Hemicrania Continua (Continuous Headache): Symptoms and Treatment

This rare type of headache doesn’t stop. It causes pain on one side of your face or head.

Doctors don’t know what causes this “continuous headache.” But women seem to get it more often than men. 

With the right treatment, though, most people can get nearly complete relief from the pain.

Symptoms

People with hemicrania continua describe a dull ache or throb that’s interrupted by pain that is:

These attacks usually happen three to five times a day.

Some people will have these headaches steadily for months or years. For others, the pain will last for at least 3 months and then will go away for weeks or months, then come back.

The headaches often have some of the same symptoms as other kinds of headaches. This overlap can make them tricky for doctors to diagnose.

Like migraines, they can cause:

• Nausea or vomiting
• Sensitivity to noise or light
• Throbbing pain

Hemicrania continua also shares features of cluster headaches. For example, people who have it may have problems with how part of their nervous system works. That causes symptoms that happen on the painful side of the face and head, including:

• Stuffy or runny nose 
• Nosebleeds (which are rare)
• Tearing, redness, or irritation of the eyes
• Drooping eyelids
• Sweating

Continued

Some things tend to make symptoms worse, such as:

• Stress
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Bright lights
• Fatigue
• Overdoing exercise
• Alcohol

Some people have symptoms when they:

• Feel pressure on their neck
• Flex or rotate their neck

Doctors can make a diagnosis of hemicrania continua if you’ve had pain consistently, without it switching sides or disappearing even briefly, for at least 3 months.

Treatments

Some anti-inflammatory medications ease hemicrania continua headaches. Indomethacin (Indocin, Tivorbex a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), often gives fast relief. One way doctors know that you have hemicrania continua is if your headaches go away after a dose of the drug. But some people may need more testing — such as an MRI — to look into their symptoms.

Daily doses of indomethacin for hemicrania continua typically range from 25 to 150 milligrams. A common side effect of the drug is irritation of the lining of the stomach and digestive tract. So, people who take it may also need medication to help their stomach make less acid.

Continued

If the side effects of indomethacin are too much for you, another NSAID, celecoxib, may also help. 

Tricyclic antidepressants, like amitriptyline, may also prevent these headaches.

Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatments, and More

Occipital neuralgia is a condition in which the nerves that run from the top of the spinal cord up through the scalp, called the occipital nerves, are inflamed or injured. You might feel pain in the back of your head or the base of your skull.

People can confuse it with a migraine or other types of headache, because the symptoms can be similar. But treatments for those conditions are very different, so it’s important to see your doctor to get the right diagnosis.

Symptoms

Occipital neuralgia can cause intense pain that feels like a sharp, jabbing, electric shock in the back of the head and neck. Other symptoms include:

• Aching, burning, and throbbing pain that typically starts at the base of the head and goes to the scalp
• Pain on one or both sides of the head
• Pain behind the eye
• Sensitivity to light
• Tender scalp
• Pain when you move your neck

Causes

Occipital neuralgia happens when there’s pressure or irritation to your occipital nerves, maybe because of an injury, tight muscles that entrap the nerves, or inflammation. Many times, doctors can’t find a cause for it.

Some medical conditions are linked to it, including:

• Trauma to the back of the head
• Neck tension or tight neck muscles
• Osteoarthritis
• Tumors in the neck
• Cervical disc disease
• Infection
• Gout
• Diabetes
• Blood vessel inflammation

How It’s Diagnosed

Your doctor will ask you questions about your medical history and about any injuries you’ve had. They’ll do a physical exam, too. They’ll press firmly around the back of your head to see if they can reproduce your pain.

They may also give you a shot to numb the nerve, called a nerve block, to see if it gives you relief. If it works, occipital neuralgia is likely the cause of the pain. You might also have blood tests or an MRI scan if your doctor thinks your case isn’t typical. 

You have to get the right diagnosis to get the right treatment. For example, if you have occipital neuralgia and you get a prescription for migraine medication, you may not get relief.

Treatments

The first thing you’ll want to do is to relieve your pain. You can try to:

• Apply heat to your neck.
• Rest in a quiet room.
• Massage tight and painful neck muscles.
• Take over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs, like naproxen or ibuprofen.

Continued

If those don’t help, your doctor may prescribe medications for you, including:

• Prescription muscle relaxants
• Antiseizure drugs, such as carbamazepine (Tegretol) and gabapentin (Neurontin)
• Antidepressants
• Nerve blocks and steroid shots. The nerve block that your doctor might do to diagnose your condition can be a short-term treatment, too. It may take two to three shots over several weeks to get control of your pain. It’s not uncommon for the problem to return at some point and to need another series of injections.

An operation is rare, but it might be an option if your pain doesn’t get better with other treatments or comes back. Surgery may include:

• Microvascular decompression. Your doctor may be able to relieve pain by finding and adjusting blood vessels that may be compressing your nerve.
• Occipital nerve stimulation. Your doctor uses a device called a neurostimulator to deliver electrical pulses to your occipital nerves. They can help block pain messages to the brain.

Occipital neuralgia is not a life-threatening condition. Most people get good pain relief by resting and taking medication. But if you still hurt, tell your doctor. They’ll want to see if there’s another problem that’s causing your pain.

What Is an Aneurysm? Types and Causes

If you get an aneurysm, it means you have a bulge in the wall of an artery. It happens when the pressure of blood passing through has forced a weakened part of the artery to balloon outward or when the blood vessel wall is weakened for a different reason.

Aneurysms can happen in any blood vessel, but they usually form in the belly or chest portions of your aorta — the main blood vessel that carries blood from your heart — or in arteries that nourish your brain.

