What causes headaches? Discover the various types of headaches, their symptoms, and effective treatment options to find relief.

Understanding the Different Types of Headaches

Headaches are a common and often debilitating condition, affecting people of all ages and backgrounds. Contrary to popular belief, headaches are not a single, uniform experience, but rather a diverse range of ailments with varying causes, symptoms, and treatments. By understanding the different types of headaches, individuals can better identify the root cause of their discomfort and seek appropriate medical attention.

Tension Headaches: The Most Common Type

Tension headaches are the most prevalent type of headache, affecting adults and teenagers alike. These headaches are characterized by a mild to moderate, dull pain that may feel like a tightening or pressure around the head. Tension headaches typically do not come with additional symptoms, such as sensitivity to light or sound.

Migraine Headaches: Debilitating and Chronic

Migraine headaches, on the other hand, are often described as a throbbing, pounding pain that can last for hours or even days. In addition to the intense pain, migraines can be accompanied by other symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and sound, and even aura (visual disturbances). Migraines can be severely debilitating, causing individuals to seek refuge in a dark, quiet room.

Cluster Headaches: Agonizing and Unpredictable

Cluster headaches are considered the most severe type of headache, often described as a burning or piercing pain behind or around one eye. These headaches typically occur in clusters, with multiple attacks per day during a cluster period, which can last from a few weeks to a few months. Cluster headaches are more common in men and can be so intense that individuals often pace or move around during an attack.

Chronic Daily Headaches: A Persistent Challenge

Chronic daily headaches are a type of headache that occurs 15 days or more per month for at least 3 months. This category includes various subtypes, such as chronic migraines, chronic tension headaches, new daily persistent headaches, and hemicrania continua. Individuals with chronic daily headaches often struggle to find effective long-term relief.

Sinus Headaches: Distinguishing Symptoms

Sinus headaches are characterized by a deep, constant pain in the forehead, cheekbones, or bridge of the nose. These headaches are typically accompanied by other sinus-related symptoms, such as a runny nose, ear fullness, fever, and a swollen face. It’s important to note that true sinus headaches are caused by a sinus infection, unlike cluster or migraine headaches.

Identifying the Triggers and Causes of Headaches

Headaches can be triggered by a variety of factors, including stress, hormonal changes, lack of sleep, certain foods, and even physical activity. Understanding the underlying causes of your headaches can be crucial in finding the most effective treatment. For example, posttraumatic headaches may develop after a head injury, while exercise headaches can occur during or after physical exertion.

Accurately identifying the type of headache you experience is the first step in seeking appropriate medical care and finding relief. By working closely with a healthcare provider, individuals can explore various treatment options, such as medication, lifestyle changes, and alternative therapies, to manage their headaches and improve their quality of life.

Seeking Professional Diagnosis and Treatment

If you are experiencing persistent or severe headaches, it is important to seek medical attention. Your healthcare provider can perform a comprehensive evaluation, which may include a physical examination, medical history, and potentially imaging tests or other diagnostic procedures, to determine the underlying cause of your headaches and develop a personalized treatment plan.

By understanding the different types of headaches and their unique characteristics, individuals can take proactive steps to manage their condition and find the relief they need. Remember, headaches are a complex and diverse condition, and with the right medical guidance, you can take control of your health and regain your quality of life.

Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Medically Reviewed by Jennifer Robinson, MD on September 14, 2022

• Common Types of Headaches
• Less Common Headaches
• Rare Headaches
• What Causes Headaches?
• Getting a Diagnosis
• How Are Headaches Treated?
• What Happens After I Start Treatment?
• More

Headaches can be more complicated than most people realize. Different kinds can have their own set of symptoms, happen for unique reasons, and need different treatments.

Once you know the type of headache you have, you and your doctor can find the treatment that’s most likely to help and even try to prevent them.

There are over 150 types of headaches, but the most common types include:

Tension Headaches

Tension headaches are the most common type of headache among adults and teens. They cause mild to moderate pain and come and go over time. They usually have no other symptoms.

Migraine Headaches

Migraine headaches are often described as pounding, throbbing pain. They can last from 4 hours to 3 days and usually happen one to four times a month. Along with the pain, people have other symptoms, such as sensitivity to light, noise, or smells; nausea or vomiting; loss of appetite; and upset stomach or belly pain. When a child has a migraine, they may look pale, feel dizzy, and have blurry vision, fever, and an upset stomach. A small number of children’s migraines include digestive symptoms, like vomiting, that happen about once a month.

