Common types of headaches that make you uncomfortable - The harm of headaches

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is expertly consulted by Master, Doctor Huynh An Thien - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine, Vinmec International Hospital Da Nang.
Research results show that about 50% of the world's population suffers from daily headaches. One in three people experience a severe headache at some point in their life. Most cases of headaches do not go to a doctor or treat them thoroughly, making the condition worse.

1. Causes of Headaches

Headache is the most uncomfortable feeling of every person, there are many causes. This could be a sign of an illness, possibly emotional turmoil, fatigue, and stress. The current abuse of pain relievers makes the number of headache sufferers increasing and the pain level worse. Research shows that there is an increase in the number of free radicals in the body of headache sufferers, especially those with accompanying stress.

2. Common types of headaches

Headache is considered more of a symptom than a disease, not only in neurology and psychiatry, but also in most medical and surgical diseases. People often use the phrase headache to refer to uncomfortable and painful sensations in the craniocervical region, most commonly primary headache types such as: tension headache, migraine headache, cluster headache, pain chronic head...

2.1 Tension-type headaches

This is the most common headache syndrome, accounting for 90% of headaches today. Patients often have unresolved emotional problems, prolonged anxiety, mainly concentrated in middle age, more women than men. Tension headaches are characterized by: dull pain, squeezing sensation in the head, tight pressure, pain intensity increases with frequency of pain. Most patients have pain on both sides of the head, often concentrating the pain most in the forehead, temples, occipital, top or a combination of many places and can change the location of pain in the same pain.

2.2 Migraine (migraine headache)

This is a headache of neurovascular origin, which occurs in episodes. Especially pain only appears on one side of the head, feeling the scalp is tight and burning like a burn, accompanied by symptoms such as: tinnitus, blurred vision, nausea, fear of noise and light... Currently there are approx. 11% of the world's adult population is suffering from migraine attacks, with women accounting for 3⁄4 of them.

2.3 Cluster headache

This is also a type of headache with vascular etiology, common in middle-aged men and smokers. However, in recent times, the percentage of women with cluster headaches is increasing. The pain usually appears about 1 to 3 hours after sleeping, when waking up with a headache and heavy. The pain is concentrated in clusters, localized in the first half, often a lot of pain behind the eyes, pain spreads to the forehead and temples, headache with stuffy nose, watery eyes, nausea...
This type of pain The headache is described as pain that the patient has never experienced, pain usually at a fixed hour, lasting from 3-4 hours, continuously for a week.

2.4 Chronic daily headache

This is a type of headache that lasts more than 15 days in a month. Chronic headaches are often associated with comorbidities such as depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, panic attacks, stress, and drug abuse. In most cases of this type of headache, there are no abnormalities detected on brain scans. Chronic headaches, if not treated in time, will cause bodily disorders such as: nervousness, insomnia, stomach pain, etc., in addition, dangerous symptoms of depression such as anxiety, even depression. even change the mood.

3. Harm of headache

Research shows that all types of headaches no matter what type, after 3 months, there will be structural changes and brain damage due to the constant free radicals generated in the body during the process. metabolism. Normally, free radicals exist in moderation, so they do not cause serious harm. However, in people with headaches, especially pain with stress, substances in the brain will have metabolic disorders, thereby producing a lot of free radicals that cause damage to nerve cells. .
Many cases of headache are already in the body, just waiting for favorable factors (stress, emotional shock, psychological), motivating factors (life regimen, long working time)... cause enough free radicals to cause headaches, nerve and blood vessel damage, and structural damage to the brain. Depending on each case, a headache for a long time will cause the patient to appear depression, anxiety, forgetfulness, memory disorder, lack of concentration... This symptom is more frequent, easily leading to dementia, brain stroke leading to disability and even death.
The most worrying thing right now is that most patients don't know the main cause of their headaches and often don't get to the root cause. Finding the cause of a headache is the most important step in treatment. If the cause is not eliminated, the disease will recur again and again, the treatment will not give the desired effect. About 60% of patients abuse pain relievers (incorrect indications and prolonged use), making it difficult to treat later because the disease is easy to relapse. Therefore, it is still best to adhere to the indications on the type of drug, dosage, and contraindications according to the doctor's prescription.

4. Prevention and treatment of headaches

Headache can be just a symptom, without intervention can still go away on its own. But there are still many cases where a headache is a medical emergency. When you have symptoms of sudden or acute headache, pain that lasts several hours, pain with vomiting, fever, and hemiplegia, it is time to bring the patient to the emergency department immediately. In some cases, the headache persists for many days, many months, conventional treatment with drugs does not reduce, the patient should see a neurologist, general internal medicine specialist. In case of persistent headache accompanied by anxiety and stress disorders, you should see a psychiatrist.
The general treatment period for headaches is usually 3 months, after which the drug can be discontinued. However, when the accompanying symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety... are not well controlled, the treatment time may be longer. In parallel with drug treatment, patients need to limit the use of alcohol, smoke, avoid psychological stress, ensure good sleep, eat in moderation and have adequate nutrition.

Neurological examination at Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec International General Hospital Da Nang is a reliable choice for headache treatment patients. The hospital's neurology department focuses on examining and treating diseases related to the central nervous system (skull, meninges, brain, cerebrovascular, intracranial nerves, pituitary gland, spine, discs, etc.) spinal cord) and peripheral nervous system (nerves and ganglia outside the brain and spinal cord), helping patients find the exact cause of their headache for radical treatment best. Good neurologists at Vinmec Danang International Hospital:
Master Le Duong Tien: 20 years of professional experience in Internal Medicine. Especially, Dr. Tien has many years of experience in Musculoskeletal, Neuroendocrine, Endocrinology and Cardiology. Master. Doctor Bui Ngoc Phuong Hoa: 24 years working in the field of neuropsychology. Doctor Hoa was formerly the Deputy Head of the Department of Neurology - Quang Ngai Provincial General Hospital and participated in many continuous training courses on Epilepsy, Cerebrovascular Accident, Alzheimer's, Movement Disorders, Geriatrics. Endocrine Pathology. BSCK II Le Nghiem Bao: Well-trained in the country and many centers with leading medical background in the world such as France, Germany, China. With 30 years of experience in Neurosurgery, Dr. Bao used to teach at Da Nang Hospital and currently holds the position of Deputy Head of General Surgery Department - Vinmec Da Nang International General Hospital. Nang. Master Doctor Huynh An Thien : Strength and experience in examination, consultation and treatment of neurological diseases; respiratory and endocrine-metabolic diseases. Before working as a neurosurgeon at the Department of Medical Examination and Internal Medicine - Vinmec Danang International General Hospital, Dr. Thien had a long working experience at Hue Central Hospital.

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