Well, headaches are troublesome and can cause disturbance in your daily routine activities as you constantly focus on pain, which doesn’t let you work with ease. It is very important to find out the type of headache you are suffering from so that it becomes easy to treat the headache. Let us know about types of headaches that you may suffer from and knowing about them can find out which type of headache you are suffering from.
Tension headaches
Tension headaches are one of the most common type of headache and you tend to feel pressure or ache constantly especially at the back of your head or at temples of your head. The headache isn’t severe as we know about migraines and also doesn’t cause vomiting or nausea and rarely effect your daily activities.
Tension headaches can be easily treating using over the counter medications like aspirin acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen can easily help you get rid of tension headaches. Experts say that these headaches normally occur due to contraction of scalp or neck muscles or due to some changes that occur in brain chemicals.
Cluster headaches
Cluster headaches are more common in men than women. Such headaches are recurring and occur in cycles or groups. You tend to experience such headaches suddenly and gradually they get severe pain on one side of your head. It is also accompanied by nasal congestion and watery eye or runny nose on the same side of your face.
During the headache individuals get restless and getting comfortable becomes difficult. They also find it difficult to lie down like it happens in case of migraine. The cause for such headaches is still not known, but it is believed that it must be due to genetic component. Though there is no cure, but the duration and frequency of such headaches can be reduced.
Sinus headaches
When a sinus gets ignited because of infection, it can lead to pain. It starts with a mild fever and can be easily diagnosed through symptoms like existence of pus with the help of scope (fiber-optic). Antibiotics can be used to treat headaches caused due to sinus infections. Apart from antibiotics, decongestants and antihistamines can also be helpful.
Rebound headaches
Some people overuse painkillers for getting relief from headaches and this leads to rebound headaches in turn. People suffering from headaches overuse the over the-counter medications like aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), acetaminophen (Tylenol) as well as prescription drugs. As a result of overusing the medications, the brain gets into excited states resulting in more headaches.
Migraine headaches
Migraines are common in families and can be easily diagnosed using the following criteria
- At least 5 episodes of previous headaches.
- Headache lasts for 4 to 72 hours.
At least two symptoms of the following four throbbing pain, pain on one side, mild to severe pain and pain that disturbs routine activity. At least one related symptom like vomiting or nausea or sensitivity to sound and light. Some people suffering from migraine face hand numbness and visual distortion.