Aneurysms there are serious, while those in other areas, such as your leg, can be less hazardous.

The most serious threat of an aneurysm is that it will burst and cause a stroke or massive bleeding, which can be life-threatening. A large aneurysm can affect your circulation and lead to blood clots.

It’s important to get it diagnosed and treated early. Aneurysms often have mild symptoms or none at all, so routine exams can help your doctor check for warning signs.

Types of Aneurysms

Aortic aneurysm. As the name suggests, this type happens in your aorta. It can be linked with hardening of the arteries, also known as atherosclerosis. It may be an inherited condition or a complication of high blood pressure or smoking.

Cerebral aneurysm. Also known as a berry aneurysm, you get this kind in the wall of a blood vessel in your brain. Smoking raises your risk of getting one.

Popliteal artery. One of the more common peripheral vascular aneurysms, it is a bulging or weakness in the wall of the artery that supplies blood to the knee joint, calf and thigh. 

Ventricular aneurysm. This is a bulge in the wall of your heart. A previous heart attack is the most common cause. In rare cases, a severe chest injury can also lead to it.

What Causes an Aneurysm?

Any condition that causes your artery walls to weaken can bring one on. The most common culprits are atherosclerosis and high blood pressure.

Deep wounds and infections can also lead to an aneurysm. Or you may be born with weakness in one of your artery walls.

Headache Location Meaning: What Can It Tell You?

Headaches are ubiquitous, but not every type of head pain is the same. Specific intensities, patterns, and, most importantly, headache location, can tell you a lot about why your head hurts and what you should do.

Defining a Headache

A headache is any pain isolated in or around the head, so identifying its cause can be difficult. Most headaches can either be classified as primary (caused by some problem in the head’s pain-sensitive regions, not related to a disease) or secondary (appearing as symptoms of an illness). Different headaches are most easily identified when they occur, how they feel, and where they feel.

Some rare headaches occur due to neuralgia (nerve pain) in facial or cranial nerves, such as the occipital (causing intense burning pain on one side of the scalp or eye). Most headaches, however, occur due to natural interactions between chemicals in the body, high blood pressure (and hydration), lack of sleep, or sore neck and shoulder muscles.

If you can isolate your pain to a specific part of your head, you may be a step closer to figuring out what kind of headache you are experiencing. If your pain is severe and you are experiencing any of the following symptoms, please consult a doctor:

• • Very intense and sudden onset of severe head pain
  • Extreme nausea, followed by vomiting
  • A sudden jump in temperature (fever above 102° F/38.8° C)
  • A fever accompanied by a stiff neck
  • Nosebleed
  • Fainting spells

While isolating the pain-related headache location can help identify its origin, it is still good to get a medical professional’s proper diagnosis. If you have not had any of the symptoms above, but are always worried about your headache, be sure to see a doctor.

Front of the Head

If your headache location is primarily in the front half of your head – especially near the forehead and nose – it may be related to your sinus. Hay fever and other allergies can produce similar symptoms to the common cold, putting pressure on the sinus due to inflammation and excess mucus. If you feel congested in addition to having a headache, you may be dehydrated from your cold.

Pain around the sinus absent of any other symptoms suggesting a cold or allergy, maybe some other form of sinus infection. These are relatively rare, and it is worth noting that migraine pain can also occur around the forehead and nose, often isolated or concentrated on one half of the head as well. If the pain is more concentrated behind your eyes than your forehead and nose, it may result from restlessness or excessive eyestrain.

However, most of the time, these headaches are a form of tension headache. Tension headaches are a common type of primary headache usually caused by muscles around the neck and head contracting that causes discomfort and a feeling as though a band was tightening around your skull. These headaches may be triggered by stress or eating something you are sensitive to (common triggers being aged cheeses, certain nuts, alcohol, or caffeine).

Back of the Head

Another common area for headaches is the back of the head. Ruling out apparent causes such as physical trauma, headaches around the head’s back is often caused by the neck. Anything from muscle contractions or discomfort caused by poor posture to a more severe issue with the cervical spine (the vertebrae in your neck) may cause a growing headache in the back of your head.

The neck is the second most likely spot for a herniated disc, the first being the lower back. A herniated disc is a condition wherein the shock-absorbing disc between your vertebrae leaks some of its contents through cracks or damage, pressing on the nerves around it. This compression is what may lead to pain, numbness, or weakness in the surrounding area.

If you have recently been to the doctor and received a lumbar puncture, also known as a spinal tap, then your brain may be low on spinal fluid. This can lead to a low-pressure headache, also known as spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH). Other signs that you may have a headache related to your spinal fluid are getting worse if you sit up or stand but improve if you lie down.

Around the Temples

Migraine and tension headaches may cause pain mainly around the temples, but if the pain is more severe or if you have recently had issues with your jaw or trigeminal nerve, or more specifically the mandibular nerve, then your pain may be related to compression or entrapment of the nerve, especially if it is not going away.

Another condition that may cause isolated pain in the temples is temporal arteritis. Due to arthritis – a condition wherein the arteries are swollen and potentially inflamed. Conditions related to the muscles or joints in your jaw, known as temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders, can cause pain mainly in the temple area.

On One Side of the Head

If the headache location occurs mostly on one side of the head, it is likely a migraine or cluster headache. Cluster headaches are characterized by excruciating one-sided pain, usually with a very severe and sudden onset, and typically coming and going in waves for anywhere from a few days to over a month. They are not life-threatening but can be debilitating and very painful.

Cluster attacks usually happen at night, and episodes themselves last a few minutes or up to three hours. While most other headaches have an associated chemical or physical cause – a trigger, like a particular food, emotional stress, or pressure – cluster headaches appear seemingly random and maybe mostly genetic. Their reason is still not completely understood.

