Periodic pains in different parts of the head. Frequent headaches

Headache is one of the most common complaints. Although most often headache is not a sign of serious illness, yet there are times when it requires medical attention. If your head hurts more than ever before, you need urgent medical attention. If you are pregnant and have headaches, discuss this problem with your doctor.

About 90% of all headaches fall into one of three categories: tension headaches, headaches associated with promotion blood pressure , cluster headaches and migraine.

Tension headaches are often accompanied by muscle tension in the back and shoulders. They can be caused by emotional and psychological, depression and anxiety.

Pressure problems are the most common cause of headaches. If you have a chronic headache (3 or more times a week for several months), see your doctor.

Cluster (also called histamine-dependent) headaches are usually very severe. Most often they occur in middle-aged men. Cluster headache gets worse quickly and lasts from 30 minutes to 2 hours. There are no signs that herald the onset or end of a cluster headache attack.

Causes of migraine development

Migraine associated with job changes. nervous system, highlighting certain chemical substances in the brain and dilation of blood vessels. Possible migraine triggers include hunger, fatigue, bright lights, alcohol, caffeine, anxiety, stress, certain medications, factors environment and some products.

Symptoms

To the symptoms tension headache relate:

• persistent, non-throbbing headache;
• feeling of tension, pressure in the head and neck;
• a feeling of discomfort that does not increase or only slightly increases during the performance of everyday activities.

Learning to relax through meditation, hypnosis, music, video, and stress management techniques can help prevent tension headaches.

To the symptoms cluster headache relate:

• constant sharp pain in the eye area, often repeated at the same time of day;
• redness of the eye, tearing and congestion of the nostrils (on one side of the face);
• swelling of the eyelids.

If you have a cluster headache, it is not recommended to lie down, this can only worsen the condition. Conventional over-the-counter pain medications may not help with cluster headaches. Consult your doctor, he may prescribe special medications or suggest other therapies.

To the symptoms migraine relate:

• throbbing pain with increasing intensity;
• pain is often concentrated in one half of the head;
• pain that is aggravated by walking and any activity;
• painful sensitivity to light;
• nausea.

About 20% of migraine sufferers see bright spots or flashes of light just before the onset of another headache attack. These symptoms are called an aura. Some people have a sharp surge of strength and energy before a migraine attack. In most cases, migraines require professional diagnosis and medical attention. Contact your doctor and discuss your treatment. Your doctor may prescribe medication to relieve pain.

If you have rare headaches that do not cause much discomfort, you can deal with them yourself. It is recommended to consult a doctor for recurring headaches, for headaches that appeared after within the last 18 months, and for severe headaches lasting more than 3 days.

If a headache accompanied by nausea and, if the pain is very sharp or sharp, if the headache is accompanied by fever and stiff neck (inability to press the chin to the chest) or weakness or numbness of the arms and legs, difficulty speaking, blurred vision, uneven gait, then immediate treatment is required for medical help.

What can you do

Do special exercises for relaxation. Ask your doctor to show you these exercises. Take over-the-counter pain relievers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen to help relieve pain. However, they should not be abused. Too frequent use of such drugs can lead to the so-called rebound effect, and headache will appear again. Children should not be given acetylsalicylic acid (), because. its use can lead to a dangerous condition called Reye's syndrome (hepatocerebral syndrome).

Try to relax, rest or sleep in a dark, quiet room, keep your head up. Apply a cool compress to your head to relieve pain. Take a cool shower. Massage the muscles of the neck and shoulders.

What can a doctor do

Frequent or very intense headache require a visit to a doctor. Only a doctor can accurately determine the cause of headaches, if necessary, by conducting additional examinations. The doctor will also prescribe appropriate treatment, and in some cases will offer hospitalization for a detailed examination and selection of therapy.

