Can you say, “I’ve never had a headache a single day in your life?” Maybe not. Headaches are part of life and some of us ignore them when they occur.
Some of us have really bad headaches. The headaches come at crucial times. Times when we are in the middle of a crucial task. At that time we can’t afford to stop our work. When this happens we look for pain killers and take one or two. If this is a once in a while thing that’s ok. The problem begins when it’s a daily habit.
You see headaches are signs that your body needs something. So getting rid of the headache with a pain killer is, avoiding what your body is trying to tell you about the headache.
So, how do you know what your body is saying? Simple, you need to know a little more about headaches.
Don’t worry I won’t use our medical language to explain it to you.
I’ll break it down. I’ll also focus on the things you need to know.
There are certain things that cause headaches to start. They are called triggers.
So let’s take a look at what triggered it?
From what I have seen, headaches can be triggered by many things some of which include
- A lack of sleep
- Hunger
- A high blood pressure
- A high impact trauma
- Certain foods
- Alcohol
- Dehydration
A headache can also be caused by an illness that you may not realize you have.
Now that you know about triggers of headaches, it’s clear that every time you have a headache a pain killer is not the remedy.
So what happens when these triggers cause a headache?
Let’s answer that by knowing the various types of headaches. If we can describe what kind of headache we are feeling, we can retrace our steps to see the trigger. If we find the trigger we can find how to best take care of headaches and stop them.
We will leave out those headaches caused by disease. Our focus will be on those caused by a lot of activity in certain areas of the brain like
- blood vessels
- Muscles
- Nerves
- Brain chemicals
These types of headaches are called primary headaches.
Primary headaches include:
- Cluster
- Migraine
- Tension headaches
- Tension Headache
You have possibly felt this headache before. It’s very common. The pain starts little by little.
Later, one may begin to feel as if they have a tight band around their head.
The pain is constant, feels like one is pounding the head and it may spread to or be coming from the neck. This type of tension headache is called an episodic tension headache.
If this headache stays longer than 15 days, you’re suffering from a chronic tension headache.
This headache can occur due to a lack of sleep, exercise, straining the eyes, poor posture, alcohol, exposure to loud noises.
Migraine
A migraine headache many times feels like a bouncing pounding pain. . It sometimes starts on one side and can stay on that side or move to the opposite side and be felt on both sides.
When it starts one may feel
- Lightheaded
- Nauseous
They may also suddenly notice that they can’t see well and are sensitive to light and sound.
Migraines are awful because they can last from 2-3 days and can occur as often as weekly or as sparingly, as once in a year.
Some triggers of migraines could be
- Hormones
- Smells
- Diet
- Medicines
- Environmental
- Low blood sugar
- Jet lag
- Shoulder and neck tension
- A lack of sleep.
Cluster headache
Can happen many times in one day. They can happen up to 8 times a day. They come fast stay for a short time but are very painful.
It can be as short as 15mins and as long as 3hrs. Cluster headaches may arise repeatedly for 4–12 weeks, then vanish. They tend to happen at around the same time each day.
Between the clusters, the person may have no symptoms. These periods of no signs of headaches can last for many months or even years.
When this headache occurs one may notice one or a mixture of the following symptoms:
- brief but severe pain
- pain around one eye
- tearing or redness in the eye
- a drooping eyelid
- a blocked or runny nose
- a smaller pupil in one eye
- facial sweating.
The triggers for this type of headache are not very clear. Though alcohol has been found to worsen this type of headache
So after reading all this it’s taking painkillers doesn’t treat what caused the headache. It just takes away the pain and hides the real problem.
Which may be as mild as hunger or as severe as high blood pressure.
So next time you have a headache do this instead.
First, check your blood pressure
Then drink water
Then take a good nap
Just don’t assume that a pain killer is a cure.
So please let me know the last time you experienced a headache, what type of headache was it?