Which of us hasn't suffered from headaches? Whether more often, less often, strongly or weakly, the whole head or only its individual parts … In one form or another, a headache is familiar to almost everyone. Statistics say that 80% of people have a headache at least once a year. According to neurologists, this ailment should not be dismissed - it will hurt, they say, and it will pass. If you have a headache, you should deal with the reasons.
Causes of headaches
According to doctors, a headache can accompany about fifty different diseases. Here are just a few:
- change (increase or decrease) in blood pressure;
- infectious diseases (these can be both diseases of the brain - meningitis, encephalitis, atherosclerosis of cerebral vessels, and other infectious diseases - influenza, tonsillitis, pneumonia, etc.);
- different types of poisoning (including food or alcohol - this can also include headaches with a hangover);
- hormonal disorders, includingpremenstrual syndrome, pregnancy, etc.;
- psycho-emotional overstrain, neuroses;
- diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
- allergies;
- head injury;
- tumors;
- weather changes.
When should you see a neurologist?
As you can see, there are many, many causes for headaches. If this symptom bothers you regularly, you should definitely visit a neurologist. You should especially hurry with the visit if the nature of the headache is completely new, unusual for you, and also in cases where:
- you are forced to use painkillers at least once a week;
- pain came on suddenly and has an "explosive" character;
- you suspect that the headache was provoked by drugs that you drink for another reason;
- you began to sleep longer or experience unusual drowsiness;
- headache appeared after a head injury, even if it was just a slight bruise;
- When you're with a headache, you feel weak in your limbs, feel lethargic, have trouble speaking or understanding others.
Remember: only a doctor can determine the cause of the ailment and give specific advice on what to take for a headache.
Pressure and headache
Pain often becomes a manifestation of high or low blood pressure. A headache with increased pressure is a phenomenon so common that when it appears, many immediately grab ontoblood pressure monitor.
Why is my blood pressure rising?
The way our body works is that at the slightest alarm or excitement, our blood pressure rises. When the excitement stops, the pressure, in theory, should return to its original level. However, according to some doctors, the pressure does not always return to its original value, but stops at a slightly higher level than it was originally.
S alt is known to increase blood pressure. Science knows African tribes that traditionally do not eat s alty foods. In such tribes, hypertension is a big curiosity.
Another factor influencing the increase in pressure is overweight. It is estimated that about 4 kilometers of blood capillaries are required to supply each kilogram of fat cells with blood. With an increase in the length of the vascular system, the heart has to work with an additional load in order to push blood through all the tissues of the body. Increased heart activity causes high blood pressure.
Do high blood pressure headaches always occur?
Oddly enough, not always. According to the World He alth Organization, a third of hypertensive patients do not experience any discomfort. They practically do not have a headache, and they learn about the disease quite by accident during a physical examination or by measuring the pressure “for the sake of interest.”
For the development of a headache, it is not so much the fact of hypertension itself that is important, but the violation of vascular tone - doctors call this phenomenon vascular dystonia. Normal atWhen blood pressure rises, the walls of blood vessels expand, and when they decrease, on the contrary, they narrow, thus compensating for changes in pressure. With dystonia, the walls of the vessels cannot properly respond to an increase in pressure. The pressure of blood on the walls of blood vessels causes irritation of the nerve receptors in them. Impulses from these receptors enter the brain and are perceived by the body as a headache.
Hypertension
This is a disease whose main symptom is high blood pressure. At the very beginning of the development of hypertension, the headache is unstable. It can occur if the patient happened to overwork or visit stuffy, smoky rooms. The head can also get sick after drinking alcohol. Throbbing pain can occur anywhere, but most often it is the back of the head or temples. It comes on suddenly and goes away pretty quickly. At this stage, it would be a mistake to immediately grab the medicines. It must be remembered that you can not take a pill for a headache, but just take a walk in the fresh air.
In the later stages of hypertension, another cause of headache appears. Not only vascular, but also intracranial pressure rises. The pain is accompanied by a feeling of severe heaviness in the head and general weakness. The skin becomes bluish. Attacks of a sharp headache with dizziness, vomiting, loss of consciousness are possible.
How to treat hypertensive headaches?
Headache pills are not the best solution for high blood pressure. In any case, do not grab onto them right away. It is better to try other remedies for high blood pressure first. For example, pay attention to your daily routine. Try to get enough rest, allocate enough time for sleep and walks. In the initial stages of hypertension with high blood pressure, headache pills can be successfully replaced with a half-hour walk in the forest or in the park.
You should also change your diet. Reduce the amount of s alt in the diet and give up other products that provoke an increase in pressure: various margarines, mayonnaises, smoked pickles, as well as fatty meats (such as goose and duck, pork, lamb), strong meat broths. Alcohol, flour products, eggs are also undesirable (they can be eaten up to three pieces a week). Sugar is usually recommended to be replaced with honey, sweets - with dried fruits. It is very desirable to increase the amount of boiled fish, seafood, dairy products in the diet. Practice shows that a change in lifestyle is often enough to get rid of a headache with high blood pressure.
