Headaches

What are Headaches?

Headache is a common pain. It can happen at any age and can often be the result of your lifestyle. There are several common types of headache as follows:

Tension Headache

Stress, worry and anxiety can cause pain at the back of your neck or across the top of your forehead. It can feel like a band around your head or a weight on top of your head. Working in the same position for many hours each day may make a tension headache worse and last longer.

Migraine

Migraine pain commonly occurs on one side of the head and when severe, may throb in time with your pulse. If your headache is a migraine, you may not be able to bear light, noise or strong smells. You may also feel sick and sometimes vomit. Some people may have warning signs before a migraine starts, such as flashing lights or numbness and tingling in their arms, legs or face.

Cluster Headache

Severe pain occurs behind one eye or on one half of the head, with redness and watering of the eye and blockage of the nostril on that side. It can last for 10 minutes to two hours and may occur again several times in 24 hours, often waking the person from sleep. These headaches can occur in bouts, usually lasting for weeks or months and are separated by pain free periods of months or years.

Sinus Headache

Blocked sinuses cause pain above the eyebrows, between the eyes and in the cheekbones. The pain is worse when waking up or bending over.

Causes of Headache

Some people find that certain things trigger their headaches. Triggers aren’t the same for everyone and they can be different for the same person at different times.

Triggers include

• Stress, tension • Hormonal changes such as periods, pregnancy, the oral contraceptive pill, hormone replacement therapy • Coffee withdrawal • Too much alcohol • Fasting, missing meals • Too little or too much sleep • Glare or cold, windy weather • Some medicines • Stuffy, smoke filled rooms.

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