Which of These Headaches Do You Suffer?

Headaches are a common and mostly preventable and curable disturbance of our daily lives. The throbbing and the pulsing pain that wouldn’t leave you alone must have made you reach out for painkillers often, or an ice pack perhaps. It is surprising to know that there are around 300 types of headaches and most of them are curable or sometimes go away on their own. The most common out of all types are tension, migraine, and cluster headaches. 

In this article, we will look into how to distinguish between these common types to prevent them from interrupting your daily peace. Thanks to technological advancements, those headaches that cannot be prevented or don’t go away on their own are curable with very effective treatments. Let us now have a look at the different, most common headaches. 

• Tension Headaches

According to the latest statistics, a good 29% of the world population is suffering from these kinds of headaches. Tension headaches are those that give you pain in and around the forehead with dull pain and pressure. For some, it is an extreme feeling of throbbing on the sides of the skill. 

Heavily dependent on stress, these are manageable and preventable. Other surprising factors that affect this type of discomfort include tightness in the neck muscles, sitting in one position for too long, and weather changes. Tension headaches usually last for up to 30 minutes and go away on their own, even if left unattended. 

Tension headaches are easily curable with over-the-counter painkillers. However, if your discomfort still doesn’t go away with the support of painkillers, it would be wise to see a doctor to rule out something more serious, for there could be an underlying cause for prolonged headaches. 

• Migraines

This type of headache is common among both men and women. However, more women during their reproductive ages are prone to experience migraines than men. Migraine headaches are worse than tension headaches, as they can last for hours, if not for days. A migraine attack is one that can run in families. These also sometimes pass down to generations, or it can involve reasons as stress, lack of sleep, or pressure. 

Usually, migraine attacks are described as a throbbing pain in one side of the head, accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Further, sensitivity to lights, sounds, and smells has been reported. Migraine is tougher than certain cancers, as it drops your daily productivity, making you feel sick to the stomach. 

Thanks to medical advancements, a new preventive measure named CGRP inhibitors has been a successful and effective measure in the medical world. This measure targets the proteins that cause the migraine. These drugs are injectables and have reduced the frequency of migraines by 50%. 

Apart from medications, migraines can be prevented by maintaining hygiene, resting enough, and including an exercising plan in your daily routine. Further, eating healthy meals on time, limiting alcohol and caffeine also have contributed in reducing migraine attacks or preventing them together. 

• Cluster Headaches

The worst of all, cluster headaches give people a feeling of suicide with its never-ending painful bouts. These excruciating aches usually come at the same time of the day for a long period. The symptoms usually start in the morning times and would last up to an hour or more. The worse part is that these are recurrent. This means they can strike back any time of the day, making it several sessions a day. People with cluster headaches often feel very low, less productive, and feel depressed.

However, the new inhibitor CGRP has been acting as a relieving measure for most patients. Most of the time, patients with cluster headaches will require medical attention, as nothing else work. Inhalation of oxygen, injecting triptane, and local anesthetics are the common treatments for cluster headaches.  

If other types of headaches, apart from the ones that are discussed, pay frequent visits and last for long, it is advisable to see a doctor to warrant further investigation.

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