerous sources: stress, psychological pressure, muscle tension, and vascular system changes. There are other events that can trigger a painful headache including head or neck injury, vision problems, sinus infection, other illness and diseases, as simple as an ear-ache to the more severe causes, such as brain tumors.
Step 1: Understanding your pain
Let's first distinguish the most common kinds of headaches, so you know which is yours.
Tension headaches
The creeping kind that begins at your shoulders going up your neck and head, finally reaching your eyes, temples, and/or forehead is the most common type, known as the tension headache. Women suffer from it more than men.
It can attack people from 10 years old or so throughout their lives. Younger children more frequently experience "tummy aches" rather than headaches, but the source is the same: psychological pressure, and stress.
Cluster headaches
This culprit attacks men more than women, often attacking in groups, with symptoms repeating themselves multiple times per day. Thus, the name "cluster". It can be quite severe, with pain usually present in the eyes and forehead. Again, the source is usually pressure. Although cluster headaches are a less common type.
Migraine headaches
Let's distinguish migraines from the rest.
Migraines are neuro-vascular in nature involving functioning of the brain's blood vessels and nerves, with pounding, pulsing contractions felt in your head, eyes, forehead, temples, causing so much pain you may feel nauseous, dizzy, and even temporarily disabled. Your hands and/or feet may become cool, as your blood vessels constrict.
Women suffer from migraines far more than men. Interestingly, most migraines happen on week-ends. One theory is that tension builds during the week, with a crescendo occurring on the week-end. Often migraines are related to hormonal changes also, and can begin after menstruation or after the birth of the first child.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, some scientists believe that fatigue, glaring or flickering lights, weather, or even certain foods may trigger migraine headaches. Some experts believe it is a disease. New research has found a genetic component. As clinical psychologists we've had success treating migraine headaches with visualization and relaxation techniques.
An important concern is not to blame yourself for these headaches. You may have a genetic predisposition, an organic cause, a vascular problem that's physical.
Please see our recommendations below for further help.
Severe headaches
· Serious pain deserves serious attention. Many severe headaches are signals for serious disorders. What is worth serious attention? Here are some examples:
· Convulsions or confusion
· Sudden severe headaches
· Head, neck, back or other significant or painful injury
· Trouble with seeing, thinking, or speech
· Loss of memory
· Weakness on one side of your body, or general weakness
· Pain in the ears or eyes
· Recurring headaches, frequent ones, or a new pattern for headaches are all symptoms to be taken seriously and worth immediate attention from a qualified medical health care professional.
TMJ-related headaches:
The Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) is the joint that is used to open and close the mouth. If you have a TMJ -related headache you often tighten the muscles in your jaw, and may grind their teeth at night. Usually, you will have other symptoms, including pain in the jaw with perhaps a popping sound when you open and close your mouth. Treatment for TMJ-related headaches usually involves medication and/or biofeedback. Consultation with a dentist, orthodontist, or an oral physician may be necessary to resolve "bite" problems.
Post-traumatic headaches:
Post-traumatic headaches occur after an accident in which a person suffers damage to the tissue in the neck, scalp, or head, and/or spine. This type of headache may be difficult to treat because there may be scar tissue or physical damage. Neurologists, psychiatrists, pain clinics, and/or orthopedists are excellent resources for diagnosing the source of the pain, and recommending treatment.
Headaches caused by temporal arteritis: Temporal Arteritis is an inflammation of the blood vessels in the scalp that causes pain and tenderness in the head.
People with Temporal Arteritis may also experience muscle aches and pains. Inflammation of the blood vessels in the eyes is a risk, so the condition should be diagnosed and treated quickly. Medication may be required to alleviate the inflammation. This type of headache generally occurs in people over age 60.
Brain Tumor: Headaches caused by brain tumors will be of recent onset and will become worse over a short period of time. Other symptoms will be present, such as seizure or convulsions, memory loss, numbness or weakness on one side, and speech problems. If any of these occur, it's urgent to seek a medical evaluation from a qualified, experienced and licensed physician, neurologist, or other specialist to whom your primary care physician has referred you.
What to do?
Treatment obviously depends on the type of headache. But not all headaches require medical attention. Your headache can be as simple as one caused by a missed meal, "morning after" symptom, excess exercise, or fatigue, which all can be readily remedied.
If you find your tension headaches are not easily remedied, or you're having them just too many times, or you're popping too many pills to treat them, there are options.
First, see a professional medical specialist for a diagnosis: an internist, neurologist, or physiatrist (pain specialist) can help to rule out any more serious cause. Clinical psychologists can help with treatment with relaxation strategies and techniques, biofeedback, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), meditation, and/or hypnosis. Learning mental self control techniques, and learning to be aware of early warning signs and triggers makes for a powerful treatment plan.
An optometrist or ophthalmologist can help rule out vision problems as a source of headaches. A nutritionist may be included to analyze nutritional sources of your headaches.
Drug therapy can be effective as well, with so many new advances in drug treatment options. This must be under the care of a qualified physician.
Relaxation is often recommended, and found to be quite helpful for pain management.
Temporary relief may be as simple as a cold pack, rest, using some and/or an over the counter drug.
There are many resources on-line such as the National Headache Foundation at www.headaches.org, the American Council for Headache Education at www.achenet.org and The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/headache/headache.htm.
Be sure you find out the source of your headache before you self-treat it. Please see a specialist, as defined above, for diagnosis. |