Posts Tagged ‘Cluster Headaches’

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Help your Doctor Help you With your Headache

January 2nd, 2010

Every single year, almost 75% of American suffer with headaches. They are often scared that they may have a brain tumor or a stroke.

Benign (harmless) headaches can sometimes be just as severe as those from a more sinister cause. The first concern of the Doctor is to make sure what is causing your headache. To do this, he relys on the person’s descriptions of the symptoms, any pattern that the headaches may follow and any possible triggers.

So what sort of things will your Doctor be looking at? If you are planning to visit your Doctor because of headaches, this list will be a useful check point for you. Having the answers to these questions will help both you and your Doctor.

How long have these headaches been going on?

As a general rule, the longer you have been suffering a similar sort of headache the more likely it is to be harmless (however debilitating or painful). Sufferers with migraine will often have started having them as a child, teen or young adult. Migraine may finish when a woman begins her menopause but they can also start at that time, too. Tension headaches can start at any time.

Does anyone else in your family suffer with headaches? Migraines can often run in families but cluster headaches don’t.

How frequently do you suffer with these headaches?

Your doctor will want to you to tell him how many times a day, month or year you get headaches. This will help to decide whether the treatment should be:

Prophylactic (preventing the headaches from starting)

Abortive (trying to stop a headache attack that is already happening)

Has the pattern of your headaches changed or are you getting them more often?

Many people struggle on with headaches for months or even years. What finally brings them to the Doctor is a change in that pattern or the headaches becoming more severe. The Doctor will want to know what is causing your headache and check out the things that might be making it worse.

When you have a headache, where is the pain located?

The location will help your Doctor to diagnose what type your headache is. For instance:

Migraine: anywhere in the head but most common in the temple area.

Tension headaches: Felt on one or both sides. May be in the front. Commonly most intense in the neck, shoulder and back of the head.

Cluster headaches: always on one side usually around the eye.

Try and describe the pain for me?

Again, this will help with the diagnosis:

Migraine: commonly throbbing or pulsating

Tension headache: dull, dragging ache often tight band

Cluster headaches: Deep and intensely painful as if something sharp and hot is being pushed into the eye

Do you have any other symptoms with the headache?

Migraine: losing appetite, feeling sick, being sick, dislike of light and/ or noise

Tension headaches: stiff or sore neck, grinding teeth at night, clenched jaw

Cluster headaches: watering eye, blocked nose

How long does the headache last?

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Migraine: commonly less than 24 hours. Or may be as short as 20 minutes or go on for weeks although less common. Usually a pain-free period between migraines.

Tension headache: Can last for days, weeks and rarely, years.

Cluster headache: Very severe, but short. Usually 30-90 minutes, repeated 2-6 times during a ’bout’

Do your headaches always seem to be at a particular time?

Migraine: The sufferer often wakes up with one. May happen more at weekends. Women with menstrual migraine may have them a few days before their period.

Tension headaches: Commonly during stressful times.

Cluster headaches: Often wake the person from a deep sleep at night.

Have you or your family noticed your behavior or mood changing because of the headaches?

Migraine: Person can become withdrawn, easily irritated and want to be on their own.

Tension headaches: Happy to receive care and attention.

Cluster headaches: The person may pace up and down, hold their head or rock during an attack.

Headache sufferers are at a higher risk of depression due to their condition (or sometimes the depression causes the condition).

Signs of depression that the Doctor is looking for are:

Poor sleeping either too much or too little

Feeling tired all the time

Loss of appetite

Loss of interest in sex

Do you get any warning signs that a headache is going to start?

15% of all migraine sufferers may get a warning in the form of an ‘aura’. This is often seeing dazzling lights or zig-zag lines.

Numbness and/or noticing a distinctive odor are also auras.

If you have an aura that carries on after your headache has finished, make sure you tell the Doctor.

Have you noticed anything particular triggering your headaches?

Headaches and migraines can have many triggers. If you know what yours are, that’s fine. If not, it may help to keep a headache diary which includes what you have eaten and done during that day. This will help the Doctor to find out what is causing your headache and what type it is.

Knowing the answers to these questions will help your doctor determine the typr of headasche you have and the best way to combat the pain.



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Chiropractic and Headaches

November 18th, 2009

Headache is defined as pain in the head or upper neck and has many causes. The International Headaches Society in 2007 placed headaches in three major categories

1. Primary

2. Secondary

3. Cranial neuralgias, facial pains and other headaches.

 

Primary headaches include migraine, tension and cluster headaches as well as a variety of less common types of headaches. Tension headaches are by far the most common type of headaches. 90% of the population experience these at some time or another. Women are more prone to these than men.