Preventive measures

For headaches of any type, it is recommended to keep a special diary. This will determine the most common causes occurrence of headache. In the diary, you need to enter information about meals, sleep patterns, physical activity, work and household chores. Women should also record their periods as they hormonal changes can also affect headache. To prevent headaches, avoid any triggers you can identify in your diary.

Try to follow the routine. Eat around the same time, 3-6 times a day, in small portions. Get enough sleep, go to bed and get up at the same time, do gymnastics or sports regularly. Avoid stress whenever possible. Headache are often the result of fatigue, tension, emotional disturbances. If you smoke, it is recommended that you quit the habit as soon as possible. can provoke or exacerbate them.

At the same time, neuropathologists believe that the source of the problem is in the brain, therapists believe that it is in the vessels, and psychotherapists attribute everything to stress.

And each of these experts is right in their own way. There are many sources of headaches. This can be both lack of sleep, stress, osteochondrosis, a deficiency in the body of certain trace elements (potassium, copper, magnesium or phosphorus), as well as serious diseases, such as meningitis and even a brain tumor. Fortunately, only 5 out of 100 headache attacks are a reason for immediate hospitalization. In other cases, you can cope with malaise on your own.

This hat doesn't fit

Physicians have such a concept - "helmet of a neurotic", or "tension headache". It's about about the discomfort that occurs as a result of increased tone of the muscles of the neck and scalp for a long time. The cause of this ailment, as a rule, is physical overwork and emotional experiences, sometimes it is caused by excessive smoking and even clips or earrings that put pressure on certain points on the ear.

The "helmet of a neurotic" is usually bilateral, it is distinguished by a dull, monotonous, diffuse character of pain, the skull is as if squeezed by a hoop. It can be episodic - less than 15 days a month and chronic - more than 15 days a month for six months. Experts have noticed that this “headdress” is more often worn by patients who tend to negatively evaluate life events, that is, inveterate pessimists. In this case, pain is a bodily expression of anxiety, a manifestation of accumulated experiences and complexes. Such a problem can be eliminated with natural sedatives (chamomile tea, peony tincture, passionflower) and autogenic training. Self-massage of the head helps well: it relieves the same muscle tension - the cause of discomfort. There is even such a technique - "combing out" a headache with a massage brush. At the same time, blood circulation increases, and the muscles relax. Normal blood circulation is restored.

What to do: massage your fingertips with the tip of a pencil. Find the most painful point and press on it (this is a kind of home reflexology). Breathing exercises or aromatherapy help well. Try 5-10 minute hot foot or hand baths. Instead of a water treatment, you can put a wrung out hot towel on your forehead, massage your neck and shoulders, drink green tea (but without chocolate and sweets).

Insidious vessels

The cause of the headache may be a spasm or vasodilation. Most often, this problem worries those who lead a sedentary, sedentary lifestyle. Another category of unfortunate people suffering from such a headache is patients with vegetovascular dystonia and osteochondrosis. In this condition, the whole head splits at once. The pain is of a pulsating nature, “knocking at the temples”, the face looks puffy, the general condition is broken. In those who are subject to this ailment, the discomfort is aggravated by changes in the weather and a few days before menstruation. During pregnancy, the frequency of headaches decreases or they stop altogether, but, unfortunately, they resume after childbirth, as soon as the period of breastfeeding ends. In this case, home remedies will not help. We need medicines that stabilize blood vessels and relieve spasms (stugeron or no-shpa).

What to do: Moist compresses can relieve the pain a little - hot if the face turns pale during an attack, and cold if it turns red. Massage of the head and neck helps a lot. As a prevention of pain caused by blood vessels, experts recommend swimming. Fans of folk methods of treatment use herbal preparations containing hawthorn, cudweed, lemon balm. But to get involved in coffee and drugs with caffeine in this case is not worth it.