Cluster Headaches

These headaches are the most severe. You could have intense burning or piercing pain behind or around one eye. It can be throbbing or constant. The pain can be so bad that most people with cluster headaches can’t sit still and will often pace during an attack. On the side of the pain, the eyelid droops, the eye reddens, pupil gets smaller, or the eye makes tears. The nostril on that side runs or stuffs up.

They’re called cluster headaches because they tend to happen in groups. You might get them one to three times per day during a cluster period, which may last 2 weeks to 3 months. Each headache attack lasts 15 minutes to 3 hours. They can wake you up from sleep. The headaches may disappear completely (your doctor will call this remission) for months or years, only to come back later. Men are three to four times more likely to get them than women.

Chronic Daily Headaches

You have this type of headache 15 days or more a month for longer than 3 months. Some are short. Others last more than 4 hours. It’s usually one of the four types of primary headache:

• Chronic migraine
• Chronic tension headache
• New daily persistent headache
• Hemicrania continua

Sinus Headaches

With sinus headaches, you feel a deep and constant pain in your cheekbones, forehead, or on the bridge of your nose. They happen when cavities in your head, called sinuses, get inflamed. The pain usually comes along with other sinus symptoms, like a runny nose, fullness in the ears, fever, and a swollen face. A true sinus headache results from a sinus infection so the gunk that comes out of your nose will be yellow or green, unlike the clear discharge in cluster or migraine headaches.

Posttraumatic Headaches

Posttraumatic stress headaches usually start 2-3 days after a head injury. You’ll feel:

• A dull ache that gets worse from time to time
• Vertigo
• Lightheadedness
• Trouble concentrating
• Memory problems
• Tiring quickly
• Irritability

Headaches may last for a few months. But if it doesn’t get better within a couple of weeks, call your doctor.

Exercise Headaches

When you’re active, the muscles in your head, neck, and scalp need more blood. Your blood vessels swell to supply them. The result is a pulsing pain on both sides of your head that can last anywhere from 5 minutes to 48 hours. It usually hits while you’re active or just afterward, whether the activity is exercise or sex.

Hemicrania Continua

Hemicrania continua is a chronic, ongoing headache almost always affects the same side of your face and head. Other symptoms include:

• Pain that varies in severity
• Red or teary eyes
• Runny or stuffy nose
• Droopy eyelid
• Contracted iris
• Responds to the pain medication indomethacin
• Worse pain with physical activity
• Worse pain with drinking alcohol

Some people also notice migraine symptoms like:

• Nausea and vomiting
• Sensitivity to light and sound

There are two types:

• Chronic: You have daily headaches.
• Remitting: You have headaches for 6 months. They go away for a period of weeks or months and come back.

Hormone Headaches

You can get headaches from shifting hormone levels during your periods, pregnancy, and menopause. The hormone changes from birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy can also trigger headaches. When they happen 2 days before your period or in the first 3 days after it starts, they’re called menstrual migraines.

New Daily Persistent Headaches (NDPH)

These may start suddenly and can go on for 3 months or longer. Many people clearly remember the day their pain began.

Doctors aren’t sure why this type of headache starts. Some people find that it strikes after an infection, flu-like illness, surgery, or stressful event.

The pain tends to be moderate, but for some people, it’s severe. And it’s often hard to treat.

Symptoms can vary widely. Some are like tension headaches. Others share symptoms of migraine, such as nausea or sensitivity to light.

Call your doctor if your headache won’t go away or if it’s severe.

Rebound Headaches

You might also hear these called medication overuse headaches. If you use a prescription or over-the-counter pain reliever more than two or three times a week, or more than 10 days a month, you’re setting yourself up for more pain. When the meds wear off, the pain comes back and you have to take more to stop it. This can cause a dull, constant headache that’s often worse in the morning.

Ice Pick Headaches

These short, stabbing, intense headaches usually only last a few seconds. They might happen a few times a day at most. If you have one, see the doctor. Ice pick headaches can be a condition on their own, or they can be a symptom of something else.

Spinal Headaches

Talk to your doctor if you get a headache after you have a spinal tap, a spinal block, or an epidural. Your doctor might call it a puncture headache because these procedures involve piercing the membrane that surrounds your spinal cord. If spinal fluid leaks through the puncture site, it can cause a headache.