Seeking Treatment for Chronic Daily Headaches

The standard treatment is an over-the-counter painkiller – usually an anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen or an analgesic like acetaminophen. Simple home remedies and creature comforts can go a long way as well – staying hydrated, getting rest in a cool dark room, and keeping one’s eyes away from harsh lights.

When these do not suffice, treatments are usually individualized by a doctor. Depending on the cause of your headache, a doctor may attempt to relieve the pain through various pharmacological therapies, including anticonvulsants, combination treatment of caffeine and analgesics, antidepressants, or triptans.

In severe cases of chronic daily headaches, depending on the cause, nerve blocks and interventions such as Botox injections may help relieve the pain. Alternative or herbal treatments may help some patients with migraine. However, it is still heavily advised to review any supplements or herbal medication with your doctor to avoid unwanted drug interactions.

Related

Headache Locations and What They Mean

When you have a headache, it can be tempting to get into bed, pull the covers over your head, and try not to think about how lousy you feel until the pain has passed. But paying attention to the location of your pain is key, as it can indicate the type of headache you have. Once you know this, you’ll be better prepared to choose the right type of relief so you feel better, faster.

Here’s a guide to help identify different headache types based on where it hurts and to determine the best options for treatment.

Pain location

Tension headaches can feel like a tight band that stretches across your head. ¹

Symptoms

Tension headache symptoms vary and can include:

• Mild to moderate dull, aching head pain
• Stiff muscles, tightness in the neck, shoulders, scalp, and jaw

There are two types of tension headaches:

• Episodic (occurring less than 15 times a month)
• Chronic (occurring more than 15 times a month over the course of more than three months)

Either type can last anywhere from a half hour to a week.²

Causes

While tension headaches might be brought on by many different factors, stress is the most common trigger.³ Researchers believe a heightened sensitivity to pain, and increased muscle tenderness, may also play a role in tension-type headaches.⁴

Treatment

• Develop ways to cope with stress
• Massage the affected area
• Apply hot or cold compresses
• Ensure you get enough sleep and exercise⁵
• OTC pain relievers that combine acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine may also be effective⁶

Talk to your doctor for more information.

See how Excedrin Tension helps other tension headache sufferers manage their pain.

Pain Location

Cluster headaches develop as a cluster on one side of the head, usually in or behind one eye or at the temple.

Symptoms

Cluster headaches often come on during sleep and can last for a period of days, weeks, or even months before going into remission for long periods.⁷ Symptoms can include:

• Tearing eyes
• Runny nose
• Occasional flushed, sweaty skin on the affected half of the face prior to headache⁸

Causes

The exact cause is still unknown, but risk factors include smoking (more than half of sufferers are current or former smokers), familial history (close relatives who experience cluster headaches) and drinking alcohol. Men are up to six times more likely to develop cluster headaches than women. ⁹

Treatment

It’s best to consult a physician if you think you might be experiencing cluster headaches. To ease the pain during an attack or cycle of attacks, your doctor may administer the following:

• Oxygen
• Nasal spray
• Prescription medication

Your health-care professional will be able to determine which treatment options are best for you.¹⁰

Pain Location

Pain from sinus headaches most often develops in the cheekbones, forehead, and/or bridge of the nose.

Symptoms

Sinus headache pain is characterized by deep, constant pain that usually intensifies with sudden head movements or straining. Other sinus symptoms include:

• Thick, discolored nasal discharge
• Feeling of fullness in the cheeks, forehead and brow
• Congestion¹¹

Causes

Sinus headaches are caused by an inflammation of the sinuses, which are air-filled cavities located in the forehead, cheekbones, and behind the bridge of the nose that produce a thin mucus that drains out of the nose. ¹²  Allergies can also inflame the sinuses, causing pain and leading to sinus headaches.¹³

Treatment

Possible treatment approaches for sinus headaches include:

• Antibiotics
• Pain relievers
• Nasal vasoconstrictors
• Analgesics
• Corticosteroids may be prescribed by a physician to further decrease inflammation¹⁴

If you have questions or concerns about your sinus headache pain, talk with your doctor.

Headache Pain | NIH News in Health

March 2014

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What To Do When Your Head Hurts

Most of us get headaches from time to time. Some are mild. Others cause throbbing pain. They can last for minutes or days. There are many different types of headaches. How you treat yours depends on which kind you have.

Headaches might arise because of another medical condition, such as swollen sinuses or head injury. In these cases, treating the underlying problem usually relieves headache pain as well. But most headaches—including tension headaches and migraines—aren’t caused by a separate illness. 

A headache may feel like a pain inside your brain, but it’s not. Most headaches begin in the many nerves of the muscles and blood vessels that surround your head, neck, and face. These pain-sensing nerves can be set off by stress, muscle tension, enlarged blood vessels, and other triggers. Once activated, the nerves send messages to the brain, and it can feel like the pain is coming from deep within your head.

Tension headaches are the most common type of headache. They can cause a feeling of painful pressure on the head and neck. Tension headaches occur when the muscles in your head and neck tighten, often because of stress or anxiety. Intense work, missed meals, jaw clenching, or too little sleep can bring on tension headaches.

Over-the-counter medicines such as aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen can help reduce the pain. “Lifestyle changes to relax and reduce stress might help, such as yoga, stretching, massage, and other tension relievers,” says Dr. Linda Porter, an NIH expert on pain research.

Migraines are the second-most common type of headache. They affect more than 1 in 10 people. Migraines tend to run in families and most often affect women. The pain can be severe, with pulsing and throbbing, and can last for several days. Migraine symptoms can also include blurry vision and nausea.