A monster named "Migraine"

The term "migraine" was introduced by the ancient Roman physician Galen. This is a complex disease, the main symptom of which is bouts of unbearable pain strictly in one half of the head. Doctors associate this pathology with a violation of the metabolism of serotonin, a substance involved in the transmission of nerve impulses. By the way, women are more likely to suffer from migraines. If your mother has suffered most of her life due to an unbearable headache, most likely, a similar fate awaits you. After all, migraine, as a rule, is inherited. The situation is aggravated if you lead the wrong way of life: you smoke, drink alcohol, move little and rarely go outside.

The first headaches can be observed in childhood. They are fully manifested by the age of 25-40. The attack can last from 4 hours to 3 days, accompanied by nausea, sometimes vomiting, increased sensitivity to light and sounds. It is often preceded by such special effects as flickering flashes of light followed by a "veil before the eyes", a narrowing of the field of view, a split image.

What to do: in the first phase of migraine, vasodilators are used: dibazol with papaverine, nicotinic acid, trental, stugeron. On the second - vasoconstrictor: ergot preparations. During an attack, rest in a darkened room is necessary, as well as a light massage or warm baths for hands with essential oils lavender, lemon, peppermint, marjoram.

"Wrong" sausage

Scientists have recently found that headaches can be associated with food intolerance to certain foods. The reason is in substances that affect blood vessels. First of all, it is tyramine, which can be found in chocolate, long-aged cheese, yogurt, sour cream, salted or pickled fish, canned seafood (crabs, shrimp), smoked meat, sausages, as well as in all types of beer. This substance is insidious in that its amount in products increases during long-term storage.

Another chemical element that causes the so-called sausage headache is sodium nitrate. And monosodium glutamate, found in many dishes and sauces of Chinese cuisine, is the source of the malaise with the sonorous name "Chinese restaurant headache." If you are not a fan of oriental cuisine, do not rush to rejoice. This substance can be encountered in bouillon cubes, potato and corn chips, flavored crackers, and some dry soups.

Caffeine deserves special attention. It is curious that he causes discomfort not by his presence, but by his absence - this is the so-called abuse headache. In this case, people suffer from a shortage of their favorite coffee, cola or tea. A sharp refusal of these drinks is accompanied by throbbing headaches in the temporal regions, weakness, irritation, absent-mindedness, anxiety, fear, sleep disturbance and nausea.

What to do: A prerequisite for recovery is diet. Switch to a non-eating diet harmful products. Phytotherapy, methods of cleansing the body and kinesiotherapy (a special method of physiotherapy exercises) have an excellent effect.

Attention!

Don't put off seeing a doctor if the headache gets worse, the pills don't help, or the discomfort keeps coming back for days or weeks. If the disease is accompanied by visual impairment, dizziness, it is necessary to visit a specialist as soon as possible.

Only 5 out of 100 headache attacks are a reason for hospitalization

• Whole head - fever, colds, infectious diseases
• Forehead (both sides above the eye sockets) - eye diseases, improperly selected glasses
• Whiskey on both sides, back of the head - throbbing vascular headache (with hypertension)
• Hoop (passes through the forehead, temples, back of the head) - with tension headache
• Behind the ear (on one side), temple - dental problems or otitis media
• Temple (on one side) - migraine

Expert opinion

Larisa Novikova, neuropathologist of the highest category

Certainly in the treatment of headaches great value has a normalization of the daily routine, that is, compliance with the rules rational nutrition, mandatory alternation of work and rest, limitation of emotional stress (primarily negative), good sleep. But, unfortunately, these measures are not always enough. And only a specialist can understand the true cause of a headache. If the use of first aid is not effective, do not postpone a visit to a specialist. After all, early diagnosis of the disease is the key to successful treatment.

Headache Stars

Tatiana Arno:

- I am a happy person - I almost never have a headache. This attack happened to me only two or three times in my life. At the same time, in order to come to my senses, I did not need to rest, drink special teas or decoctions, or take wonderful baths. When this happened, I was saved by a regular aspirin tablet. Apparently, this is just a feature of my body, which, seeing how others suffer, I am very glad.