Thunderclap Headaches

People often call this the worst headache of your life. It comes suddenly out of nowhere and peaks quickly. Causes of thunderclap headaches include:

• Blood vessel tear, rupture, or blockage
• Head injury
• Hemorrhagic stroke from a ruptured blood vessel in your brain
• Ischemic stroke from a blocked blood vessel in your brain
• Narrowed blood vessels surrounding the brain
• Inflamed blood vessels
• Blood pressure changes in late pregnancy

Take a sudden new headache seriously. It’s often the only warning sign you get of a serious problem.

The pain you feel during a headache comes from a mix of signals between your brain, blood vessels, and nearby nerves. Specific nerves in your blood vessels and head muscles switch on and send pain signals to your brain. But it isn’t clear how these signals get turned on in the first place.

Common causes of headaches include:

• Illness. This can include infections, colds, and fevers. Headaches are also common with conditions like sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses), a throat infection, or an ear infection. In some cases, headaches can result from a blow to the head or, rarely, a sign of a more serious medical problem.
• Stress. Emotional stress and depression as well as alcohol use, skipping meals, changes in sleep patterns, and taking too much medication. Other causes include neck or back strain due to poor posture.
• Your environment, including secondhand tobacco smoke, strong smells from household chemicals or perfumes, allergens, and certain foods. Stress, pollution, noise, lighting, and weather changes are other possible triggers.
• Genetics. Headaches, especially migraine headaches, tend to run in families. Most children and teens (90%) who have migraines have other family members who get them. When both parents have a history of migraines, there is a 70% chance their child will also have them. If only one parent has a history of these headaches, the risk drops to 25%-50%.

Doctors don’t know exactly what causes migraines. One theory suggest that a problem with the electric charge through nerve cells causes a sequence of changes that cause migraines.

Too much physical activity can also trigger a migraine in adults.

Once you get your headaches diagnosed correctly, you can start the right treatment plan for your symptoms.

The first step is to talk to your doctor about your headaches. They’ll give you a physical exam and ask you about the symptoms you have and how often they happen. It’s important to be as complete as possible with these descriptions. Give your doctor a list of things that cause your headaches, things that make them worse, and what helps you feel better. You can track details in a headache diary to help your doctor diagnose your problem.

Most people don’t need special diagnostic tests. But sometimes, doctors suggest a CT scan or MRI to look for problems inside your brain that might cause your headaches. Skull X-rays won’t help. An EEG (electroencephalogram) is also unnecessary unless you’ve passed out when you had a headache.

If your headache symptoms get worse or happen more often despite treatment, ask your doctor to refer you to a headache specialist.

Your doctor may recommend different types of treatment to try. They also might suggest more testing or refer you to a headache specialist.

The type of headache treatment you need will depend on a lot of things, including the type of headache you get, how often, and its cause. Some people don’t need medical help at all. But those who do might get medications, electronic medical devices, counseling, stress management, and biofeedback. Your doctor will make a treatment plan to meet your specific needs.

Once you start a treatment program, keep track of how well it’s working. A headache diary can help you note any patterns or changes in how you feel. Know that it may take some time for you and your doctor to find the best treatment plan, so try to be patient. Be honest with them about what is and isn’t working for you.

Even though you’re getting treatment, you should still steer clear of the things you know can trigger your headaches, like foods or smells. And it’s important to stick to healthy habits that will keep you feeling good, like regular exercise, enough sleep, and a healthy diet. Also, make your scheduled follow-up appointments so your doctor can see how you’re doing and make changes in the treatment program if you need them. 

Top Picks

Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Medically Reviewed by Jennifer Robinson, MD on September 14, 2022

• Common Types of Headaches
• Less Common Headaches
• Rare Headaches
• What Causes Headaches?
• Getting a Diagnosis
• How Are Headaches Treated?
• What Happens After I Start Treatment?
• More

Headaches can be more complicated than most people realize. Different kinds can have their own set of symptoms, happen for unique reasons, and need different treatments.

Once you know the type of headache you have, you and your doctor can find the treatment that’s most likely to help and even try to prevent them.

There are over 150 types of headaches, but the most common types include:

Tension Headaches

Tension headaches are the most common type of headache among adults and teens. They cause mild to moderate pain and come and go over time. They usually have no other symptoms.

Migraine Headaches

Migraine headaches are often described as pounding, throbbing pain. They can last from 4 hours to 3 days and usually happen one to four times a month. Along with the pain, people have other symptoms, such as sensitivity to light, noise, or smells; nausea or vomiting; loss of appetite; and upset stomach or belly pain. When a child has a migraine, they may look pale, feel dizzy, and have blurry vision, fever, and an upset stomach. A small number of children’s migraines include digestive symptoms, like vomiting, that happen about once a month.

