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WHAT KIND OF DISEASES CAN THE HEADACHE BE A SYMPTOM OF?

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Today it is hard to find a person on the whole planet who has never suffered from a headache. First, it causes discomfort, and secondly, any pain is a sign that the body is not all right. Let’s try to take a closer look at the types of headaches, and also let’s see what diseases its occurrence can provoke.

Headache and its types

Tension headache

Such a headache is considered the most widespread in the world; it’s only heartening to know that it occurs not very often. Chronic tension pain progresses only in 3% of cases. The excessive stress, overfatigue as well as injury of the muscles of the neck and/or head can be a cause of this pain.

It is easy to distinguish tension pain: it creates the feeling that something squeezed the upper part of your head. Sometimes patients complain of tension of muscle of the forehead and/or eye sockets, which cannot be removed in any way.

Such pain lasts from 30 minutes to one week, and it is growing toward the evening. If the pain disappears quickly, then the patients usually do not go to the doctors and try to treat the headache at home. But this is a big mistake.

Bilious blind headache

The severe, frequent pains from one side of the head which last four hours or more are called migraine. Often migraine leads to photophobia episodes and to dizziness, sometimes the nausea appears. Before starting of such attacks, the distinct visual anomalies are often observed in the form of colored strips, or a slight tingling in the body is felt.

We have already told about the migraine exciting causes and about ways to prevent its attacks in the article “Migraine outdoor treatment”.

Cluster headache

Such pains are a rather unusual occurrence; usually they appear in male patients. Cluster headache is characterized by very strong attacks, accompanied by eye redness, runny nose and lacrimation. It appears at the same time of the day, at some equal intervals – a week, a month, two months, etc. Because of pain people periodically can lose their ability to work during such attacks.

It is common to divide the headache into a primary and symptomatic-type headache.

The primary headache is:

  • Migraine;
  • Headache as fatigue reaction;
  • Custer headache;
  • Other headaches which are not associated with impaired internal structure.

Symptomatic pain is:

  • Head injury pain;
  • Pain resulting from vascular disease;
  • Pain associated with nonvascular intracranial pathologies;
  • Pain associated with taking or stopping the intake of certain substances;
  • Pain that is associated with infection;
  • Metabolic disorders pain;
  • Pain in case of diseases of the skull, eyes, neck, teeth, mouth sinuses and/or other parts of the face and skull.

It is worth noting that tension headache occurs in approximately 45% of all people suffering from a headache. Such people treat the headache independently, at home, and do not see doctors. However, even people suffering from a blind headache do not go to see the doctor: statistics shows that it is about 14% of the population, and only one in two of them apply for qualified medical care.

If you suffer from headaches – it does not matter, how strong and sharp or pulling and prolonged headache you have, do not lose your time! Have the best opinion and do not try to treat a headache by folk remedies: you can protract the illness, and then the ambulance unit doctor or emergency room doctor will make the diagnosis!

The range of diseases that can cause a headache is very wide – from hypertension and depression to stroke and brain tumors! Do not self-medicate, undergo the examination at specialists.

Increase in arterial blood pressure

The most frequently in case of increase in blood pressure the headache is dull ache, it is localized at the back of the head and it seems as pressing from above. Such pains occur sporadically, they can be harbingers of very terrible conditions, threatening life and health.

If in case of such pain a person loses his/her vision, speech, his/her limbs become weaken – most often on one side of the body – if you have noticed that the headache complainer lost his/her orientation in space or forgot where he/she is and what he is doing – urgently call for an ambulance!

Stress, depression, defatigation

All these states can lead to developing of headaches of varying degrees of intensity and duration. There is evidence that this is due to a thrombotonin deficiency. If a person complains of a headache in the setting of strong emotional or physical stress, he/she should contact a specialist to develop a treatment plan. Most likely, complex therapy will be required in such a case – the treatment by the neurologist and psychotherapist.

Vertebral column pathologies

Everything is extremely simple in such a case: large vessels that feed the brain pass through the vertebrae. If the spine is curved for some reason – poor posture, congenital pathologies, etc. – then the brain just does not get enough nutrition. This causes a headache.

In such a case it is senseless to drink some painkillers or to treat a headache by folk remedies: until the cause in the sick spine is eliminated, the head will not stop to ache.

Intracranial bleeding

After a blow on the head, the intracranial vessels may be severely damaged, but this condition may not appear with any symptoms. It is not infrequent that after blood vessels rupture, a hemorrhage appears only after several hours, and this is very, very dangerous. Also, sometimes a vessel can get ruptured because of too thin walls, for example, in case of aneurysm.

