HEADACHE

Types, Causes, Symptoms, Preventions and Treatments
Headache

A headache or cephalalgia is pain anywhere in the region of the head or neck. It can be a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and neck.

Headaches are one of the most common ailments; with most people experiencing a headache at some point in their life. They can affect anyone regardless of age, race and gender.

Headaches can result from a wide range of causes both benign and more serious.

Brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain as it lacks pain receptors. Rather, the pain is caused by disturbance of the pain-sensitive structures around the brain. Nine areas of the head and neck have these pain-sensitive structures, which are the cranium (the periosteum of the skull), muscles, nerves, arteries and veins, subcutaneous tissues, eyes, ears, sinuses and mucous membranes.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that around 47% of adults worldwide will have experienced a headache within the last year.

As well as being symptoms of other conditions, headache disorders can lead to the development of other illnesses. Depression is three times more common in individuals with severe headaches than in healthy people.

Although there are more than 200 types of headaches, they are broadly classified as "primary" or "secondary” Some are innocuous while some are detrimental.

Types of Headaches

Primary Headaches
Primary headaches are benignant, repetitive headaches not caused by underlying disease or structural problems.

Causes

A primary headache is caused by problems with or overactivity of pain-sensitive structures in your head. A primary headache isn't a symptom of an underlying disease. Some people may carry genes that make them more likely to develop such headaches.

Types of primary headaches include:

• Cluster Headaches: short episodes (15–180 minutes) of severe pain, usually around one eye, with autonomic symptoms (tearing, red eye, nasal congestion) which occur at the same time every day. Cluster headaches can be treated with triptans and prevented with prednisone, ergotamine or lithium.
• Trigeminal Neuralgia: shooting face pain
• Hemicrania Continua: continuous unilateral pain with episodes of severe pain. Hemicrania continua can be relieved by the medication indomethacin.
• Primary stabbing headache: recurrent episodes of stabbing "ice pick pain" or "jabs and jolts" for 1 second to several minutes without autonomic symptoms (tearing, red eye, nasal congestion). These headaches can be treated with indomethacin.
• Primary cough headache: starts suddenly and lasts for several minutes after coughing, sneezing or straining (anything that may increase pressure in the head). Serious etiologies(see secondary headaches red flag section) must be ruled out before a diagnosis of "benign" primary cough headache can be made.
• Primary exertional headache: throbbing, pulsatile pain which starts during or after exercising, lasting for 5 minutes to 24 hours. The mechanism behind these headaches is unclear, possibly due to straining causing veins in the head to dilate, causing pain. These headaches can be prevented by not exercising too strenuously and can be treated with medications such as indomethacin.
• Primary Sex Headache: dull, bilateral headache that starts during sexual activity and becomes much worse during orgasm. These headaches are thought to be due to lower pressure in the head during sex. It is important to realize that headaches that begin during orgasm may be due to a subarachnoid hemorrhage, so serious causes must be ruled out first. These headaches are treated by advising the person to stop sex if they develop a headache. Medications such as propranolol and diltiazem can also be helpful.
• Hypnic headache: moderate-severe headache that starts a few hours after falling asleep and lasts 15–30 minutes. The headache may recur several times during night. Hypnic headaches are usually in older women. They may be treated with lithium.

To be continue............