Cluster Headaches

These headaches are the most severe. You could have intense burning or piercing pain behind or around one eye. It can be throbbing or constant. The pain can be so bad that most people with cluster headaches can’t sit still and will often pace during an attack. On the side of the pain, the eyelid droops, the eye reddens, pupil gets smaller, or the eye makes tears. The nostril on that side runs or stuffs up.

They’re called cluster headaches because they tend to happen in groups. You might get them one to three times per day during a cluster period, which may last 2 weeks to 3 months. Each headache attack lasts 15 minutes to 3 hours. They can wake you up from sleep. The headaches may disappear completely (your doctor will call this remission) for months or years, only to come back later. Men are three to four times more likely to get them than women.

Chronic Daily Headaches

You have this type of headache 15 days or more a month for longer than 3 months. Some are short. Others last more than 4 hours. It’s usually one of the four types of primary headache:

• Chronic migraine
• Chronic tension headache
• New daily persistent headache
• Hemicrania continua

Sinus Headaches

With sinus headaches, you feel a deep and constant pain in your cheekbones, forehead, or on the bridge of your nose. They happen when cavities in your head, called sinuses, get inflamed. The pain usually comes along with other sinus symptoms, like a runny nose, fullness in the ears, fever, and a swollen face. A true sinus headache results from a sinus infection so the gunk that comes out of your nose will be yellow or green, unlike the clear discharge in cluster or migraine headaches.

Posttraumatic Headaches

Posttraumatic stress headaches usually start 2-3 days after a head injury. You’ll feel:

• A dull ache that gets worse from time to time
• Vertigo
• Lightheadedness
• Trouble concentrating
• Memory problems
• Tiring quickly
• Irritability

Headaches may last for a few months. But if it doesn’t get better within a couple of weeks, call your doctor.

Exercise Headaches

When you’re active, the muscles in your head, neck, and scalp need more blood. Your blood vessels swell to supply them. The result is a pulsing pain on both sides of your head that can last anywhere from 5 minutes to 48 hours. It usually hits while you’re active or just afterward, whether the activity is exercise or sex.

Hemicrania Continua

Hemicrania continua is a chronic, ongoing headache almost always affects the same side of your face and head. Other symptoms include:

• Pain that varies in severity
• Red or teary eyes
• Runny or stuffy nose
• Droopy eyelid
• Contracted iris
• Responds to the pain medication indomethacin
• Worse pain with physical activity
• Worse pain with drinking alcohol

Some people also notice migraine symptoms like:

• Nausea and vomiting
• Sensitivity to light and sound

There are two types:

• Chronic: You have daily headaches.
• Remitting: You have headaches for 6 months. They go away for a period of weeks or months and come back.

Hormone Headaches

You can get headaches from shifting hormone levels during your periods, pregnancy, and menopause. The hormone changes from birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy can also trigger headaches. When they happen 2 days before your period or in the first 3 days after it starts, they’re called menstrual migraines.

New Daily Persistent Headaches (NDPH)

These may start suddenly and can go on for 3 months or longer. Many people clearly remember the day their pain began.

Doctors aren’t sure why this type of headache starts. Some people find that it strikes after an infection, flu-like illness, surgery, or stressful event.

The pain tends to be moderate, but for some people, it’s severe. And it’s often hard to treat.

Symptoms can vary widely. Some are like tension headaches. Others share symptoms of migraine, such as nausea or sensitivity to light.

Call your doctor if your headache won’t go away or if it’s severe.

Rebound Headaches

You might also hear these called medication overuse headaches. If you use a prescription or over-the-counter pain reliever more than two or three times a week, or more than 10 days a month, you’re setting yourself up for more pain. When the meds wear off, the pain comes back and you have to take more to stop it. This can cause a dull, constant headache that’s often worse in the morning.

Ice Pick Headaches

These short, stabbing, intense headaches usually only last a few seconds. They might happen a few times a day at most. If you have one, see the doctor. Ice pick headaches can be a condition on their own, or they can be a symptom of something else.

Spinal Headaches

Talk to your doctor if you get a headache after you have a spinal tap, a spinal block, or an epidural. Your doctor might call it a puncture headache because these procedures involve piercing the membrane that surrounds your spinal cord. If spinal fluid leaks through the puncture site, it can cause a headache.

