What Are Headaches?
A headache is pain in your head or upper neck. Headaches are extremely common. In fact, they鈥檙e one of the most common reasons people visit their doctor.
About 10鈥20% of all people experience repeat (recurrent) headaches. You might have headaches with no underlying condition. Sometimes, headaches can be the symptom of a serious problem. Either way, dealing with headaches can be frustrating and disabling.
What Does a Headache Feel Like?
What a headache feels like depends on several factors, including what type of headache you have. Generally, headaches cause various types of pain sensations:
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Pulsing
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Squeezing
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Throbbing
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Tightness or pressure
What Are Headaches That Could Be Emergencies?
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A one-sided headache that鈥檚 getting worse
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A sudden onset of headaches after age 50
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A sudden onset of the 鈥渕ost severe headache of your life鈥
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Head pain along with drowsiness, fever, or confusion
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Head pain along with weakness, vision loss, and slurred speech
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Headaches that occur because of coughing, straining, or sexual activity
Types of Headaches
You may have multiple types of headaches with symptoms that may change throughout your life. Finding out what type you have is important because it affects your treatment plan. There are many different types of headaches:
Cervicogenic Headache
Cervicogenic headaches occur because of problems in your neck bones or soft tissues. There are many possible causes of cervicogenic headaches.
Chronic Headaches
Chronic headaches occur when you experience headaches more than 15 days per month. Most types of headaches can be chronic. Tension headaches and migraines are two of the most common types of chronic headaches.
Cluster Headache
Most people with cluster headaches develop them in their 20s or 30s. They鈥檙e about five times more common in males than in females. Cluster headaches cause several symptoms:
- A smaller pupil and drooping eyelid on one side of the face
- Excruciating pain on one side of the head
- Nasal congestion
- Sweating
- Watering eyes
Symptoms of cluster headaches usually last 15-90 minutes. They tend to radiate to your eye, temple, jaw, nose, chin, or teeth.
Cluster headaches occur in cycles that last weeks or months. During a cycle, you may get a cluster headache 1-3 times a day. Your symptoms may be severe enough to wake you up at night. Alcohol, excitement, sleeping, and smoking can all trigger cluster headaches.
Medication Overuse Headaches
Medication overuse headaches, previously called rebound headaches, occur when you take some medicines. With these headaches, you鈥檒l experience symptoms when you wake up. Symptoms disappear for a short period after you take the medicine. Your symptoms will come back when the medicine wears off. Many people will also experience sleep problems and depression along with these headaches.
Medication overuse headaches can occur when you take certain medicines daily:
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Acetaminophen or aspirin
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Anxiety medications
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Migraine medications
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Nasal decongestants
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Opioids
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Sleep aids
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Stimulants, including caffeine
You鈥檒l likely get headaches less often when you stop taking these medications daily. However, it often takes several months until your symptoms improve.
Migraine With Aura
Some people have warning signs before a migraine. These warnings are called an aura. About 15% of people with migraines will experience aura symptoms:
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Difficulty speaking
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Dizziness
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Numbness or tingling in their hands or face
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Visual changes, such as tunnel vision or seeing zig-zag lines, spots, dots, and waves that shimmer or move
Auras typically occur before you get a migraine. But you can also have aura symptoms with little or no head pain.
Migraine Without Aura
Migraines tend to run in families. You can experience mild or severe migraine pain along with other common symptoms:
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Blurred vision
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Dizziness
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Nausea, vomiting, or sensitivity to light and sound
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Pulsing or throbbing sensations
These symptoms often affect one side of the face and head and worsen with movement or activity.
Paroxysmal Hemicrania
These headaches are similar to cluster headaches but primarily affect women. A paroxysmal hemicrania lasts only a few minutes and occurs several times a day. You will typically experience symptoms on one side of your face:
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Droopy eyelid
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Eye redness
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Nasal congestion
Sinus Headache
Sinus headaches occur because of infection, inflammation, or congestion in your sinuses. Your sinuses are the hollow spaces (cavities) around your nose, eyes, and cheeks.
A cold or sinus infection may trigger the nerve endings in your sinuses and cause pain. Your symptoms may worsen with coughing or changing your head position. Your face may also feel tender when you touch it.
Sinus headaches are rare. In fact, some people experience migraine symptoms around their face. They often mistake migraines for sinus headaches and treat them incorrectly.
Tension Headache
Tension headaches usually cause a few symptoms:
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Pressing or tightening sensations
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Mild light or sound sensitivity, but not both
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Mild to moderate pain
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No nausea
These symptoms usually affect both sides of your head. It may feel like a band squeezing around your head. Activity and drinking alcohol don鈥檛 worsen symptoms.
Tension headaches can affect anyone. You may develop a tension headache because of fatigue, stress, or excessive reading. Some people get chronic tension headaches that last more than 15 days per month.
Thunderclap Headache
Thunderclap headaches cause dramatic, sudden symptoms. You鈥檒l experience severe head pain that peaks in one minute or less.
These types of headaches are rare and are usually symptoms of life-threatening conditions. Call 911 or seek emergency medical care if you experience a thunderclap headache.
What Causes Headaches?
You will typically get a headache when the nerves in your brain and neck send out pain signals. Sometimes you get a headache when something presses on these nerves. But most of the time, there鈥檚 nothing pressing on the nerves and no clear reason for the pain signals.
Experts think that there could be a part of the brain that causes migraines when triggered. In some people, this part of the brain may be more sensitive to certain triggers:
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Light
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Noise
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Smells
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Stress
Why Choose 麻豆学生精品版 for Headache Treatment?
Treating headaches can be challenging. At our Headache Clinic, we鈥檒l work to understand your diagnosis thoroughly. This will help us provide better, more effective treatments.
Our care team includes physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and other medical staff. We combine our experience with the latest technology to bring you headache relief. Our team provides inpatient and outpatient treatments, delivered with compassion.
Find a Headache Specialist
Make an Appointment With Our Headache Clinic
Call 801-585-7575 or request an appointment online to see one of our neurologists. Provider referrals are welcome but not necessary.
