Headache is one of the most common types of pain that is felt on your head or on the upper neck portion of the body. Headache is categorized into primary, secondary and other types.
Migraine, cluster headache and tension headache belongs to primary type. Any headache arising due to underlying illness or injury is called secondary headache. Most of the primary headaches can be managed with OTC medications like pain-killers. If you have headache with fever, stiffness in the neck you need to seek immediate medical care.
The pain of headache may originate from the tissues of the brain or the nerve endings of the brain. Sometimes the muscles that surround the skull, eyes, ears or sinuses can develop inflammation (swelling) causing pain felt as headache. Headache pain can be anything ranging from dull ache to sharp staggering pain.
Types and Symptoms
- Headaches are classified into primary and secondary type. Headaches caused by tension, stress, migraine headache and cluster headaches are of primary type. Tension headache is the most common type of headache that occurs 1 in every 20 people around the world. Migraine headache occurs in adults as well as on children. Women have more of migraine headache than men. Cluster headache is a rare type of headache affecting adolescent men.
- Secondary headache is caused due to injury or underlying illness in the neck or head. Sometimes medical conditions like dental pain, sinus infection can also cause secondary headache. It can also be caused due to serious conditions like meningitis or brain infection. Another type called traumatic headache includes headache caused by substance abuse or due to overuse of medications for treating headache.
- Acute headache is one which is felt on many occasions and is short-lived. Chronic headache would be felt daily requiring long term treatment. Chronic type of headaches can occur for few days, 15 days or even for months together. There are many types and divisions of chronic headache based on the time of occurrence. Chronic migraine headache can originate from tension or migraine and may last for few days or more. The person having chronic migraine will have pain only on one side of his head and the intensity of pain may range from moderate to severe. Some people may have nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light.
- Chronic tension headache would last for few hours and pain will be felt on both sides of your head. The pain may be felt as pressing pain and the affected person may have nausea and sensitivity to light/sound. Persistent headache would occur daily hurting both the sides of your head causing mild to moderate pain. Very often, headache is felt on both sides of the head with dull or throbbing pain.
When To See A Doctor?
If you have persistent headache for more than a week with mild/moderate fever or if your headache pattern changes after few days, you need to seek immediate medical care. Further you need to consult your doctor immediately if you have sudden/severe headache with stiff neck, seizure or double vision or numbness in the hands and legs.
Headache Causes
Most of the time, there is no underlying cause for chronic persistent headaches. It may originate from stress/tension or sometimes headache is just a response of pain signals in your brain. Some areas of the brain that suppresses pain signals are not working properly you may get headache.