Headache-Myths and Realities.

“I’ve been getting headache so bad that I cry often.It hurts everywhere on my top,back left side,right side.If this doesn’t improve I will kill myself one day”.This pain generally hurts me in early morning hours,remains their for few hours and then vanishes but it hurts and hurts very badly. Sound’s familiar ,yes this is a fact ,you must have heard people uttering these words……….
Headache or Cephalalgia(medical term)
· Broadly can be divided into three groups.

• Primary.
• Secondary.
• Cranial neuralgias.
• Primary :-
  • Migraine.
  • Cluster.
  • Tension.
  • Trigeminal Autonomic.
  • Sexual activity related (coital headache).
  • Few others
  • Secondary:-
    • Due to trauma leading to head/neck injury.
    • Some tumor,cyst,etc.
  • Cranial neuralgias.
    • Facial pain and other headache.

  I will try to explain about difference between types of headache in my coming posts.

  Headache-Myths and Realities.

1. All Headache are same.
• This is insane,as written above ,headaches are never same ,cause,duration,intensity,onset time may vary amongst individuals,as a result treatment also varies.
2. Tumors are the main cause for headache.
• A strange fact that tumors or even many serious disorders of brain rarely causes headaches,every second or third person suffers from headache in US,but only few thousands are diagnosed with Tumors.
3. Caffeine is the remedy for all types of headache.
• Low doses of caffeine might help in relieving certain types of headache or decreases intensity in many anecdotal reports but till date has not been subjected to any controlled study,prolonged and continues use of caffeine and related medication can make one dependent.
4. Botox shots are for beauty treatments only.
• No not at all,since few years botox shots are being popularly use to treat severe migraine but then like all other medication,Botox shots are not suitable for everyone.
5. Problem lies where your pain is.
• This statement does not hold any significance,your problem can be distance away,like severe headache in the frontal area can be attributed to falling eye sight numbers.
• Brain has no pain receptors,so it has no perception for pain,but ironically it is the brain which make us feel the pain in different part of body,reason behind is that though brain has no receptors,bones,skin other tissues around the brain has pain receptors ,so any disturbance in their area due to any cause leads to headache.
6. Sleep has no role in Headache.
• No ,it has.Lack of sleep,fatigue may cause severe headache,moreover excessive sleep can also trigger headache in few.
7. N.B, Any onset of sudden and severe headache with or without dizziness should be dealt seriously,it may be the beginning of some acute underlying pathology,like,Trans Ischemic attack,Sub Arachnoid Hemorrhage,etc.