Cause of HeadacheWhether you suffer from headaches yourself or you know or are close to someone else who does on this site you will learn about different types of migraines and cause of headache, the triggers that set them off and the migraine headache treatments available for you to best deal with them. Here you will find not only information about the causes of headaches but also tips and suggestions that will make coping with and managing headaches easier. What exactly then is a headache? What are the migraine headache symptoms? Pain in your head or upper neck is defined as a headache. This pain can range in intensity from just the merest hint of an ache to a full blown throbing pain that forces you to your bed in a darkened room where you lie in complete silence waiting for it to pass, which could be several days. The International Headache Society has determined there are three major categories of headaches:
Cause Of Headache - Different Types Of Headache
Included in the primary category are several types of migraines, tension headaches and cluster headaches. There are other types of headaches as well but they are much less common. Of all of these the symptoms of tension headaches are by far the most common. It is estimated that almost 90% of adults have either experienced or will in the future suffer from a tension headache. Women are more affected than men. Next on the list comes the migraine headache. Migraines are thought to affect almost 30 million Americans and once again it is the women who are most affected outnumbering the men by 3 to 1. The cluster headache is much less common and only affects approximately one person in a thousand. With these headaches the tables are turned and 5 times more men are likely to suffer from this particular variety than women. They are called "cluster" because they come in spells and are very painful. Those who are affected cannot sit still and will often literally bang their head against the wall. Whilst primary headaches affect your quality of life they are not life or death afflications. Suffering from them does not threaten your life. Secondary headaches on the other hand can indeed be life threatening. These headaches are the results or symptoms of an underlying cause such as a brain tumour, menningitis and the like. As a result they need to be dealt with and treatment started very quickly. The third group of headaches are a result of inflamed nerves in your head and neck which can affect your face as well as your head.
Cause Of Headache - Different Causes Of Headache
Typically the definitive cause of headache is unkown or, at best, uncertain for the majority of primary category headaches. Stress, both physical and emotional is known to play a big part in the onset of tension headaches but the exact cause of the headache itself is unknown. Similarly the cause of headache in respect of cluster type headaches is not clear although it is thought that for some unknown reason certain parts of the brain stop working properly. It is thought the pain may come from either the nearby blood vessels dilating or from the nerves feeding these blood vessels Migraines on the other hand are caused by the blood vessel in your head becoming dilated although the reason for this dilation is also not clear. |