How to understand that a person has intracranial hemorrhage? If he/she complains of a sharp, sudden and continually increasing headache in any area of the head, and you see that a person’s vision, speech, coordination are worsen, confused mental state and nausea appeared, then urgently call an ambulance! Symptoms will only be worse over time and the patient may lose consciousness.

Temporal arteritis

The most frequently the pathology affects people older than 50 years. If it is not treated, the disease leads to a complete loss of vision. The patient complains of a very severe headache, insomnia, sometimes pain in the shoulders and neck. Often the condition is accompanied by weight loss and depression.

There are a lot of reasons for this. The constant and uncontrolled intake of medications is not on the last place and you should pay attention to it. Treatment is appointed only by the doctor.

Brain tumor

Needless to say that most of the patients suffering the headache are afraid of brain cancer. The statistics calms: only 4% of tumors cause a headache. The cause of pain is simple: increased intracranial pressure.

If the pain nevertheless is caused by tumors, then most often it appears in the morning and is accompanied by vomiting. This happens all the time, and becomes stronger and stronger. If a person loses weight sharply, convulsions and personality changes are observed then this is a serious reason to examine the brain for a tumor.

How to treat a headache without medication?

First, please remember: any treatment should be appointed by a doctor! Besides that it’s most likely that self-medication will not help, it can even do much of harm. Any home headache treatment should be such as support and be an addition to the main methods of treatment appointed by a specialist.

If your headache is caused by overfatigue or stress, the following things can help you:

  • A simple shoulders and neck massage – it relieves stress, helps to relax, improves blood circulation;
  • Easy physical training, and if the doctor allows, then yoga – a graduated body burden will improve blood flow and stabilize the brain nutrition;
  • Oxygen therapy: it is just according to the doctor’s instructions; the patient breathes oxygen during an attack;
  • Walking in the fresh air – relaxation plus increasing the degree of oxygen in blood;
  • Normalization of diet, sleep and work – a simple daily regimen can really help with headaches (often the head hurts from simple lack of sleep or because of hunger);
  • Respiratory gymnastics – since olden times, it is used in eastern therapy, it combines simplicity and efficiency. Oxygen blood saturation significantly improves the well-being. For a complex effect it is possible to use exercise machines. For example, you can purchase Aironic simulator;
  • Smoking cessation: this habit causes a cerebral vasospasm which leads to a headache;
  • Lower alcohol consumption – alcohol causes dehydration, causes disorder of brain normal function plus dilates cerebral blood vessels. All this together quite often leads to severe headache attacks.

What’s worth special attention in case of a headache?

Remember that it is very dangerous to drink pain killers in large quantities and for longer than 15 days a month! Co-formulated analgesics are allowed to administer no longer than ten days a month. Overdose leads to quite severe consequences.

We also advise you to consider the following recommendations very carefully:

First of all, in case of a headache, you should take your arterial blood pressure, and then take some measures. If it is elevated, then urgently take drugs that lower blood pressure. If after its normalization the pain does not disappear, drink one pill of painkiller. In general, home treatment of a headache is the very bad idea, it is better to consult a doctor.

Do not drink alcohol and don’t smoke! If the pain disappears a little, it will back soon, and will be twice stronger. In many cases, the attack increases immediately.

Do not apply ice to the head before measuring the pressure: in case of hypertension, the cold can seriously worsen your state.

Do not take a second pill of painkiller if the first one did not help. First, overdosing can seriously affect health; second, intractable headache can be a warning sign of serious pathology. Consult a doctor!

Please ventilate the room, lie down for a while in silence and dark. Often 15-20 minutes of rest is enough to remove a headache attack.

Easily massage the head, earlobes for a while, stroke the temples or ask relatives to do such a massage.

Make soothing camomile, mint or lavender tea, drink it and lie down for a while. If you fall asleep, it would be even better.

DIET FOR PEOPLE WHO OFTEN SUFFER FROM THE HEADACHE

Your diet should contain the following food in a very limited amount:

Cheese, smoked herring, chicken liver, red wine and nuts – they contain tyramine, which, according to some reports, provokes headaches;

Chocolate – it contains phenylethylamine, which also provokes headaches;

Food products of Oriental cuisine, including soy sauce – they contain monosodaglutamate, causing headache;

Frankfurters, salami and other sausages – they are tinted with nitrites, especially cheap products contain a lot of them;

Sugar substitute products – lots of them are used in products for diabetic patients, in low-calorie soda, yoghurts, chewing gum, cough drops, etc.