Facts You Need to Know about Headaches
There is no accurate way to determine how many millions of people suffer from chronic headaches every day.
According to the National Headache Foundation, over 45 million Americans suffer from chronic, recurring headaches and that number could actually be much higher.
There are several different types of headaches that people suffer from. There are at least 150 diagnostic headache categories that have been established.
In order to treat your headaches, it is important to understand which type of headache you are suffering from.
For example, if you are suffering from a dehydration headache, all the aspirin in the world will not decrease your pain.
Although rare, headaches can be the result of other serious conditions such as a tumor or a ruptured blood vessel. It is important to seek the advice of a healthcare professional if your headaches persist for longer than a week.
If there is a serious condition causing your headache, it is important to get to the cause of the problem as soon as possible. Time may be of the essence in preventing the headache from developing into serious complications.
By far the most common type of headaches are tension headaches. More than 75 percent of those who suffer from headaches are suffering from tension headaches.
In order to understand if you are suffering from tension-type headaches, it is important to understand the characteristics associated with them.
Tension headaches usually involve a steady ache, rather than a throbbing one. They are often described as feeling pressure or tightening. They can last only a few minutes, or up to several days.
They usually affect both sides of the head and do not worsen with physical activity.
Being sensitive to light or noise may accompany them.
Nausea is usually absent with tension headaches. They are often brought on by stress.
Another type of headache is cervicogenic headaches. These headaches originate from problems in the cervical spine or neck. The problem in the neck causes referred pain in the head.
These headaches can be triggered by abnormal neck movement or from your head being in a sustained, awkward position. An example of this might be having your head turned for a prolonged period of time while painting a ceiling.
There is often decreased range of motion of the neck.
Cervicogenic headache sufferers may also experience radiating pain into the shoulder or arm. This is because of the irritation of the nerves in the neck that control the shoulder and arm.
Migraine headaches are less common than tension headaches.
However, migraines afflict 25 to 30 million people in the United States.
Migraine headaches typically last four to 72 hours. They are unilateral, meaning they usually affect only one side of the head. They are usually described as throbbing and are aggravated by physical activity.
They may be associated with light sensitivity, noise, odors and may accompany vomiting and nausea. Loss of appetite and stomach upset are often included as well.
An Aura may occur before the headache begins. This may include a disturbance of vision or brightly colored, blinking lights that move across the field of vision.
Approximately one out of five people with migraines will experience the aura with the migraine. Since headaches are often caused by physical problems, the best approach is a physical solution.