Thunderclap Headaches

People often call this the worst headache of your life. It comes suddenly out of nowhere and peaks quickly. Causes of thunderclap headaches include:

• Blood vessel tear, rupture, or blockage
• Head injury
• Hemorrhagic stroke from a ruptured blood vessel in your brain
• Ischemic stroke from a blocked blood vessel in your brain
• Narrowed blood vessels surrounding the brain
• Inflamed blood vessels
• Blood pressure changes in late pregnancy

Take a sudden new headache seriously. It’s often the only warning sign you get of a serious problem.

The pain you feel during a headache comes from a mix of signals between your brain, blood vessels, and nearby nerves. Specific nerves in your blood vessels and head muscles switch on and send pain signals to your brain. But it isn’t clear how these signals get turned on in the first place.

Common causes of headaches include:

• Illness. This can include infections, colds, and fevers. Headaches are also common with conditions like sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses), a throat infection, or an ear infection. In some cases, headaches can result from a blow to the head or, rarely, a sign of a more serious medical problem.
• Stress. Emotional stress and depression as well as alcohol use, skipping meals, changes in sleep patterns, and taking too much medication. Other causes include neck or back strain due to poor posture.
• Your environment, including secondhand tobacco smoke, strong smells from household chemicals or perfumes, allergens, and certain foods. Stress, pollution, noise, lighting, and weather changes are other possible triggers.
• Genetics. Headaches, especially migraine headaches, tend to run in families. Most children and teens (90%) who have migraines have other family members who get them. When both parents have a history of migraines, there is a 70% chance their child will also have them. If only one parent has a history of these headaches, the risk drops to 25%-50%.

Doctors don’t know exactly what causes migraines. One theory suggest that a problem with the electric charge through nerve cells causes a sequence of changes that cause migraines.

Too much physical activity can also trigger a migraine in adults.

Once you get your headaches diagnosed correctly, you can start the right treatment plan for your symptoms.

The first step is to talk to your doctor about your headaches. They’ll give you a physical exam and ask you about the symptoms you have and how often they happen. It’s important to be as complete as possible with these descriptions. Give your doctor a list of things that cause your headaches, things that make them worse, and what helps you feel better. You can track details in a headache diary to help your doctor diagnose your problem.

Most people don’t need special diagnostic tests. But sometimes, doctors suggest a CT scan or MRI to look for problems inside your brain that might cause your headaches. Skull X-rays won’t help. An EEG (electroencephalogram) is also unnecessary unless you’ve passed out when you had a headache.

If your headache symptoms get worse or happen more often despite treatment, ask your doctor to refer you to a headache specialist.

Your doctor may recommend different types of treatment to try. They also might suggest more testing or refer you to a headache specialist.

The type of headache treatment you need will depend on a lot of things, including the type of headache you get, how often, and its cause. Some people don’t need medical help at all. But those who do might get medications, electronic medical devices, counseling, stress management, and biofeedback. Your doctor will make a treatment plan to meet your specific needs.

Once you start a treatment program, keep track of how well it’s working. A headache diary can help you note any patterns or changes in how you feel. Know that it may take some time for you and your doctor to find the best treatment plan, so try to be patient. Be honest with them about what is and isn’t working for you.

Even though you’re getting treatment, you should still steer clear of the things you know can trigger your headaches, like foods or smells. And it’s important to stick to healthy habits that will keep you feeling good, like regular exercise, enough sleep, and a healthy diet. Also, make your scheduled follow-up appointments so your doctor can see how you’re doing and make changes in the treatment program if you need them. 

Top Picks

What is a headache?

• Headache is one of the ten most common causes of disability.

  Surprisingly, only 10% of headaches are caused by a serious illness. In this case, it is classified as a “secondary headache”.

  In 90% of cases, headache is not a symptom of a disease (for example, brain damage). It does not threaten life, but worsens its quality, constantly reminds of itself, and for some it becomes unbearable. Pain significantly impairs the quality of life and interferes with social activity.

  When a patient complains of a headache, the doctor must first of all determine whether this type of headache is a manifestation of any disease, or whether it is independent (primary) in nature.

  The tactics of treatment, respectively, will be completely different: the treatment of the underlying disease that causes headache, or the management of a patient with a primary form of headache, requiring an integrated approach with the use of drugs, exercise therapy, manual therapy methods, physiotherapy and psychological counseling. 9Migraine tingling/tingling in the limbs. A person does not tolerate bright light and loud sounds. The tendency to migraine is inherited.

  • Tension headache.

