Any area of the head might experience a headache. One or both sides of the head may have headaches, as well as cause of headache that are localised, radiate throughout the head from a single area, or feel like a vice.
A headache may feel like a dull ache, a sharp pain, or a throbbing agony. The duration of headaches may range from a few minutes to many days, and they might start slowly or abruptly.
Causes
Your doctor can identify the source of your headache and prescribe the best course of action based on your symptoms. Most cause of headaches aren’t caused by a severe sickness, but some may be caused by a condition that needs immediate medical attention because it poses a danger to life.
General Headache Classifications Are As Follows:
Initial headaches
Primary cause of headache are brought on by overactive or dysfunctional pain-sensitive brain tissue. A main headache is not a sign of a serious condition.
Primary headaches may be caused by chemical activity in the brain, in the nerves or blood vessels surrounding the skull, in the head and neck muscles, or by a combination of these sources. Additionally, some individuals may have genes that increase their risk of getting these cause of headache.
The most common main headaches include:
- Cluster headache
- Migraine
- Tension headache
- Migraine with aura
- Symptoms of paroxysmal hemicrania and cluster headache are examples of trigeminal autonomic cephalalgia (TAC)
A few less frequent but commonly recognised kinds of primary headache include the following. These headaches have distinctive characteristics like an unusually long duration or discomfort that is brought on by a certain activity.
Despite being often seen as primary, each might be a sign of a more serious condition. They consist of:
- Chronic everyday headaches (such as hemicranias continua, chronic migraine, or chronic tension-type headache)
- Coughing headaches
- Headaches after exercise
- Male headaches
Some lifestyle factors, such as the following, might cause some main headaches:
- Red wine in particular, and alcohol
- Certain meals, such nitrate-containing processed meats,
- Sleep patterns changing or sleeping less
- Bad posture
- Missing meals
- Stress
Secondary Headaches
A secondary headache is a sign of a condition that might cause the head’s pain receptors to fire. Secondary headaches may be brought on by a wide range of diseases, all of variable severity.
Secondary headaches might have many causes, including:
- Chronic sinusitis
- Carotid or vertebral dissections that cause arterial tears
- Apart from a stroke, a blood clot (venous thrombosis) may form within the brain.
- Brain hemorrhage
- AVM (arteriovenous malformation) in the brain
- Brain cancer
- Poisoning by carbon monoxide
- Chiari malformation, a structural issue near the skull base
- Concussion
- 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Dehydration (when the body lacks the necessary amounts of water and other fluids to function correctly)
- Dental issues
- Infection of the middle ear
- Encephalitis (inflammation of the brain)
- Giant cell arteritis, an infection of the artery walls
- (Acute angle closure glaucoma) Glaucoma
- Hangovers
- Hypertension, or high blood pressure
- Flu and other febrile (fever) disorders, such as influenza
- Hemorrhage within the skull
- Medications for other afflictions
- Meningitis
- MSG, or monosodium glutamate
- Overuse of painkillers
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-concussion syndrome, or persistent post-concussive symptoms
- Pressure from restrictive equipment, such a helmet or goggles
- Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (pseudotumor cerebri)
- Stroke
- Toxoplasmosis
- Trigeminal neuralgia (together with other neuralgias, all of which involve irritated nerves relating the face and the brain)
Following are a few examples of secondary headaches:
- Headaches from drug misuse (resulting from excessive usage of painkillers)
- Sinus headaches (resulting from swelling and obstruction in the sinus cavities)
- Headaches stemming from the spine (induced by low cerebrospinal fluid pressure or volume, maybe as a consequence of a spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leak, a spinal tap, or spinal anesthesia)
- Thunderclap headaches (a spectrum of illnesses characterized by abrupt, intense headaches that have a variety of origins)
When To See A Doctor
A headache may be a sign of a severe illness like encephalitis, meningitis, or stroke.
If you get the worst headache of your life, a sudden, severe headache, or a headache that is accompanied by any of the following, go to a hospital emergency room or dial 911 or your local emergency number.
- Confusion or difficulty comprehending speech
- Fainting
- More than or equal to 102–104 F (39–40 C) high fever
- Your body experiences numbness, weakness, or paralysis on one side.
- Rigid neck
- Having trouble speaking and seeing
- Difficulty walking
- Vomiting or nausea (if not obviously caused by the virus or a hangover)
Schedule A Medical Appointment
Consult a physician if you get headaches that:
- More often than normal
- A greater degree than typical
- Exacerbate or worsen when prescribed over-the-counter medications
- Prevent you from going to bed, working, or engaging in daily activities
- Cause you anxiety, and you want to discover treatments that can help you get a better handle on them