Probably, there is not a single person who would not be bothered by a headache. There are a huge number of therapies and drugs now. But it is important to find out the causes of the headache, and treatment should begin only after that. With frequent attacks, it is necessary to exclude serious pathologies, and only a specialist can do this.
Causes of pain
In medical circles, a headache is called cephalalgia. Its origin can be of a different nature, and most often headache attacks develop against the background of the following conditions and pathologies:
- Increased vascular tone, which can provoke high blood pressure or intracranial. As a result, oxygen starvation of tissues develops and metabolic processes are disrupted.
- Malignant tumors.
- Cystic formations.
- Nervous lesions.
- Osteochondrosis of the cervical region provokes muscle tension in the back of the head and vasospasm.
- Anemia.
- Infectiousdiseases in acute or chronic form, especially those occurring with fever.
- Cold diseases.
- Sensitivity to atmospheric pressure changes and weather changes.
- Eating disorders when there is a long-term lack of essential vitamins and minerals.
- Thyroid abnormalities.
- Diseases of the genital organs.
- Exhausting physical activity.
- Lack of rest and night sleep.
- Post-traumatic headache after traumatic brain injury.
- Viral or bacterial infections of the respiratory system.
- Inflammatory processes in the central nervous system, such as meningitis.
- Therapy with certain drugs. Hormonal drugs that dilate vasodilators can provoke headache attacks.
- Intoxication of the body with the products of ethyl alcohol metabolism, the vital activity of bacteria or parasitic organisms.
- Neoplasms in the adrenal glands that provoke the release of adrenaline.
Provocateurs of headache attacks can be several factors at the same time, so therapy should be prescribed after finding out the cause.
Classification of cephalgia
Depending on the origin and mechanism of occurrence, several types of headaches are distinguished.
Primary. The following types of pain can be included in this category:
- migraine;
- tension headache (diagnosiswill help to find out the reason);
- beam or cluster pain;
- regular pain localized in the frontal or temporal area.
Secondary pain often associated with:
- head injuries;
- brain pathologies;
- vascular disorders in the cervical spine;
- treatment with certain drugs;
- communicable diseases;
- mental disorders;
- malfunctions in the structure of the skull, nasal cavity, ears or eyes.
Secondary pains, as a rule, are not independent disorders, but appear as a result of other pathological processes in the body.
Clinical manifestations of pathology
Almost 90% of the population suffers from a primary form of headache. In half of the cases, doctors diagnose cephalalgia on the background of overexertion, about 40% of patients suffer from migraine.
Tension headache is acute and chronic, when attacks bother the patient up to 10-15 times a month. Symptoms appear individually, but are most often noted:
- The appearance of anxiety.
- Depressive state.
- Pain is constant or episodic.
- Pain syndrome is most often localized on both sides in the frontal or temporal zone. Can cover entire head.
Pain is pressing or bursting
Provocateurs of tension pain are most often the following factors:
- Lack of fresh air, which is observed during longwork in a stuffy room.
- Staying in an uncomfortable position for a long time.
- Excessive physical activity.
When a tension headache comes on, a walk in the open air often brings noticeable relief.
Manifestation of migraine pain
Worried about migraine attacks? What to do? First you need to confirm that it is a migraine. This form is characterized by the following symptoms:
- Pain paroxysmal.
- Before an attack, mood swings, dizziness may disturb.
- Pain syndrome has a pulsating character of strong intensity.
- Pain appears on one side, more often in the frontotemporal zone, but then spreads to the parietal part, back of the head and neck.
- There is an increased susceptibility to bright lights and loud sounds.
- Nausea and vomiting.
Exercise often increases pain and makes you feel worse.
For the treatment of migraine, it is important to consider the frequency of attacks. Some patients experience pathology almost every week, while others experience such pain several times a year.
Cluster headache
Causes and symptoms are slightly different from previous species. Most often worries the representatives of the male population. The exact causes have not been clarified, but many experts associate this type of pain with hereditary predisposition.