Yana Rudkovskaya:

“A warm, relaxing bath is the best remedy for my headaches. I always add stress relievers to the water - salts, gels, balls and rose petals. If there is no time for water procedures, then I wipe my face with a piece of ice, in which I dilute an ampoule of collagen-elastin before freezing. The procedure kills two birds with one stone: the pain goes away and the contours of the face are tightened at the same time.

Alexander Malinin:

- You see, I live in such a rhythm that there is no time to pay attention to such trifles as a headache. I relieve unpleasant symptoms by drinking an analgin tablet and turning on calm, pacifying, best of all classical music. But if the problem occurs frequently, you need to see a doctor and look for the immediate cause of its occurrence. After all, a headache can be the result of a cold, overwork, problems with blood vessels.

Material provided by the magazine "AiF Pro Health" No. 12, 2008

Pain in the head is a sign of a violation in the functioning of cerebral circulation. This type of pain is most common in medical practice. This is not only an unpleasant consequence caused by a provocative external or internal factor, but also a possible symptom of the disease in human body. The first step is to determine the causes of regular headaches, this will help you choose a way to deal with them.

A persistent headache must have a cause, which can be caused by:

• stressful situation;
• lack or excess of sleep;
• eye strain;
• hormonal failure;
• long-term acceptance medicines;
• overweight;
• head injury;
• drinking alcohol;
• chronic fatigue.

stressful situations

Although minor stress does not harm the body, being in a state of constant stress and tension leads to daily headaches and insomnia.

Sleep deprivation or excess

Healthy sleep restores the physical and psychological state of the body as a whole. With a lack of sleep or, conversely, with an excess of sleep, pain in the head can occur, which over time can become regular. For normal functioning and the absence of unpleasant consequences, a person needs to sleep for 6-7 hours during the day.

Eye strain

When working with papers or at a computer monitor for a long time, with improperly selected glasses or not too bright lighting in the room, overstrain of the eye muscles occurs, which can provoke severe pain in the head.

Hormonal disbalance

Changes in hormone levels can be the reason why your head hurts every day. Such changes in hormonal background most often occur in women during the menstrual and premenstrual period, during menopause or menopause, as well as pregnancy.

Taking medication

Long-term use of medications can also cause daily headaches, such as when taking painkillers. It may also be a signal that some medicine prescribed by the doctor is not suitable for you, and daily headaches are just side effect, which can be eliminated by replacing the drug with an analogue.

Overweight

If you have a headache every day with excess weight, this is a sign of the body about a possible disease.

Head injury

Head pain from a traumatic brain injury can last 2-8 weeks. If the attacks do not stop after, you should consult a doctor in connection with chronic post-traumatic headache.

Alcohol consumption

A certain dose of an alcoholic drink or a poor tolerance for alcohol can lead to discomfort.

Possible consequences

Regular pain in the head is in itself a consequence that can occur if the treatment of the disease is started, it can also be a signal from the body about the appearance of health problems. In addition, pain can develop into a serious illness - migraine, if you do not take action to get rid of pain. The consequences of daily headaches can also be:

• dizziness,
• nausea,
• prostration,
• vomit,
• depression,
• insomnia,
• temperature, etc.

Headache is a possible symptom

Daily headaches vary in strength and frequency throughout the day, and may be the body's signal of an illness. In addition, headache may also be accompanied by other symptoms, such as dizziness, nausea, blackouts, vomiting, etc.
List of possible diseases with a similar symptom:

• traumatic brain injury;
• hypertension;
• oncological disease;
• osteochondrosis in the cervical region;
• meningitis;
• intoxication;
• glaucoma;
• diabetes;
• hormonal disbalance;
• atherosclerosis.

You should also not forget that the most common cause of headaches that occur daily in a person can be fatigue, overexertion, etc.

