Types Of Headaches

Headache is one of the most common ailments that a human body experiences. There are varied causes of headaches, which can occur to anyone, anytime. However, you need to know that no headache is caused without a specific reason. If headaches become a regular phenomenon, there is enough cause to worry about and visit a doctor, who would not only enlighten you about the types of headaches that can occur as well as suggest you proper remedies that would cure you of the pain. The few common causes of headaches comprise of the factors such as tension, migraine, head injury and sinusitis. The new age discovery of advanced medications and non-drug therapies has made enormous progress in combating headaches. This article deals with the different types of headaches, which can affect people of every age from time to time.

 

This is the most commonly experienced form of headache. This seemingly “no cause of worry” form of headache may have causes and symptoms which are complicated and also unique in its kind. There are two categories of tension-type headaches. Episodic headache occurs randomly and results from temporary stress, anxiety, fatigue or anger, and can be cured within 1-2 hours of time by taking an over-the-counter medication. You experience an intense pain in your temples, a deep pulling feeling, and contracting sensation of the head as well as neck muscles. Your forehead, temples and the back of your head and neck are the main areas of ache. If you happen to take analgesics quite too often in a month, it is advisable to consult a physician, since this might be the symptom of chronic tension-type headache. A chronic headache occurs almost every other day and goes on for several months at a stretch. This type of headache seldom finds much relief through over-the-counter medications and the pain is usually constant.

The basic cause behind this form of headache is yet to be traced. While few scientists consider it to be genetical, others consider it to be an inherited malfunctioning of the pain-generating system of the brain. It is usually seen that migraine occurs three times more often among women than men and generally hits people in their twenties or thirties. The term migraine has been derived from the word “hemicrania”, which means “half of the head”. The name itself explains one of the basic characteristics of migraine, wherein the headache usually occurs on one side. It is said to be a vascular headache since during its occurrence, the size of arteries inside and outside the brain is found to change. The migraine occurs due to the trigger of a chain of biochemical reactions in the brain. When the level of a chemical called serotonin changes in the brain, the blood flows through shunts and then to the veins, instead of its usual path of capillaries, thus contributing to a migraine attack.

 

This is said to be the most intense form of headache and the attacks arrive in groups. Occurring for 30-35 minutes at one go usually, there are chances of reoccurrence later in the day. In general, a person experiences one to four bouts of headaches in a single day. The headache usually occurs early in the morning or late at night. Lasting for weeks or months, it can disappear for months or even years. Since this form of headache mainly occurs during spring or autumn, it is associated with allergies. Unfortunately, some experience chronic cluster headaches all through the year. More commonly seen among men than women, a person encounters cluster headache between the ages of 20 and 45.

 

This type of a headache is mainly caused due to the functioning of the hormones. The sufferer is likely to feel the pain induced by the hormones in the form of a headache. Though only women are said to suffer from hormonal headache, some men can also suffer from this type of a headache. There are several types of hormonal headaches. Pre-menstrual migraine occurs before the menstruation begins in a female and is often accompanied by fatigue, acne, joint pain, decreased urination and constipation. Menstrual migraines are caused by the hormone called estrogen, which regulates the menstrual cycle in a female body. The pain is quite similar to a migraine as it even causes a one-sided pain in the forehead, accompanied with a nauseating sensation and sensitivity to extreme light and sound. Although pregnancy is said to protect women against migraines because of the constant inflow of hormones like estrogen and progesterone, studies show that 19 percent of women are seen to suffer from pregnancy migraine as well. This mainly occurs due to individual differences in a woman’s estrogen receptors.