A tension headache is often felt as a pain in the head or upper neck with either a constant dull pain or a more severe throbbing pain. At the same time, tension and pain is felt in the upper back muscles and neck muscles, as well as a tightness of the actual muscles of the skull.

Migraines are the next most common types of headaches. They are often a mystery as they can occur at any time and are seemingly unrelated to tension. A migraine sufferer will describe visual disturbances such as a flickering of their vision at the sides or an aura which they know is a  prelude to a migraine attack.

Following the flickering of their eyesight can come blurred vision and an increased sensitivity to bright light. They can also experience nausea and vomiting. These patients can often only find help by lying down in a quiet darkened room until the migraine subsides.They often feel “washed out” for 24 hours following such an attack. 

Cranial neurology is a classification which includes causes emanating from the brain. These are extremely serious and life threatening and may include such things as meningitis , encephalitis and brain tumours. Headaches which are not easily relieved by simple analgesics such as paracetamol or aspirin should be investigated by a medical practitioner. Such headaches might be accompanied by loss of vision, loss of smell or other neurological deficits.

Such symptoms must not be ignored at any cost. Facial pain is another category of headache. It can present as a burning or aching pain and can often have many

causes includinng dental problems such as infected teeth, and dental abcesses of the jaw.

Infected sinuses can refer pain to the face as the nerves that are present in the sinus regions have branches in the face. Neck and jaw muscles can refer pain to the face when these muscles have become tense and overly contracted or in spasm – the common TMJ syndrome associated with grinding, clenching and wearing down teeth is known to many people.

Chiropractic treatment is one of the most successful methods of treating tension and migraine headaches. As a chiropractor of twenty five years experience, I have seen literally thousands of patients who have had headaches for many years. These people have typically been prescribed or have purchased over the counter pain killers which have relieved their symptoms to a degree but have done absolutely nothing to prevent another headache occurring the

day later.

At one time, Australia had the highest percentage in the world of people with kidney failure, directly due to their having constantly taken these pain killers. Some people would take them on waking, even when they did not have a headache. Perhaps they thought that they would stop one from coming on!

Chiropractic treatment involves a range of examinations and medical tests to evaluate the causes of the headache. This is important to make sure that the patient is not suffering from

one of the more dangerous types of headache that I have already mentioned. By removing or reducing the causes of tension to the nerves of the neck and upper back muscles, the headaches may gradually ease and in time, disappear completely. The patient is then able to get on with their lives and enjoy participating in their communities and families.

A small mention should be about headaches in children. This is a subject unto itself. It is a fact that many illnesses may cause head pain in children and every report of headache must be viewed with suspicion and checked out. It is also worth remembering that children are as prone to hurting their neck and shoulders in play as adults may at work.

Chiropractors frequently help children with headache where their necks have become strained or subluxated, due to a range of factors such as poor posture, heavy schoolbags, using laptops etc. Be aware of how many hours your child sits and balance in their lives to keep them exercising and active. Investigate headaches by looking at how they spend their time and their posture, noy only by suspecting illness and disease.



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Discover How to Cure Headaches Fast and Permanently and Completely Eliminate Headaches Forever!

June 20th, 2009
Jo Mark asked:


Do You Suffer from excruciating migraine headaches, painful sinus headaches, or throbbing cluster headaches? Do you get headaches more often than once a week? Do your headaches bring on any of the following symptoms?

Nausea or vomiting

Pounding, throbbing pain

Sensitivity to light, noise, or odors

Blurred vision

Upset stomach

Abdominal pain

Loss of appetite

Feeling very warm or cold

Fatigue

Dizziness

See bright flashing dots or lights

Unfortunately, you are not alone if you answered yes to any of the questions above. About 90% of the world’s population suffers from headaches to some degree. Most people use traditional remedies like painkillers to alleviate headache pain. But painkillers have a downside. If taken in excess over long periods of time, painkillers can result in serious health conditions, including internal bleeding and end-stage kidney disease, among others.

And, in addition to being detrimental to your health, taking traditional painkillers on an ongoing basis can be very expensive. And, they only mask your headache symptoms. They do nothing to eliminate the cause of your headaches. Using traditional painkillers, your headaches will return again and again!

But there is permanent headache cure that can help you get rid of your headaches forever! And this cure is quite inexpensive. It costs just 1 and a half cents per day. That works out to about 45 cents per month, as opposed to about ten dollars a month for someone taking traditional painkillers regularly. And it has no long term negative effects on your body. It will NOT cause other serious health problems like stomach ulcers and kidney disease. And, as an added benefit, it will cure many other health problems and diseases that you may have! Get all the details on this Amazing Permanent Headache Cure. 

 



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