Cluster pain is manifested by the following symptoms:
- An unbearable and sharp attack of headache appears,often at night.
- Pain can last from 20 minutes to 2-3 hours.
- Seizures recur every day for several months.
For regular headaches, you need to be examined and start the therapy recommended by your doctor.
First aid for cephalalgia
If you suddenly overtake an attack of severe headache, then you can alleviate the condition in the following ways:
- Take a comfortable position, if conditions and conditions allow, then it is better to lie down.
- You can take a walk in the fresh air or at least open the window in the room.
- Walk through the reflex points on the temples, massage your head.
- Drink a couple of glasses of water, but at room temperature.
- Apply a compress to the head using water with vinegar or a solution of essential oil.
To stop an attack, you can take an analgesic, which is available in a pharmacy without a prescription.
Medication Therapy
Most often, narcotic and non-narcotic analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and combination medications are used to relieve pain.
But, when starting to treat headaches, it is important to remember that uncontrolled and prolonged use of analgesics can provoke the opposite effect in the form of a painful syndrome while taking medications. Even the relatively safe tablets "Nurofen" instructions for use for adults do not recommend taking in large doses and more than 3once a day.
Among the drugs that doctors most often recommend to their patients are the following:
- Paracetamol.
- Ascophen.
- Pills "Nurofen". Instructions for use for adults recommend taking the drug after meals.
- Ibuklin.
- Zaldiar helps well, as it contains the active ingredient tramadol.
- If the pain syndrome is weak, then you can take "Migrenol" containing paracetamol and caffeine.
Has good reviews "Spasmalgon" from headaches, as it has a complex effect, reduces pain, relieves spasm
From non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, the following have the maximum analgesic ability:
- "Motrin" and "Nalgezin", containing naproxen as an active ingredient.
- "Ketanov", "Ketorolac". The drugs have a fast therapeutic effect.
These drugs can be purchased at any pharmacy without a prescription. When a headache occurs in the temples and forehead, one tablet should be taken. The next reception is recommended not earlier than in 4-6 hours. It should also be borne in mind that NSAIDs can irritate the gastric mucosa, therefore, they are prescribed with caution in case of gastrointestinal ulcers.
If you are worried about a migraine, they will help:
- Imigran.
- Naramig.
- Relax.
But taking such medications should only be done according to the doctor's instructions. If the dosage is reduced, then you can not wait for the effect, but withexceeding there is a risk of complications.
If the headache is a symptom of other pathologies, then treatment of the underlying disease is necessary.
Recipes of traditional medicine
It is not always necessary to immediately resort to the help of narcotic and non-narcotic analgesics, you can use folk remedies to relieve pain. Here are some recipes to help manage mild to moderate pain:
Take 2 tablespoons of savory and pour a liter of boiling water. Leave for an hour, filter and drink half a glass 4 times a day. This remedy is good for removing headaches due to high blood pressure
- Mix a spoonful of good quality black tea with 15g of valerian roots and the same amount of chamomile. Add a teaspoon of cumin seeds. Brew a spoonful of the mixture with boiling water in an amount of 200 ml, insist and drink 100 ml in the morning and at bedtime for headaches of nervous origin, against the background of sleep disorders.
- Mulberry branches chop and pour a liter of boiling water and hold on low heat for 20 minutes. Leave to infuse for a couple of hours, and then take 200 ml three times a day before meals.
There are many safe painkillers, but they will only help temporarily to cope with a headache if it is provoked by serious pathologies in the body.
Urgent doctor
In some situations, you should not postpone a visit to a specialist, as the patient needs urgent medical care. Medical attention is needed if:
- Headaches come on suddenly and are intense. This symptom may signal a brain aneurysm. Such a pathology is dangerous for the patient's life, therefore, it requires urgent surgical intervention.
- The head hurts constantly, and each time the intensity of the pain syndrome increases. This may indicate a developing tumor in the head.
- Against the background of cephalalgia, numbness appears in the limbs, vision is impaired.