“Migraines are complex and can be disabling,” Porter says. Certain smells, noises, or bright flashing lights can bring on a migraine. Other triggers include lack of sleep, certain foods, skipped meals, smoking, stress, or even an approaching thunderstorm. Keeping a headache diary can help to identify the specific causes of your migraines. Avoiding those triggers or using prescription medications could help prevent or lessen the severity of future migraines.

Be careful not to overuse headache medications. Overuse can cause “rebound” headaches, making headaches more frequent and painful. People with repeating headaches, such as migraines or tension headaches, are especially at risk. Experts advise not taking certain pain-relief medicines for headaches more than 3 times a week.

A less common but more severe type of headache comes on suddenly in “clusters” at the same time of day or night for weeks. Cluster headaches may strike one side of the head, often near one eye, with a sharp or burning pain. These headaches are more common in men and in smokers.

In rare cases, a headache may warn of a serious illness. Get medical help right away if you have a headache after a blow to your head, or if you have a headache along with fever, confusion, loss of consciousness, or pain in the eye or ear.

“Know what kind of headache you have and, if you can’t manage it yourself, seek help,” Porter says. “Remember there are preventive behavioral steps and medicines that can help manage headaches. But if the pain is severe or lasting, get medical care.”

What type of headache do you have?

Headaches are familiar to nearly everyone: in any given year, almost 90% of men and 95% of women have at least one. In the vast majority of cases, however, the pain isn’t an omen of some terrible disease. The three most common types of headaches are tension, sinus, and migraine. The most common headache triggers are stress, fatigue, lack of sleep, hunger, and caffeine withdrawal.

Mixed headaches

As understanding of the different types of headaches has evolved, researchers have altered some of their beliefs about migraine and tension headaches and the relationship between the two. This is largely because of the realization that some headaches don’t neatly fit either category. “Mixed” headaches have characteristics of both types, and because they’re hard to classify, treatment can be challenging.

For instance, the more intense a tension headache gets, the more it resembles the sharp, throbbing pain of a migraine headache. Likewise, when a migraine headache becomes more frequent, its pain begins to feel like that of a tension headache. Symptoms of headaches fall along a continuum ordered by their characteristics: the occasional tension headache is at one end and the classic migraine headache is at the other. In between are chronic daily headaches, which can start with features typical of either tension or migraine headache.

Headache caused by a medication or illness

Some headaches are actually symptoms of another health problem. Many non-life-threatening medical conditions, such as a head cold, the flu, or a sinus infection, can cause headache. Some less common but serious causes include bleeding, infection, or a tumor. A headache can also be the only warning signal of high blood pressure (hypertension). In addition, certain medications, such as nitroglycerin and female hormones (prescribed for a contraception or menopausal symptoms) are notorious causes of headache.

Because the following symptoms could indicate a significant medical problem, seek medical care promptly if you experience:

• a sudden headache that feels like a blow to the head (with or without a stiff neck)
• headache with fever
• convulsions
• persistent headache following a blow to the head
• confusion or loss of consciousness
• headache along with pain in the eye or ear
• relentless headache when you were previously headache-free
• headache that interferes with routine activities.

Always take children who have recurring headaches to the doctor, especially when the pain occurs at night or is present when the child wakes in the morning.

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90,000 how they differ and what they say

Headache can become chronic and significantly spoil life. Few people know, but there are different types of headaches, which differ among themselves both in the causes of occurrence and in the methods of treatment.

Let’s try to figure out how to understand what type of headache belongs to and how to treat it.

Tension pain

The most common type of headache is tension pain, which is infrequent and becomes chronic in only 3% of cases.It occurs due to injuries to the muscles of the neck and head, as well as due to severe stress. When diagnosed, most often the source of pain is not determined.

Signs: There is tightness or pressure around the top of the head, and the muscles in the eye sockets and forehead may seem very tense and cannot be relaxed. The intensity of the pain usually increases in the evening. The duration of such pain can be either half an hour or a week.

Treatment: with an irregular nature of tension pain, it is better to use simple pain relievers, and also try to be outdoors more often, do light exercise, stretch your neck and shoulders.Chronic pain should be treated with medication as directed by a physician.

Cluster pain

Cluster pains affect about 1% of the world’s population. Interestingly, in 80% of cases, cluster pain bothers men. Its reasons are unknown.

Signs: throbbing intense pain on one side of the head, usually near the eye. It lasts 15-60 minutes and is accompanied by lachrymation, redness of the eyes, rush of blood to the head, and a runny nose. Sometimes it can become so acute that the person cannot even speak.Cluster pain occurs at regular intervals at the same time of day – once a month, week.

Treatment: is difficult to treat because they come and go unpredictably. For prolonged attacks, drug injections and oxygen therapy are used.

Migraine

A possible cause of migraine is a dysfunction of the brain, but which ones are currently unknown. There is evidence that when a migraine occurs, blood vessels greatly expand, and electrical activity of an abnormal nature occurs on the cerebral cortex.

Signs: migraine – pain on one side of the head that lasts 4 hours or more. Migraine episodes tend to recur and often lead to nausea, dizziness, and photophobia.

Treatment: It is impossible to completely cure migraine, however, medications prescribed by a doctor will help relieve some of the unpleasant symptoms.

Intracranial bleeding

It manifests itself in the form of increasing, sudden pain in any part of the head after an injury (sometimes symptoms appear after a few hours).

Signs: accompanied by impaired speech skills, vision, coordination, nausea, personality disorders. Symptoms worsen over time, after which the person may pass out.

Treatment: it is necessary to see a doctor who will remove the accumulated blood from the cranium so that the hematoma does not press on the brain, thus damaging it. In the field of this, it is important to find out the cause of the hemorrhage by examining the vessels of the brain.

