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Your Treatment Depends On Your Headache

Oh no, there is that headache pain again! To combat the pain, you will need to discover what headache you have. Headaches may be a symptom of a major disease or condition and your doctor will want to rule out those possibilities before discussing methods of treatments.

Your treatment will be decided on which headache you are experiencing. The most common type of headache is caused by stress or tension. They may feel like you have a tight rubber band around your skull. Eyestrain or a quirky movement of your neck may also cause tension headaches. Tension headaches can last up to three hours but last about 15 minutes. Women experience tension headaches more than men and they can be treated with aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen.

If your headache is severe, your head is throbbing and is nausea and vomiting it probably is a migraine. Migraines can be affect one side of your head and can last up to 72 hours. Usually a migraine will affect only one side of the head. Migraines are experienced more often in women. If your headache is diagnosed as a migraine, you may need a prescription medicine to treat it.

Lying down in a dark room and putting hot or cold compresses where the pain is found can ease migraine pain. You may also try a gentle massage and a small amount of caffeine. A migraine may intensify with normal routine activity.

Another form of headaches is called cluster headaches. These headaches occur off and on for several weeks at a time. Typically the pain starts abruptly and without warning. It normally reaches the maximum pain level within a few minutes. These will affect one side of your head and often you will have a runny nose and a red, watery eye with it.

Cluster headaches happen repeatedly for several months and many patients report having one or more headaches every day. This headache usually will only last for about 15 minutes but can last up to 3 hours. Patients with cluster headaches usually do not feel relief by lying in a dark, quiet room. They pace or rock their body to help ease the pain. Cluster headaches only affect about one percent of the population and cannot easily be treated with over-the-counter drugs. Prevention is the best treatment for cluster headaches.

If you have a headache nearly every day, daily chronic headaches might be your diagnosis. Chronic headaches affect a small portion of the population and you should contact your doctor. They may be a sign of a more serious problem. If no other serious problem is found, you should concentrate on preventive means of stopping these headaches.

If you are taking pain medications for headaches more than three days a week they could be caused by medication you are taking. A dull and throbbing pain often is a signal that you have taken too much medication for another pain. You might find that this headache will be more severe in the morning and fade away as the medication wears off.