  More often bilateral – forehead, temples or occiput, pressing, moderate or severe, without vomiting. HDN appears due to emotional or physical stress.

  • Cluster pain.

  Unbearable unilateral pain in the region of the temple or eye. The attack lasts from 15 minutes to several hours. There may be redness of the eye, lacrimation, nasal congestion, swelling of the face. During an exacerbation, the frequency is from 1 to 8 attacks of headache per day.

  The three main types of primary (independent) headaches are treatable, leading, if not to complete disappearance, then to a significant reduction in it, which will allow you to live a full life and not “sit on pills”.

• Causes of secondary headaches

  • Head and/or neck trauma.
  • Damage to the vessels of the brain and neck.
  • Non-vascular intracranial lesions (tumors).
  • Taking or withdrawing various substances.
  • Infection.
  • Arterial hypertension.
  • Pathology of the structures of the skull and neck (bones, joints, oral cavity, teeth, sinuses).
  • Mental illness.

• Dangerous symptoms requiring immediate medical attention!

  • Acute headache that comes on suddenly and resembles a “blow on the head”. May be a symptom of subarachnoid hemorrhage, stroke.
  • If, along with a headache, the temperature rises, there are pains in the muscles of the neck, fear of light. These are signs of meningitis.
  • Headache accompanied by weakness in the arms or legs, disturbance of gait, speech, convulsions or loss of consciousness.
  • Headache first occurring after age 50.
  • Headache that worsens with a change in posture, coughing, sneezing – may be a manifestation of increased intracranial pressure, tumor.

Headache – “Chaika Clinics”

Almost every person has experienced a headache in his life. Sometimes it is a mild pain that goes away on its own and does not cause much discomfort. But often it develops into severe pain, accompanied by various symptoms – nausea, increased sensitivity to sound or light, numbness of the face or hand, visual impairment. How to understand when a headache is “benign” and when it is a sign of a serious pathology and requires an early visit to a doctor?

Causes of headaches

Today, more than two hundred causes are known that can cause headaches. All of them are divided into two large groups – primary and secondary headaches.

Primary headaches are independent non-life-threatening neurological diseases, the main manifestation of which is pain in the head. More than 96% of all primary headaches are migraine and tension headache. Much less common are cluster headache and chronic paroxysmal hemicrania.

Secondary headaches are situations in which pain is a sign of some organic or infectious pathology. About 60% of all secondary headaches are due to fever in acute respiratory infections and inflammation of the paranasal sinuses (sinusitis). And very rarely (less than 1%), a headache can be a manifestation of a serious neurological pathology – a brain tumor, intracranial hypertension, subarachnoid hemorrhage, meningitis.

Diagnosis

For the correct diagnosis of headaches, the most significant is a detailed analysis of complaints. It is on the basis of complaints and data revealed during a general and neurological examination that, in most cases, a diagnosis can be made even at the first appointment. Only if a secondary nature of pain is suspected, a diagnostic search is required using additional examination methods (MRI, ultrasound, laboratory diagnostics, and others).

How to prepare for a visit

Before taking it, it is advisable to analyze your pain sensations and prepare for the fact that the doctor will find out the answers to the following questions:

• How long do headaches last (days, months, years)?
• How often does your head hurt (how many times a week, month or year)?
• How bad does your head hurt?
• What can worsen or relieve a headache?
• Under what circumstances does a headache occur (at work, while working at a computer, at home, after exercise, when the weather changes, when you are hungry, etc.)?
• What other complaints accompany the headache (photophobia, sound phobia, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, blurred vision, changes in blood pressure, pain in the cervical region, numbness, etc.)?
• Where is the headache localized (forehead, temple, back of the head or the whole head hurts)?
• How does the head hurt (pressure, pulsate, burst, compress, etc. )?

Answering at least some of the questions will allow the doctor to make significant progress in understanding the causes of pain. In addition, before visiting the doctor, it is advisable to make a list of medications that you are taking, as well as a list of all questions that interest you. Do not be afraid to ask questions to the doctor, this will allow you to better understand the problem and find the best ways to overcome it. It has been proven that it is better to solve a problem in a discussion with a specialist than on forums on the Internet.

When to see a doctor

Recently, it is a common phenomenon that a person complaining of a headache decides to have an MRI scan of the brain and cervical region on their own. In the vast majority of cases, he receives a conclusion that no organic pathology has been identified. In this case, the patient is left with headaches, does not make any progress in understanding the causes of the problem and still does not know how to cope with it.