Temporal arteritis

Temporal arteritis is common in patients over 50 years of age and can lead to blindness if left untreated.It occurs due to hypothermia, alcoholism, various injuries, uncontrolled intake of drugs, an attack of viral infections on the immune system.

Signs: severe headaches occur against the background of insomnia, weight loss, depression, and neck and shoulder may also hurt.

Treatment: Steroids are used to stop the inflammation of the blood vessels. With the development of concomitant health problems, it is also necessary to consult with doctors of other specialties. For example, if the lens is clouded, go to an ophthalmologist.

Brain tumor

If the headache is associated with a brain tumor, which occurs in about 4% of cases, it will appear in the morning and be accompanied by vomiting. Such episodes are repeated periodically and each time it gets worse and worse.

Signs: seizures, sudden weight loss, personality changes in such cases become a reason to undergo a brain examination.

Treatment: depends on the size, location and type of formation.

Hangover headache

Headache with a hangover develops due to the fact that alcohol leads to dehydration, which is one of the reasons for the development of migraines. In addition, alcohol dilates the blood vessels of the brain and disrupts the functioning of serotonin (the substance through which electrical signals are transmitted from one nerve cell to another).

Treatment: The best hangover headache cure is the pain reliever pill and sleep.

Help DOC.ua: You can make an appointment with a neurologist here. On our site you can also search for medications for the treatment of headaches.

90,000 Pain in the head on the left side

Pain in the head on the left

Headache is called pain if, according to sensations, it is localized from the eyebrows upwards, captures the temporal zones, and reaches the cervico-occipital region. It happens that there are unpleasant sensations only on one side. Sometimes the head hurts on the left side of the temple, closer to the crown or the back of the head.Such an arrangement of pain can indicate vasospasm in a certain area.

Types of headaches

As a symptom, headache under normal pressure signals a change in the state of the body. The symptom may be primary when it is not a consequence of organic changes. Secondary symptoms are also distinguished. In this case, the pain became a consequence of the disease that had arisen.

Primary pains include:
• pain from muscle strain;
• migraine;
• trigeminal cephalalgia.

The cause of the headache in the left side can be:
• hemostasis disorder;
• head trauma;
• taking or withdrawing chemicals;
• vascular disease;
• eye or ear diseases;
• intracranial anomalies;
• diseases of the oral cavity and teeth;
• mental disorders.

Sudden onset of one-sided pain can be a symptom of a serious illness or subarachnoid hemorrhage that threatens the patient’s life.If the left side of the head hurts for a long time, this may indicate that purulent otitis media is progressing. In the face of the skull, there are sinuses, the inflammation of which also leads to local pain. The existence of a large number of diseases, the symptoms of which include headache, greatly complicates the diagnosis.

What to do if the head hurts the second day?

Do not take pain medications on a regular basis. A headache at one point should be the reason for an early visit to the doctor.Diagnostics is reduced to an objective examination and collection of analysis. Additionally, neuroimaging may be required.

The specialists of the DorsumMed network of clinics have sufficient experience and are equipped with the latest technology. To make an appointment, fill out the fields of the proposed form. The responsible manager will call you back to suggest a convenient time for the visit.

About headaches | “Four-leaf clover”

According to statistics, 90% of people experience a headache at least once during the year, and approximately 1% of patients admitted to the intensive care unit have a headache as the cause of any disease.In more than 90% of cases, patients are diagnosed with primary headaches, the most common form is episodic tension headache. It was also found that women are 3 times more likely to suffer from migraines than men. In addition, there is a correlation between the prevalence of migraine cases among residents of certain parts of the world. In general, migraine attacks affect from 12 to 18% of the world’s population. Cluster headache, in turn, occurs in less than 0.5% of people. Men are 5-8 times more prone to cluster headaches than women.

Headache is not a painful sensation of the brain as such, since it lacks pain receptors. A person feels a headache emanating from several areas of the head and neck in which nociceptors are located (extracranial arteries, veins, cranial and spinal nerves, muscles of the neck and head, lining of the brain).

In most cases headache appears due to tension or irritation of pain receptors , localized in the membranes of the brain or blood vessels.Nociceptors can be activated not only by a head injury or tumor, but headache can also be the result of stress, dilated blood vessels, and muscle tension. Having received an exciting stimulus, the nociceptor sends a signal through the nerve fiber to the nerve cells of the brain, reporting pain in a specific part of the body.

There are more than 200 forms of headaches, the causes of which are varied, from the most harmless to life-threatening. The description of pain symptoms and the results of a neurological examination make it possible to diagnose the cause of the headache and prescribe appropriate treatment, or indicate the need for additional examinations.
There are 5 main categories of headaches.

Primary headaches include pain not associated with organic or structural disease. According to this classification, headaches are divided into vascular, myogenic, cervicogenic, pain associated with mechanical action on receptors, and pain associated with infectious diseases.Primary headaches are more difficult to diagnose than secondary headaches. The pathophysiological processes of migraine, cluster headache and tension headache remain not fully understood, as a result of which new theories constantly appear, the authors of which try to explain the processes occurring in the brain of patients suffering from these forms of cephalalgia.

Most scientists adhere to the neurovascular theory of primary headaches. According to this theory, migraine occurs as a result of a series of complex changes in blood vessels and nerves.Other studies confirm that people with migraines without headaches have an increased sensitivity of the nerve endings of the cerebral cortex, especially in the occipital region. People with a form of migraine without headache usually have a family history of the disease. Also, a similar form of migraine occurs in women during the period of hormonal changes, women taking birth control pills or undergoing hormone replacement therapy.