If the daily routine and diet did not lead to the desired results, and the problem of "what to take for a headache" still bothers you, try taking a foot bath with a water temperature of 45 degrees for a quarter of an hour.
If you still can't do without medication, try herbal remedies for high blood pressure. Brew your own herbal tea with motherwort or valerian, or- what is even easier - take a tincture of these herbs (enough 30 drops). A Bromocamphor tablet is also suitable. These remedies are especially indicated if you are concerned about high upper pressure.
Drugs that lower blood pressure
If you can't cope with hypertension without medication, your doctor will prescribe high blood pressure pills, the list of which is very long. They are usually divided into several categories depending on the mechanism of their effect on the body.
Sedatives
Help to cope with stress, reduce the production of adrenaline, which, among other things, causes an increase in pressure. These include valerian and motherwort in herbal preparations or in the form of tinctures, as well as complex preparations of valerian ("Cardiovalen", "Valocordin", etc.). True, when taking these drugs, it should be borne in mind that they somewhat inhibit the body's reactions. It can sometimes be difficult to stay active while taking these drugs.
Vasodilators
They are also used for high blood pressure. Headache pills of this type act on the walls of blood vessels, causing them to expand, and thereby lower blood pressure.
These drugs are divided into:
- Myotropic - those that act directly on the muscles of blood vessels ("No-shpa", "Papaverine", etc.).
- Neurotropic. They affect the nervous systemthrough it, causing vasodilation and, as a result, a decrease in blood pressure ("Aminazin", "Nitroglycerin", "Fentolamine").
It should be noted that these drugs can increase the heartbeat and sometimes cause dizziness. Elderly people suffering from atherosclerosis should be especially careful with such drugs.
Diuretics, or diuretics
Everyone knows that sodium s alts provoke an increase in blood pressure. So, getting rid of excess s alt with increased urine output, we can easily reduce pressure to normal values. However, the ease of this method is rather deceptive. Do not forget that along with sodium, diuretic drugs ("Hypothiazid", "Triamteren", "Indapamide" and many others) also remove potassium, which is necessary for the functioning of the nervous system, kidneys, intestines, which is involved in many important biochemical processes. True, drug manufacturers have long taken this point into account and came up with potassium-sparing diuretics (such as Amiloride or Veroshpiron), but this invention does not nullify all possible side effects of diuretics. It is worth remembering that an overdose of diuretics can lead to an increase in cholesterol levels, reduce male potency, lead to sleep disturbances and even cause diabetes.
Drugs acting at the intracellular level
This includes several groups of drugs. These are, for example, calcium antagonists ("Verapamil","Diltiazem", "Nifedipine"), which are often prescribed to patients with atherosclerosis. Or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (Captopril, Enalapril, etc.). They are often chosen if the patient, along with high blood pressure, has impaired renal function. Beta-blockers ("Anaprilin", "Atenolol", "Carvedilol", etc.) often become the drug of choice for those suffering from thyroid diseases.
This article only mentions some high blood pressure pills. The list of all such drugs is incredibly huge. There are many factors to consider when choosing what is right for you. For example, if you have high upper pressure, you are better off reducing it with anti-anxiety medications, but if your lower value is “jumping”, then you are better off using diuretics.
Dangers of self-medication
However, it would be a big mistake to engage in the selection of medicines on your own, without the recommendation of specialists. A person without a medical education is simply not able to take into account and foresee everything, and the choice of a drug at random, by the “poke method”, can lead to unpredictable consequences. Do not experiment with your he alth, seek help from a doctor!
Unfortunately, many people suffering from headaches do not rush to the doctor, but to the pharmacy to buy a remedy for high blood pressure on their own. Headache pills, which are sold without a prescription, are considered by many to be practically harmless and allowget rid of the problem without bothering to visit a doctor. Doctors say that the "epidemic" of self-medication with painkillers is taking on a terrifying scale and is already reminiscent of a social disaster.
World statistics gives frightening figures. Overuse of painkillers results in hundreds of thousands of adverse reactions every year. Tens of thousands of those who like to "swallow a pill and run about" end up in hospitals for a long time.
Many people are of the opinion that a headache with high blood pressure is perfectly relieved by painkillers (analgin, paracetamol and many other pills that are easily sold in pharmacies without a prescription). And if so, then there is no need to go to the doctor. But analgesics so beloved by many of us do not cure at all, but only relieve pain. It may seem paradoxical, but with the regular use of painkillers, the headache intensifies. It occurs more and more often, “light” intervals appear less and less often, when the head does not hurt at all. Headache gradually turns into daily torture. Worse, long-term use of analgesics leads to changes in the composition of the blood and, as a result, to a deterioration in immunity. But frequent colds are not yet the heaviest retribution for self-medication. Following the blood, the liver, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract and other organs begin to suffer.
As you can see, self-medication is not as harmless as it seems. Therefore, being interested in our disease and methods of its treatment in various sources, we will leave the choice of therapy to professionaldoctors.
