Cause Of Headache
What we refer to as headaches may occur very frequently in various areas of the head like for example behind the head, in the upper neck or ears. In addition, headaches are not generally considered a sickness, but rather a symptom of another disease. There are many causes of headaches and these may also differ from one individual to another. Moreover, as in certain cases the treatment is difficult, it is important to rightly diagnose the cause of headache.
Before any treatment, the headache should be first categorized. There are there are numerous ways to categorize headaches although the most well known method was introduced by the International Headache Society. According to this classification method, there are three major types of headaches and each type has different causes of headaches.
Primary headaches are one of the main types of headaches and can be further categorized as tension headaches, migraine headaches and cluster headaches. In tension headaches, the major cause of headache is physical or mental stress. It is said that almost 90% of all adults would experience tension headaches during their lifetimes. Furthermore, women are more prone to tension headaches than men. Migraine headaches are also a common type of headache with nearly 12% of the US population (around 28 million people) experiences this kind of headache. Although both of these headaches are very common, cluster headaches are rather rare with affecting only 0.1% of the population. The exact cause of headache in both migraine related and cluster headaches are not presently known. None of those mentioned above however are fatal.
Although the cause of headache in primary headaches may not prove to be fatal, secondary headaches might indicate a far more dangerous situation. Secondary headaches normally occur due to underlying diseases such as brain tumors, meningitis, encephalitis and stroke. Therefore, it’s vital that you seek medical attention when your headaches are accompanied with symptoms like seizures, continuing nausea and vomiting, and vision, speech and behavior changes. There is also another type of headaches called Cranial neuralgia where the cause of headache is inflamed nerves in the head and the neck. In addition to this, facial pains and other different headaches are also incorporated into this category.
It’s very important that the you visit your physician if the headache persists in a severe manner though you might be able to get some relief in the short term through painkilling drugs like asprin or paracetamol. In addition, the painkilling drugs including paracetamol should be used in the recommended doses as an overdose may result in negative effects such as heavy liver damage which would sometimes prove to be fatal.