Diagnosing the cause of headaches is not easy.In some cases, long-term observation of the patient is required using all clinical and paraclinical studies. For the timely detection of stagnant processes on the optic nerve head, it is necessary to study the fundus and control blood pressure measurement. To exclude volumetric processes, it is necessary to conduct electroencephalography, which can reveal a focus of pathological activity or general cerebral changes in electrical activity, which makes it possible to exclude the neurotic nature of cephalgia (headache) In all cases of intense or prolonged headaches, a neurologist’s examination and magnetic resonance imaging are indicated.

For recurring headaches, it is recommended to keep a diary to record the nature of the pain, accompanying symptoms, factors that intensify and stimulate the appearance of the headache. Thus, important specific causes of headache can be identified: taking medications, menstrual cycle, diet.
There are two main treatments for chronic headaches: prophylactic treatment and abortive treatment for acute headache attacks. Abortive treatment helps to quickly relieve the symptoms of a sudden attack, while the goal of preventive treatment is to control the attacks of chronic headaches.For this reason, in most cases, abortive drugs are used to successfully treat migraines, while preventive drugs are more often prescribed for patients with chronic headaches.

The main goal of preventive treatment is to reduce the frequency, severity and duration of headaches. This method of treatment is based on the daily intake of medications for three, and in some cases, six months. In most cases, the patient is initially prescribed preventive medicines in small doses, which are gradually increased until a prolonged therapeutic effect occurs.
Adequate treatment can only be carried out after establishing the cause of the problem. It must be remembered that the prescription of drugs for headaches must be trusted only by the attending physician. Uncontrolled self-administration of analgesics can cause medicinal headaches, which will lead to a vicious circle in an attempt to relieve the disease.

We recommend specialists: Olga Vladimirovna Andreyanova, Irina Ovsyannikova, Albina Muratovna Tlyunyaeva.

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90,000 5 types of headaches and how to quickly get rid of them

Probably, there is no person in the world who does not experience what we call “head splits”. In some cases, you can solve the problem yourself, in others, you should immediately go to the doctor.

To make the right decision, AdMe.ru has compiled for you detailed instructions on how to determine the type of headache, find the cause and alleviate your condition.

Tension headache

It is also called tension headache. This is the most common type of headache in the world – each of us has experienced it at least once in our lives.

Features. Typically mild, non-throbbing pain. Pressure is felt around the top of your head, as if you were wearing a small helmet.The muscles of the forehead and eyes may appear to be very tense and cannot be relaxed. The intensity often increases towards evening.

Reasons. Tension pain can be associated with severe stress, overwork, poor posture and an uncomfortable head position for a long time. Chronic is rare (less than 3% of cases) and is often associated with injuries to the muscles of the head and neck.

How to treat. Pain reliever is usually sufficient to relieve this type of headache.However, be careful: you should not abuse pills either. If the headache appears too often and does not go away for a long time, it is better to see a doctor. Also try some light exercise, stretch your shoulders and neck regularly, and get more outdoors to relieve stress.

Sinus headache

Occurs with inflammation of the sinuses. It is accompanied by fever, swelling of the face, tension in the forehead and cheekbones.

Features. Severe pressure and pain in the sinus area: forehead, eyebrows, under the eyes. With a sudden movement of the head or bending forward, the pain increases. The nose does not breathe, the congestion practically does not go away. Constant fatigue.

Reasons. Occurs with infection and inflammation of the sinuses. Pressure builds up due to obstruction, lack of oxygen leads to fatigue. It can occur as a complication of a cold or be the result of seasonal allergies.

Treatment. These headaches rarely go away on their own.If you have allergies, antihistamines may help. Otherwise, you should see a doctor as soon as possible, who will probably prescribe antibiotics.

Migraine

All migraine symptoms occur during an attack that has 4 stages of development, although not all of them may be fully expressed.

Reasons. Migraine is often a violation of metabolic processes or blood vessels of the brain. There is also a hereditary predisposition to the development of this disease.

How to treat. There is no complete cure for migraine. However, for many people it goes away on its own. There are many medications available to relieve symptoms, and your doctor will help you choose the right one. Exercising regularly and keeping fit will also greatly improve your well-being.

Cluster headache

This type of pain occurs rarely: in about 1% of the world’s population, and in 80% of cases it is men.

Features. Pain in the eye area occurs more often at night, usually on one side of the head. Eyes may redden, tears and intense light sensitivity. Lasts from 15 minutes to 1 hour and is repeated daily. And then they can disappear, sometimes even for several years.

The reasons for are not exactly known, but may be related to a person’s biological clock, since pain occurs at a certain time of the day.

Treatment. This type of pain is difficult to treat, since it appears sporadically and can disappear as unpredictably.Treatment only as directed by a physician.

Hangover

Reasons. There are many conjectures about exactly how alcohol contributes to headaches. One of them is that alcohol dilates the blood vessels of the brain and disrupts the work of serotonin. In addition, alcohol dries out the body, and dehydration is also known to trigger migraine attacks.

How to treat. The best remedy is a pain reliever pill, water and good sleep. But you shouldn’t be joking about a hangover.If the head hurts even after a small dose of alcohol, it may be a mild form of migraine, and alcohol simply provokes attacks.

Illustrator Yekaterina Ragozina specially for Bright Side

Headache: symptoms and treatment

Overworked? Have you been sitting at the computer for a long time? Don’t get enough sleep on a regular basis? The headache, which will be discussed today, can accompany these, as well as many other – including quite serious – conditions. After collecting frequently asked questions about headaches, we visited Natalia Gumalatova, Candidate of Medical Sciences, neurologist “Expert Clinic Orenburg” .

