Headache Information and Cure

Headache – What is headache?

Headache Information and Cure

Seven in 10 people have at least one headache a year. The majority of headaches last for only a few hours, but some can continue for weeks. Forty-five million Americans suffer from chronic headache. Headache cost billions of dollars in lost productivity every year.

A Headache is defined as a pain in the head or upper neck. It is one of the most common locations of pain in the body and has many causes. A headache or cephalalgia is ache anywhere in the region of the head or neck. It can be a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and neck. The brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain because it lacks pain receptors. Somewhat, the pain is produced by disturbance of the pain-sensitive structures around the brain. Numerous areas of the head and neck have these pain-sensitive structures, which are the cranium or the periosteum of the skull, muscles, nerves, arteries and veins, subcutaneous tissues, eyes, ears, sinuses and mucous membranes.

Headache come in a number of varieties — migraines, tension headache, sinus headache — but regardless of the type, it can be a weakening and downright annoying condition. A majority of headache sufferers have headache that can be categorized or considered as tension headache. Through the years, many theories have surrounded the cause of these headache. The name comes from the fact that tension in the muscles of the neck can cause significant pain in the head, but tension in the form of stress can certainly contribute to this common cause of headache. Besides using traditional anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen or naproxen and pain-relieving medications, there are also other ways to reduce tension in your life so these headaches become a thing of the past.

Three main types of headache

Tension headache typically feel like a tightening on both sides of the head. They can last for minutes or days, and can happen frequently. Tension headache is often the result of stress or bad posture, which causes tightening of the muscles in the neck and the scalp. Tension headaches often worsen with noise and hot, stuffy environments. This type of headache occurs mostly in women over age 20.

Migraine headache is strong and aching, often involve one side of the head, and can make you sensitive to light or noise. Migraines last from hours up to three days and are more common in women. Some sufferers have an aura or a group of visual symptoms just before an attack. In the U.S. each year, about 25 million people experience a migraine. Migraine sufferers usually have their first attack before age 30, but they can also occur in children as young as age three. Migraines recur at intervals of varying length. Some people have attacks several times a month; others have less than one a year. Most people find that migraine attacks occur less frequently and become less severe as they get older. There are two types of migraine: migraine with an aura and migraine without aura. An aura is a group of symptoms that develop before the onset of the main headache.

Cluster headache is a non-throbbing and usually are felt on one side of the head behind an eye. Cluster headache affect about 1 million people in the United States. More common in men, they can happen over several days and usually last 30 to 45 minutes. They generally occur between one and four times a day. Like migraines, cluster headache is likely to be related to an increased blood flow as a result of the blood vessels in the brain widening.

With a headache, pain may occur in only one part of the head, such as above the eyes, or it may involve the entire head. The type of pain experienced varies; it may be constant and dull or sudden and sharp. And sometimes other symptoms, such as nausea, occur at the same time depending on the type of headache.

What might your doctor do to your Headache?

Your doctor may do a physical examination if he/she suspects an underlying disorder causing your headache. You may require tests such as a CT scan or a MRI of your brain.