Cy-Fair
Headache & Neurological Clinic
FAQs - Types of Headaches
- Tension-Type Headache
Chronic Tension-Type Headache
Episodic Headaches
Chronic Headache - Migraine Headache: Description
- Cluster Headache: Description
- Hormone Headache: Background
- Rebound Headache
- Sinus Headache
- Organic
Other Types of Headache
1. Chronic Tension-Type Headache: Description
Chronic tension-type headaches may be the result of stress or fatigue, but more than likely, they can be attributed to physical problems, psychological issues, or depression.
Chronic tension-type headaches affect both men and women, but women do have a greater incidence of them. This prevalence among women, however, may be due to the fact that women seek medical help and report headaches more frequently than men.
Nearly all of us have had a tension-type headache, but most of us believe we can handle it. We take an over-the-
counter analgesic and before we know it, the headache has disappeared. Millions, however, encounter
headaches that are so painful, debilitating or frequent that we seem to spend our days waiting for "it" to attack and then to retreat.
Physicians describe two tension-type headaches: episodic and chronic.
Episodic Headaches
Generally, episodic headaches occur randomly and are often the result of temporary stress, anxiety, fatigue or anger. They are what most of us consider "tension-type" headaches.
Symptoms include soreness in your temples, a tightening band-like sensation around your head (a "vice-like" ache), a pulling feeling, pressure sensations, and contracting head and neck muscles. This is why physicians may refer to tension-type headaches as "muscle contraction" headaches. Your symptoms can also include a tightness in your neck (as if your "head and neck were in a cast"); only certain positions seem to provide relief. The headache surfaces in your forehead, temples or the back of your head and neck.
If you can ease or eliminate your headache by taking an over-the-counter (OTC) medication -- which brings relief in about one to two hours -- then yours are probably episodic headaches. While you may have several of these tension type headaches during a month, you are probably managing them yourself with an analgesic, a long walk or, if possible, a good night's sleep.
If, however, you find that you are taking medication daily or almost daily, then you should see your physician because yours may be chronic tension-type headaches. Or, you may be experiencing rebound headaches, which are medication-induced and both aggravate and mask other headaches.
Chronic Headache
A tension-type headache that occurs just about every day, and may have been going on for months, is chronic. It is the frequency that distinguishes episodic from chronic headaches. If you suffer from chronic headaches, you probably have not found much relief in over-the-counter medications for a pain that seems constant and unrelenting.
That is why people who suffer from chronic headaches should ask their doctors for help. That is also why, when we discuss tension-type headaches here, we are referring to those that are chronic.
2. Migraine Headache: Description
Migraines deserve the attention they receive; one headache can put your life "on hold" for a few hours or several days. Migraine is responsible for more job absenteeism and disrupted family life than any other headache type.
According to estimates, approximately 29.5 million people in the United States suffer from migraines. Four out of five of them report a family history of migraine, but scientists are not sure if this is genetic or a family predisposition. Some experts consider migraine to be an inherited malfunction of the brains normal pain-generating system.
Women experience migraines at least three times more often than men do, and this may be due to hormonal influences. While migraines occur in childhood, they generally strike in the twenties or thirties. Is there a migraine personality? Experts do not agree on this issue, and they can only draw conclusions based on the people who actually seek their help. Many migraine sufferers however, have been described as perfectionists, highstrung, conscientious, orderly, analytical and critical. Famous migraineurs include Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Cervantes, Pascal, Nietzsche, Tchaikovsky, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Karl Marx, and George Bernard Shaw, and actor/director Lee Grant, Chicago Bulls basketball player Scottie Pippen, Denver Bronco football player Terrell Davis, golfer Fred Couples, and New York Yankee baseball player Joe Girardi.
For 70 percent of migraine sufferers, the headache is unilateral or occurring on one side. Migraine is considered a vascular headache because it is associated with changes in the size of the arteries in and outside of the brain. Prompted by biochemical changes in the brain, one of the larger nerve branches in your head triggers a chain reaction: the changes in serotonin in the blood vessels and the brain lead to shifts of blood flow, bypassing the capillaries and going through shunts to the veins. The distention of these vessels contributes to the pain of migraine. The nerves around the blood vessels release chemicals which cause a sterile inflammation eliciting pain signals into the brain.
3. Cluster Headache: Description
They are called cluster headaches because the attacks come in groups. The pain arrives with little, if any, warning. and it has been described as the most severe and intense of any headache type. It generally lasts from 30 to 45 minutes. although it might persist for several hours before it disappears. Unfortunately, it can reoccur later in the day. Most sufferers experience one to four headaches a day during a cluster period.
Cluster headaches frequently surface during the morning or late at night; the cluster cycle can last weeks or months and then can disappear for months or years. Clusters often occur during spring or autumn and, thus, are often incorrectly associated with allergies. Approximately 10 percent of the sufferers, however, experience chronic cluster headaches that occur all year long.
It is estimated that less than one percent of the population are victims of cluster headaches. and they encounter the headache somewhere between the ages of 20 and 45. More men (about five to one) than women suffer from cluster headaches.
4. Hormone Headache: Background
Although only women suffer from "hormone headache," both men's and women's headaches are prompted by
hormones.
You would not feel pain without them, because it is the hormones that induce the pain response. Actually, the headache may be protecting you or warning you of something more damaging in the same way that touching a hot stove alerts you to the heat and protects you from burning yourself.
The word hormone is derived from a Greek word that means to "set in motion." Hormones initiate and regulate many of your body's functions. For example, metabolic hormones regulate the way your body turns food into energy. Growth hormones control childhood development and maintain certain tissue structure in adults. Regulating hormones determine your femininity, masculinity and sexuality.
Hormones are manufactured and secreted by your endocrine glands, which include the pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, thymus, adrenals, pancreas, gonads and other glandular tissues located in your intestines, kidneys, lungs, heart. and blood vessels. The endocrine system works with your nervous system to keep your body in balance within a constantly changing environment.
As they interact, your endocrine and nervous systems are responsible for the thousands of automatic responses that regulate your bodily functions. They decide, for example, whether you will respond to a potential headache trigger with an actual sensation of pain.
Other Types of 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.
Sinuses are located in your forehead bone, the cheek bone on each side, and behind the bridge of your nose. When a sinus becomes inflamed, usually as the result of an allergic reaction, a tumor or an infection, the inflammation will cause a localized pain.
Sinuses are tilled with air, and their secretions must be able to drain freely into the nose. If your headache is truly caused by a sinus blockage, such as an infection, you will probably have a fever. An x-ray will confirm a sinus blockage. Your physician's treatment might include antibiotics for the infection, as well as antihistamines or decongestants.
If you do not have a true sinus headache and take decongestants, for example, they could make your headache worse.
An organic headache is the result of an abnormality in the brain or skull. It can be caused by a benign or malignant brain tumor, a brain aneurysm, hematoma, meningitis, brain abscess, brain infection, cerebral hemorrhage, or encephalitis.
Fortunately, very few headaches (less than 5 percent) are caused by tumors, and not all people with tumors experience headaches. A tumor will cause a headache if it intrudes on arterial space or increases intracranial pressure. If there is a brain tumor, the headache will probably come on suddenly and intensely. It may get progressively worse and can be aggravated by coughing or physical activity.
Tune into symptoms that could be red flags: a sudden, sharp, intense or severe pain (particularly if you never or only occasionally have a headache); sudden lack of balance or falling; confusion; inappropriate behavior; seizures; difficulty speaking. If these symptoms are left undiagnosed, they can lead to serious consequences.
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