– Natalya Vasilievna, everyone has a headache. But the intensity of pain is different for everyone. What is a headache?

– It can be real different – both in frequency of occurrence and in character. It can be blunt, squeezing, squeezing, sharp, pulsating, bursting.

– Why does the head hurt? What diseases are accompanied by this symptom?

– There are many reasons for headaches. I will name some of them:

• tension headache;
• migraine;
• consequences of stroke, previous neuroinfection, trauma;
• brain tumors;
• postpartum period.

Headache can be caused by diseases from other organs and systems. These are diabetes mellitus, kidney and liver pathology, chronic intoxication (including alcohol) and many others.

– Can it be caused by some situational and non-dangerous reasons? What can provoke its occurrence?

– Of course. It can occur due to overwork, unpleasant life situations, disturbances in the rhythm of night sleep, prolonged stay at the computer, and a number of others.

– Is it possible to independently determine which type of headache worries?

– Sometimes yes, although I will immediately make a reservation that the diagnosis is exclusively the prerogative of the doctor. For example, migraine. It proceeds quite typically: severe headaches are noted, accompanied by some concomitant symptoms. Pains are stereotyped, recur with a certain regularity.

Tension headache is associated with heavy exertion. It occurs more often by the end of the working week.A person is going to rest on the weekend, and then his head starts to hurt.

Cluster (or cluster) headache is less common. The head hurts in one place, i.e. the pain has a fairly clear location.

There are other types of headaches – for example, chronic, post-stroke, post-traumatic, etc.

– Historically, we love not only to diagnose ourselves, but also to endure. In what situations is it unacceptable and should you see a doctor?

– In all fairness, it must be said that it is always necessary to deal with the causes of headaches.I will name a number of situations when it can be dangerous. These are frequent and / or severe headaches; becoming more intense and frequent over time; accompanied by other signs (increased body temperature, blood pressure, skin numbness and weakness in the limbs, facial asymmetry, speech and swallowing disorders, loss of consciousness). In such cases, you should seek medical help, including calling an ambulance.

– What kind of doctor should be seen by those who are worried about a headache?

– As I said earlier, there are many causes of headaches, so first you need to contact a therapist or general practitioner, and then, if necessary, to a neurologist.

– Natalya Vasilievna, what studies are included in the complex of mandatory examinations of patients suffering from headaches?

– Today, one of the most informative methods for diagnosing such patients is MRI of the brain and its vessels. Valuable data can also be obtained by performing an ultrasound of the vessels of the brain.

– They say that a headache should never be tolerated. Why is this so?

– Because a headache can be associated with rather serious reasons that pose a threat to health, and sometimes – to a person’s life.

– How to provide first aid in case of headache? Is this possible without the use of drugs?

– First aid consists in eliminating (if possible) bright light, strong sounds, and other irritating factors. If a person is at a computer, it is necessary to move away from it.

If you have a tonometer, you should measure your blood pressure. Calculate your pulse. Remember or write down indicators. Lie down, if there is no way – sit down. Provide fresh air access: depending on the outside air temperature – open a window or window; loosen the collar, if there is a belt – loosen or remove it

If a person was in a high temperature, under the sun – go into the shade, cover your head, wash.For headaches, a cold compress on the forehead and temples, hot foot baths sometimes help. For migraines, you can try self-massage of the head.

Of the drugs, traditional analgesics are used, however, only the doctor prescribes specific drugs.

It is also necessary to remember the situations that I spoke about earlier, when a headache can indicate a potentially dangerous condition. In such cases, you must also immediately call an ambulance.

Since there are many diseases associated with headaches, first aid can have its own characteristics – for example, with high blood pressure or stroke.

About the expert

Natalya Vasilievna Gumalatova

Graduated from the pediatric faculty of the Orenburg State Medical Academy in 1994.

In 1995 she graduated from an internship in the specialty “General practice”.

In 2000 completed a specialization in neurology. He has a PhD in Medicine.

At present, he is a neurologist at the Expert Clinic Orenburg.

90,000 Manifestations of headache. How to recognize the disease by the nature of pain?

Manifestations of headache are very diverse. To determine its type and possible cause, it is necessary to take into account the nature of the pain (pressing, pulsating, etc.), its location, intensity, duration of the attack and the frequency of their occurrence, as well as what additional symptoms accompany the attack of pain, from which arises and from which the pain disappears.

Symptoms of headaches must be assessed in combination.Everything must be taken into account, because with the help of information about only the nature of the pain or its location, it is impossible to make a diagnosis. In some cases, it will be necessary to carry out any additional methods of examining the patient in order to find a specific cause of pain, but often it can be assumed clinically, that is, by symptoms.

Nature and location of pain

The appearance of pressing pains allows one to suspect tension headaches if they are bilateral, but it can also be a migraine if the pain is located in the frontotemporal region.Pressing headaches are felt by such a rare type of pain as hemicrania of the continua. These pains appear more often in the forehead and temples, they bother a person constantly, only occasionally intensifying, and are accompanied by lacrimation and redness of the eye.

Pain intensity

The intensity of pain is also of great importance in determining its nature. For example, slight or moderate intensity may be with tension headaches, moderate or intense pain is characteristic of migraine.Very pronounced attacks occur with a cluster headache, they can also be a manifestation of hemorrhage in the brain or under its membranes, especially if the pain occurred suddenly and in less than a minute, reached its maximum intensity. However, in the latter case, the whole head hurts more often. To exclude intracranial hemorrhage, a CT scan of the brain is mandatory.

