Headaches and Migraines

What is a Headaches?  "Headache" is a term used to describe aching or pain that occurs in one or more areas of the head, face, mouth, or neck. Headaches may be chronic, recurrent, or occasional. The pain can be mild or severe enough to disrupt daily activities. Headache involves the network of nerve fibers in the tissues, muscles, and blood vessels located in the head and at the base of the skull.

How many people suffer from headaches?
Forty-Five (45) Million Americans suffer from chronic headaches.  What these people do not know, and the drug industry won’t tell you, is that many headaches are caused by a simple problem; and cured with a simple solution. Taking medication for the temporary relief of headaches is misguided because drugs are not a permanent solution.  

A headache is your body's way of telling you something is wrong. The headache itself is not the problem—it is simply the symptom of a problem.  So if you want to cure your headaches, what you really want to do is to fix the problem that is causing your headaches.  Before you can fix this underlying problem, you must first identify what is causing your headaches.

Types of Headaches: There are three primary types of headache: tension headaches, cluster headaches, and migraines. These three primary types accounts for about 90% of all headaches.

Tension headache is the most common type of primary headache. Episodes usually begin in middle age and are often associated with the stresses, anxiety, and depression that can develop during these years. Cluster headaches occur daily over a period of weeks, sometimes months. They may disappear and then recur during the same season in the following year.

Secondary headaches are often associated with an underlying condition such as cerebrovascular disease, head trauma, infection, tumor, and metabolic disorder (e.g., diabetes, thyroid disease). Headache pain also can result from syndromes involving the eyes, ears, neck, teeth, or sinuses. In these cases, the underlying condition must be diagnosed and treated. Also, certain types of medication produce headache as a side effect.

Severe, sudden, and debilitating secondary headache that develops after a blow to the head, that interferes with normal activity, or that accompanies other symptoms (e.g., convulsions, disorientation, dizziness, loss of consciousness, pain in the eye or ear, fever) should be evaluated by a physician as soon as possible.

Incidence and Prevelence:  In the United States, over 45 million people—including more than the 33 million sufferers of asthma, diabetes, and heart disease—experience chronic, recurring headaches. Of these, 28 million suffer migraine every year.

Approximately 75% to 90% of all persons who complain of chronic or frequent headaches suffer from tension headaches. Tension headache is more prevalent among women than men. Cluster headaches primarily affect men between the ages of 20 and 40.

What are the Causes of Headaches?  Tension headaches are caused by stress, muscular tension, vascular dilation, postural changes, protracted coughing or sneezing, and fever. Physical and mental conditions that can lead to chronic muscular tension and headache include:

• Anxiety
• Arthritis in neck or spine
• Degenerative bone or disk disease in the neck or spine
• Depression
• Temporomandibular joint disorders

There are several well-known triggers associated with cluster headaches, including drugs that dilate or constrict blood vessels and alcohol. This suggests that changes in the walls of blood vessels in the head may be partly responsible.

Some researchers believe that a low level of endorphins may cause frequent, severe, or chronic headache pain. Endorphins are painkilling compounds found in the brain.

What exactly happens when I have a Headache?
A headache happens when pain-sensitive nerve fibers (called nociceptors) are triggered in the network of nerves that extends over the scalp, face, and along the surface and the base of the brain. Ninety percent of all headaches are triggered by stress or tension. These muscle contraction headaches usually resolve on their own or with the help of over-the-counter painkillers. Other types of headache have different triggers and are not as easily treated. Doctors classify headaches as belonging to one of the following classes:

Muscle contraction headaches are caused by sustained tension in the muscles of the face and neck. The pain is usually mild to moderate and feels like pressure is being applied to the head or neck.

Vascular headaches are caused by abnormal blood flow changes in the brain. This type includes migraine headaches; toxic headaches due to fever or exposure to triggering chemicals such as MSG, insecticides, or solvents; and cluster headaches, which strike in groups or clusters over several weeks to a month. Vascular headaches are characterized by intense, throbbing pain on one or both sides of the head.

Traction headaches happen when nerve fibers are pulled, stretched, or displaced, for example, by squinting to compensate for poor eyesight. Brain tumors can also cause traction headaches as they press against pain-sensitive blood vessel walls. Traction headaches typically feel as if a strong pressure is being applied to the head.

Inflammatory headaches are caused by irritation or infection of the arteries or nerves in the head, sinuses, spine, neck, ears, or teeth. Arteritis, an inflammation of arteries in the head, and meningitis, an inflammation of the brain's outer covering, are examples of this type of headache. Pain is usually mild to moderate and can be periodic or continuous depending on its cause.

Most headaches can be easily diagnosed, since types of headaches tend to have clear-cut symptoms that fall into recognizable patterns. If a headache isn't relieved by standard treatments, people may be referred to a specialist.

Headache Signs and Symptoms
Tension Headache: Tension headaches usually produces a dull, steady ache on both sides of the head. The pain usually increases over a period of hours. A small number of tension-headache patients report that, when at its worst, the pain develops a pulsating quality.

Tension headache pain has been described as pressure or tightness around the head, as though a band were pulled tightly around it or as if it were clamped in a vise. Muscular tenderness in areas of the neck, the base of the skull, scalp, forehead, face, jaw, shoulders, or upper arms may be present in tension-headache sufferers. The scalp and forehead may be painful to the touch. Some people may show signs of clenching their teeth.

Cluster Headache
A person experiencing cluster headache may have up to eight attacks per day, each lasting about 15 to 45 minutes or longer. Attacks often come in the early morning hours and waken the patient from sleep.

The pain of cluster headaches usually is located around one eye and is almost always on one side of the head (unilateral). There can be nasal stuffiness and tearing with the headache.

The pain is excruciating for most people and lying down often makes cluster headaches worse. Some people pace the floor and move about, unable to find relief.

Headache Diagnosis:  Diagnosis of tension or cluster headache is based on symptoms and a thorough medical examination, including the following:

• Blood tests including thyroid, liver, and kidney function tests
• Eye examination 
• Family history 
• Medical history (including medications and characteristics of the headache)
• Neurological examination 
• Sleep habits

Imaging studies of the brain may be necessary to rule out any serious underlying medical problem, such as brain tumor, stroke, infection, and vascular malformation (e.g., aneurysm).  Imaging studies that may be performed include:

• Computed tomography (CT scan) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scan) to examine the tissues and structures around, on, and in the brain
• Electroencephalogram (EMG) to measure brain activity 
• X-rays or magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) to evaluate the brain's blood vessels

Laboratory and imaging tests can help rule out secondary causes of headache, such as the following:

• Brain tumor
• Cerebral aneurysm 
• High blood pressure (hypertension) 
• Infection (e.g., meningitis, sinusitis, ear infection) 
• Temporal arteritis 
• Trigeminal neuralgia
  
   

FACT: Forty-Five (45) Million Americans suffer from chronic headaches.  What they don’t know, and the drug industry won’t tell you, is that your headaches may be caused by a simple problem; and cured with a simple solution.

Is there really a “Cure” for Headaches?