Types of Headaches
Tension Headaches:
Also called chronic daily headaches or chronic non-progressive headaches, tension headaches are the most common type of headaches among adults and adolescents. These muscle contraction headaches cause mild to moderate pain and come and go over a prolonged period of time. According to NHF statistics, approximately 78% of adults experience a tension-type headache at some point in their lives.
Stress is one of the most common triggers of and is often associated with tension headache.
Symptoms of headaches may include:
- The muscles between your head and neck contract for hours or days.
- You experience tightness around your neck or even feel as if your head and neck were in a cast, and only certain positions seem to provide relief. (A "stiff" neck might be symptomatic of a more serious disorder.)
- You may feel soreness, a tightening band around your head (a "vice-like" ache), a pulling, or pressure sensations.
- For most of you, the pain is continuous, annoying, but not throbbing.
- Your headache primarily occurs in your forehead, temples or the back of your head and/or neck.
Migraines:
The exact causes of migraines are unknown, although they are related to blood vessel contractions and other changes in the brain as well as inherited abnormalities in certain areas of the brain. Migraine pain is moderate to severe, often described as pounding, throbbing pain. They can last from 4 hours to 3 days and usually occur 1 to 4 times per month.
Many factors trigger migraine such as stress, environmental factors, depression, or certain medication.
According to the NHF, migraine characteristics include:
- Pain typically on one side of the head
- Pain has a pulsating or throbbing quality
- Moderate to intense pain affecting daily activities
- Attacks last four to 72 hours, sometimes longer
- Exertion such as climbing stairs makes headache worse
And is associated with at least one of the following:
- Nausea or vomiting
- Sensitivity to light or sound
Sufferers should be aware that migraine attacks come in four phases: the prodrome, the aura, the headache, and the postdrome. The prodrome occurs hours or days before the attack and the migraneur experiences sensitivity to light and sounds, mood changes, loss of appetite or certain cravings, fatigue, or constipation or diarrhea. About 20% of sufferers will then experience aura. Those with aura will endure visual disturbances such as wavy lines, dots, or flashing lights about 20 minutes to an hour before head pain. Some people will also experience tingling in their arms or face or difficulty speaking. The head pain will last anywhere from several hours to several days and is associated with the above symptoms. Finally, during the postdrome, or period after the headache, the sufferer may feel listless, weak, irritable, and/or fatigued.
The least common, although the most severe, type of primary headache, the pain of a cluster headache is intense and may be described as having a burning or piercing quality that is throbbing or constant. The headache is usually unilateral and rarely switches sides from one attack to another. You might feel the pain begin around one eye, "like a nail or knife stabbing or piercing" your eye, or as if someone "were pulling out" your eye; it may be accompanied by a tearing or bloodshot eye and a runny nose on the side of the headache. It can radiate from the eye to the forehead, temple and cheek on the same side. The pain of a cluster headache has been described as piercing, burning, throbbing, pulsating, and so excruciating that most victims cannot sit still and feel compelled to rock in a chair, walk back and forth, or bang their heads against something. Cluster headaches occur one to three times per day during a cluster period, which may last 2 weeks to 3 months. The headaches may disappear completely (go into "remission") for months or years, only to recur.
Sinus Headaches:
Sinus headaches are associated with a deep and constant pain in the cheekbones, forehead or bridge of the nose. The pain usually intensifies with sudden head movement or straining and usually occurs with other sinus symptoms, such as nasal discharge, feeling of fullness in the ears, fever, and facial swelling.
Hormone Headaches:
Headaches in women are often associated with changing hormone levels that occur during menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause. Chemically induced hormone changes, such as with birth control pills, also trigger headaches in some women.
Rebound Headache:
Over-use of medications — exceeding labeling instructions or physician's advice — can precipitate a "rebound" into another headache. This is particularly true if your medication contains caffeine, which is included in many drugs because it speeds the efficacy of the other ingredients. However, as beneficial as caffeine is in this context, if you are also drinking caffeine (coffee, tea or soft drinks), then you become more vulnerable to a rebound headache. In addition to the rebound headache, over-use can result in addiction to medications, more severe pain when they wear off, and possible serious side-effects.