- Headache and shortness of breath appear, body temperature rises. Among the reasons may be a common sore throat, and serious pathologies of the heart muscle.
- Frequent headaches are observed in the elderly. They can signal the development of trigeminal neuralgia, temporal arteritis, or other serious disorders.
- Headache appeared after a fall, head injury and is accompanied by impaired speech, confusion, numbness of the arms or legs.
- Painful syndrome does not decrease despite taking analgesics.
- Debilitating pain every day.
- Worried about the child's headache, which appeared for the first time, and does not go away for a long time.
- Each time, the intensity of headaches becomes greater, and they disturb more and more often.
- Headache accompanied by soreness in the eyes, around the nose or ears.
- Severe seizures due to hormonal disorders.
If any headache is accompanied by vomiting, convulsions or loss of consciousness, then it is necessarycall a doctor immediately.
What examinations are needed for cephalalgia?
Often, patients complain that taking pills during the onset of a headache does not bring relief or helps to ease the syndrome for a while. For effective treatment, it is important to determine not only the nature of the pain, but also its type and causes.
For example, if a person suffers from tension pain or cluster pain, then migraine medications are unlikely to help him. Diagnosis begins with a visit to the doctor and a confidential conversation.
The following methods are used for diagnostics:
- Encephalogram of the brain. Such a study makes it possible to assess the functionality of the brain.
- Determining the pain threshold. Each person perceives pain of the same intensity differently. For one, this is only a slight discomfort, and for the other, a palpable pain. To determine, a special device is used, the electrodes are fixed on the arm and, gradually increasing the current strength, the doctor provokes muscle contraction. In patients with headaches, painful sensations appear already at minimum current values.
- Ultrasound examination of brain vessels. This allows you to determine whether this disease is hereditary or acquired.
The most accurate examination is an MRI. It allows you to find the causes of headaches when other tests have failed
Only after a thorough examination and clarification of the reasons, the doctor can recommend an effective drug.
Diagnosis of pain in the head
Most often, quite young people turn to specialists for headaches. When diagnosed, the most common form is revealed - tension pain or migraine. These two forms are often confused, and it is difficult to make an accurate diagnosis. This is found out only when the patient does not feel improvement in his condition after taking anti-migraine drugs.
Diagnosis of primary headache is done by a clinical approach only, which includes:
- Positive diagnosis based on patient complaints and examination.
- Negative diagnosis involves identifying signs of pathology and a complete examination.
- Formal diagnosis based on international classification.
The low effectiveness of headache therapy can be explained by the fact that many patients do not go to the doctors with it, considering it an insignificant symptom. As a result, therapy is inadequate, which often does not alleviate the patient's condition, and only aggravates it over time.
Prevention of headache attacks
If we consider preventive measures, they are more relevant for tension pain, as they appear against the background of a disturbed daily routine and lifestyle. To reduce the frequency of such attacks, you must:
- Providing the body with he althy and fulfilling sleep.
- Revise the diet and remove harmful foods from it, fast food.
- Learn to relax emotionally, cope with stress.
- Before going to bed, take a walk in the freshair and be sure to ventilate the bedroom.
If, after a thorough examination, the cause of headaches is established, and it is in no way connected with serious pathologies in the body, then the following measures will help to cope:
- Light head and neck massage.
- Peace and quiet, so as not to be annoyed by loud sounds and bright lights.
- Apply a couple of drops of peppermint or lavender oil to a tissue, their fragrance will reduce pain.
In order to have a headache as rarely as possible, you need to introduce the following rules into your life:
- Play sports or enter regular exercise.
- Organize the correct mode of work and rest.
- Get good sleep regularly.
- Avoid stressful situations, if this is not possible, then master relaxation techniques.
- Exclude from the diet smoked, s alty, containing preservatives and flavor enhancers that can cause headaches.
- When a headache appears, you should try to get rid of it with simple means: massage, walk, rest, and then take pills.
If headaches have become a frequent companion of life, then you should not self-medicate, otherwise serious problems can be missed.