The main types of pain

1. Stress, pressure drops, active mental work and overstrain most often lead to regular pain in the temples. This also leads to a running migraine and prolonged use of drugs, to which the body can become addicted.
2. If your head hurts every day in the neck area, this may be a sign of high blood pressure, disease cervical spine (for example, osteochondrosis) or a strong load on this area, as well as a sign of a neurological disease.
3. In the frontal part of the head, pain can occur due to written work or a long stay at the computer, when in a noisy or crowded place, due to visual strain. Pain in the frontal part can also be a signal for a number of diseases, such as:
   1. neoplasms or vascular diseases brain,
   2. mental illness,
   3. chronic intoxication (infectious or toxic) and others.

1. The reason why pain can occur in the morning and even persist all day is lack of sleep or, conversely, too much sleep. AT last case(and during daytime sleep every day) pain occurs due to an increase in the influx of a special fluid - cerebrospinal fluid, which washes the brain.
2. If nausea or dizziness has been added to your problem, in the first case this may be due to increased or reduced pressure, with obesity or intoxication of the body.
   In the second case, dizziness and fainting are added with severe injuries, with cerebral edema or with strong attack migraine.
3. Weakness in the form of tingling of the fingers and toes or their numbness, as well as a feeling of heaviness in the back of the head, can be a sign of a serious illness, such as:
   1. meningitis,
   2. infection of the tissues of the brain or spinal cord,
   3. arthritis, etc.

1. The temperature is usually added for colds and infectious diseases, for meningitis and during the menstrual cycle.
2. Throbbing pain is associated with:
   1. vegetative diseases,
   2. tumors
   3. with mastocytosis,
   4. drinking alcohol or due to stressful situations.

1. Pressive pain is a more common type of pain, usually due to overexertion or too long work, but it can also be a symptom of a brain abscess, encephalitis and other diseases.

What to do for headaches

First of all, you need to consult a doctor if your head hurts every day for a long time, so self-medication is recommended only in the initial period. Depending on the type of pain and its strength, the doctor will prescribe necessary tests, which may include:

• general and clinical analysis of blood;
• ultrasound dopplerography (otherwise ultrasound) of the vessels of the cervical and head;
• MRI of the cervical region, brain, and back;
• electroencephalography (otherwise EGG);
• lipidogram;
• consultation with an ophthalmologist, psychologist or other specialists.

It is important to find out the nature of the pain and identify the cause of their occurrence, and then get rid of it. Pills (analgesics and painkillers) only temporarily reduce the headache, and therefore are not a solution to the problem.

To get rid of most types of headaches, you can usually do the following:

• taking a shower or a warm bath;
• a walk in the fresh air;
• massage of the head, temples or neck;
• physical warm-up of the shoulders and neck;
• warm milk with a little honey or hot tea with valerian, lemon balm, motherwort and other herbs with a calming effect.

• breathe fresh air more often (walk and ventilate the room where you are);
• avoid noise and harsh sounds as much as possible;
• observe a strict sleep regimen - sleep 6-7 hours a day;
• avoid odors and strong tastes;
• apply a cold compress to the forehead;
• use aromatherapy with lemon, lavender, rose and other oils;
• include more vegetables and fruits in the diet;
• avoid sudden changes in temperature;
• in cold weather, use a hat;
• avoid stress and anxiety;
• use a deep breathing exercise that involves the abdominal muscles;
• doctors advise sleeping in a room with good ventilation and an average temperature;
• repeat eye exercises daily;
• drink enough liquid throughout the day;
• relax the muscles of the shoulders and neck with a massage;
• take a vacation if possible;
• turn on the TV or computer as rarely as possible;
• plan rest and working hours.

Head pain prevention

Preventive actions are also important in getting rid of headaches in order to avoid their recurrence.

Several practical advice how to avoid headaches:

1. do not slouch, do not lean on the armrests of the chairs, this causes the muscles of the neck, shoulders and head to strain;
2. it is not recommended to make the chin a fulcrum (for example, press it to the chest);

In the meantime, headaches can turn into chronic ones and significantly ruin your life. What kind of headache does serious illness? And what is the disease itself? Let's try to figure out how to distinguish between headaches and how to treat them.

