Headaches: causes, symptoms and forms Positive Health Center

Headache is the most common disease in Pakistan, the USA, and other countries. More than 60% of adults experience headaches at least once a year, and one in four suffered from severe pain during the last two weeks, according to a study that required them to take painkillers. This year's Pakistan Pain Management Day will help these patients to properly treat their headaches pharmaceutically.

Headaches: causes, symptoms, and forms

Self-treatment only for mild ailments

For mild complaints, there is nothing wrong with self-treatment with non-prescription painkillers from the pharmacy, but these medicines should not be taken for more than three consecutive days and not more than 10 days a month. If the pain is not controlled, a doctor should be consulted.

Too often in these cases analgesics (painkillers) are taken in too high a dosage. This carries the risk of unwanted side effects, complications and even the emergence of new chronic headaches in itself. The Forum Pain in the Green Cross e.V., therefore, calls for sufficient information of the consumer on the effect and use of these funds to prevent such drug abuse.

Do not reach for the tablet immediately, once your head starts to buzz ...

Most people who occasionally experience headaches are often helped by a walk in the fresh air. Relaxation exercises or regular endurance training, e.g. Cycling or jogging is also good prophylaxis (prevention) against the pain.

Changing habits such as avoiding so-called "pleasure poisons" such as alcohol, cigarettes, and too much coffee, and having a regular lifestyle with a steady sleep and wakefulness, can help to prevent the headache from becoming so severe and frequent. Help can also provide stimulus shielding (darkening of the room), massage (rubbing of the temples) as well as cold and warmth stimulation.

The recognition and avoidance of triggers of the individual headache come first. Too much stress, too many sports or social activities, irregular food intake, heavy noise and light pollution, family conflicts and fears, as well as certain foods such as cured foods, cheese, red wine, chocolate, and nuts, can cause “headaches”. Keeping a headache diary can be very helpful in detecting these personal triggers.

Which headache types are there anyway?

According to the International Headache Society, 160 different types of headaches can be distinguished. They are divided into primary and secondary headaches. If the pain represents the disease itself, it is counted among the primary types of headache; if it is the result of an underlying disease, it is a secondary form of headache. Such underlying diseases may be e.g. Tumors, high blood pressure, head injuries, infections (flu), inflammation.

Although the doctor's diagnosis excludes these types of headaches, only 1.6% of younger patients report any of these serious illnesses. Primary headaches are basically harmless. Nevertheless, they are diseases that can have a significant negative impact on the lives of those affected.

Tension-type headache

By far the most common type of pain is a tension-type headache. More than half of all pain patients complained of headaches of this kind. In 1988, the International Headache Society agreed that headaches should not be classified according to their cause, but according to their symptoms, the cause research in this area has not yet been satisfactorily achieved.

Terms previously used for tension-type headache, such as "muscle tension headache," "stress headache," or "psychogenic headache," merely stated that the cause of the headache was known. Therefore, the term "tension headache" a number of headache types of different origins. It is divided into episodic and the much rarer chronic tension-type headache, which occurs at least 15 days per month.

Symptoms and Causes of Tension Headache

Tension headache is characterized by the following symptoms:

• Bilateral headache with mild to moderate intensity
• Headache is perceived as oppressive and pulling rather than pulsating
• No increase in headache during physical activity
• Normal performance is limited but not sustainably hindered
• The headache can last from half an hour to a week if left untreated
• Hypersensitivity to noise or light
• No vomiting and no nausea.

The tension headache can have a purely psychological cause if under heavy load, exhaustion or fatigue the "nerves lie bare". Depression and anxiety can also lead to tension-type headaches.

Migraine: Women are affected more often

This is related to the female hormone estrogen, which is why birth control pills and menstruation can cause migraines. In the course of pregnancy or after menopause occurs in these cases, an improvement in headache attacks. There are about 16 different types of migraines, of which the most common is the "migraine without aura". The following symptoms are characteristic of this migraine:

• The pain is one-sided, pulsating and moderate to severe
• The headache is felt as oppressive to pulling
• Enhancement of headache during physical activity
• The normal performance is permanently disabled or completely limited
• Migraines occur like an attack
• It can cause vomiting and nausea
• There is a hypersensitivity to noise and light
• Left untreated, the headache lasts 4 to 72 hours

Various migraine forms

The description of the migraine has a history because it was already mentioned in ancient times by the Egyptians and Greeks. Their manifestations are as varied as they are characteristic. For every third affected person, the day before or hours before the attack, signs of fatigue, diminished performance and, in particular, female cravings for sweets or fatty foods are observed. The pain can affect both sides of the head and change sides.

At the beginning of a migraine attack, the pain is often localized in the neck and the back of the head. When it reaches its peak, the pain is most intense in the area of the temple, forehead and eye area.