Associated symptoms

Symptoms associated with headache are of great interest.With tension headaches, for example, there are not very many of them: there may be a tension in the muscles of the neck, shoulder girdle, a person may not tolerate bright light or loud sounds, and appetite may disappear. With a migraine, the picture is brighter. For example, sometimes glowing spots appear, “flies” in front of the eyes, and the field of vision may narrow.

There is nausea, sometimes – vomiting, eyes may be red and watery. A person during an attack does not tolerate loud sounds and bright light. In rare cases, numbness and / or weakness of the arms and legs appears, and speech is impaired.In this case, it is even required to conduct an MRI / CT scan of the brain in order to exclude the development of a stroke.

A very vivid picture occurs with the so-called trigeminal autonomic cephalgias, among which cluster headaches are most common. In addition to headaches, symptoms such as drooping and swelling of the upper eyelid, redness of the eye, constriction of the pupil on the side of pain, watery eyes, and nasal congestion appear.

Very often, a headache occurs with a stroke. In this case, signs of brain damage appear: speech impairment, facial asymmetry, numbness of half of the body, weakness of the arm and / or leg.Sometimes, in addition to a headache, a person has only dizziness and unsteadiness when walking. In this case, a stroke should also be suspected, since the focus of cerebrovascular accident may be located in the cerebellum, which is responsible for the ability to maintain balance.

The headache may be accompanied by dizziness in the case of the so-called vestibular migraine. However, such a diagnosis is made if dizziness and a migraine attack coincide in time. With a sharp and significant increase in blood pressure, the so-called hypertensive crisis, headaches and dizziness may also appear.Therefore, in case of headaches, it is so necessary to consult a competent and qualified doctor who will prescribe the necessary examinations and correct treatment.

For headaches, you can contact a neurologist or cephalgologist at the Pain Treatment Clinic in Saratov. Call +7 (8452) 49-30-49. We will find out what caused your symptoms and help you effectively.

90,000 reasons, symptoms, treatment in Moscow – Consultation and examination for migraines – Neurology in Clinic No. 1

Examination and treatment

Migraine is a neurological disease that is accompanied by chronic headache attacks.The intensity and frequency of attacks varies. The disease is based on angioedema. It is impossible to determine the exact cause of the seizures. The role can be played by predisposition at the genetic level, meteorological dependence, susceptibility to external stimuli and other factors.

Causes of the development of the disease

The reasons may vary and may not always be obvious. The provoking factors can be:

• Narrowing of the lumen of arterioles, which leads to a violation of the blood supply to the brain.
• Stress.
• Malfunctions of the endocrine system.
• Heredity, predisposition to chronic hypertension.
• Overwork.
• External stimuli – noise, vibration and others.
• Strong mental and emotional stress.
• In some cases, an attack can be triggered by certain foods (fish, cheese, nuts, and others).

Symptoms

The main symptom of migraine is headache.The head hurts usually on one side, the nature of the pain is pulsating. Sensations intensify when moving, changing the position of the body. The pain can always be in the same place or change location even within the same attack.

In addition to pain, signs of the disease are:

• Vomiting and nausea without relief.
• Change in sensitivity.
• Visual impairment.
• Speech impairment.
• Photophobia.
• Acute reaction to noise, sounds.

The listed symptoms occur before an attack and are a kind of precursors of it. This phenomenon is called an aura.

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Types of disease

Migraine can be of several types, depending on the nature of the manifestation:

• Migraine without aura.
• Migraine headache with aura.
• Associative migraine
• With cyclic vomiting.
• Aura without migraine.
• Chronic migraine.
• Other species.

Which doctor should I contact?

If signs of migraine appear, the patient should make an appointment with a neurologist. This specialist will help identify the cause of the pain and prescribe the appropriate treatment. Independently, the patient can only suspect that he has a disease.Often, patients confuse migraines with symptoms of other illnesses. Attempts to self-medicate can be harmful to health, while the disease progresses and develops into a more serious stage.

Diagnostics

To make a diagnosis, the patient is examined and interviewed. An accurate diagnosis can be made only if the symptoms characteristic of migraine are isolated from the manifestations of other diseases with similar symptoms. As diagnostic measures, it is carried out:

• MRI.
• Electroencephalography.
• Angiography.

With migraines, examination usually does not reveal any organic cause. The diagnosis is made on the basis of symptoms and their compliance with the criteria for defining a migraine. Evaluated:

• The nature of the pain.
• Its localization, intensity.
• Vomiting and nausea.
• The presence of photophobia.
• The nature of the aura.

Treatment

Migraine pain cannot be relieved with conventional antispasmodics and analgesics. These drugs may only work early in the attack. To relieve severe pain, combined drugs are used, the components of which can enhance each other’s action. Mainly used:

• Combination of acetylsalicylic acid and caffeine.
• Serotonin receptor agnoist preparations.
• Means for dehydration.
• Tranquilizers.
• Beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, and antidepressants may be used as prophylaxis.

Taking any drugs should be strictly dosed. Exceeding the prescribed dosage not only has a detrimental effect on the body and is life threatening, but also often increases the pain.

Get a headache diagnosis at Clinic # 1

• Neurologist’s appointment
• MRI
• Electroencephalography
• Angiography

With a one-time payment for services – 20% discount

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Make an appointment with a neurologist

Clinic №1 in Moscow offers to visit a neurologist’s consultation.The multidisciplinary medical center is equipped with the latest medical equipment for high-quality diagnostics and treatment of many diseases. Patients are offered comfort and safety, profitable service programs, and a flexible system of discounts. You can make an appointment by phone or through the form on the website.

Moscow, st. Krasnodar, house. 52, bldg. 2

+7 (495) 152-33-19

We work on weekdays and weekends from 8.00 to 21.00

Prices for consultation and appointment with a neurologist