Tension pain

This is the most common type of headache in the world - each of us has experienced it at least once in a lifetime. They don't repeat often. chronic form acquired in 3% of cases.

signs. Feels like pressure or tightness around the circumference of the top of the head. It may seem that the muscles of the forehead and eye sockets are too tense, but you cannot relax them. The duration of such pain varies from half an hour to a week, the intensity usually increases in the evening.

Possible reasons. Tension pain may be due to excessive stress or injury to the muscles of the head and neck. However, when diagnosing the source of pain, as a rule, remains "uncertain".

How to treat. Since the pains rarely become regular, the best remedy for them is simple painkillers, such as ibuprofen or paracetamol. If the pain does not go away for more than a week, you can try to do light physical education, regularly stretch your shoulders and neck, and spend more time in the air to level out stress. Chronic tension pain is treated with medication as prescribed by a doctor.

Migraine

signs. Migraines are recurring pains on one side of the head that last about 4 hours or longer. Typically, migraine episodes recur and can lead to dizziness, nausea, and photophobia (photophobia). Sometimes, before the onset of an attack, patients experience visual anomalies - they see bright colored rings and stripes - or feel a slight tingling all over their body.

Possible reasons. The mechanism of migraine occurrence has long been the subject of debate in scientific circles. Now doctors are sure that this is definitely not a mental illness. It is associated with impaired brain function, but with what, it is not known for certain. It is noted that during the onset of pain, the blood vessels of the head expand greatly, and abnormal electrical activity occurs on the cerebral cortex.

How to treat. Approximately 20% of migraine sufferers experience pain after a certain external influence - a pungent odor, a loud monotonous sound, cigarette smoke, etc. Doctors simply advise such patients to avoid "risk factors", while the rest are left to drink medicines as directed (the most effective are triptans, but they act almost like a drug - the more you drink, the worse it heals). Unfortunately, migraine cannot be completely cured, and simple painkillers will hardly help the cause.

cluster pain

These pains affect approximately 1% of the total population of the planet, and in 80% of cases these are men.

signs. This is an intense throbbing pain on one side of the head, usually in the front, near the eye. It lasts from 15 minutes to an hour and is accompanied by redness of the eyes, tearing, runny nose, and a rush of blood to the head. It usually occurs at the same time of day with uniform time intervals - once a week, a month, two, and so on. Sometimes it reaches such severity that a person cannot not only function normally - even move and talk.

Possible reasons. Unknown.

How to treat. This type of pain is difficult to treat because it occurs episodically and can disappear as unpredictably as it appeared. For prolonged attacks, oxygen therapy is used (the patient breathes through a mask) and drug injections as prescribed by a doctor.

Hangover

signs. Obvious.

Possible reasons. There is a lot of conjecture about exactly how alcohol contributes to headaches. One of them says that alcohol dilates the vessels of the brain and disrupts the work of the neurotransmitter serotonin, a substance through which electrical signals are transmitted from one nerve cell to another. Both of these symptoms are observed in migraine pain. In addition, alcohol dries out the body, and dehydration is also known to trigger migraine attacks.

How to treat. The best remedy- a paracetamol tablet and good dream. But it's still not worth treating a hangover with a joke. If your head hurts even after a small dose of alcohol, you may be suffering from a migraine, and alcohol just pushes the attacks.

Brain tumor

Hypochondriacs and simply worried patients often link headaches to brain cancer. We hasten to reassure: in fact, only 4% of tumor formations appear in this way.

signs. If the pain is still associated with a tumor, they usually appear in the morning and are accompanied by vomiting. The episodes recur periodically and get worse and worse over time. If against this background there is a sharp weight loss, personality changes and convulsive seizures, this is an occasion to undergo a brain examination.

Possible reasons. When the tumor grows to a certain size, an increase in brain volume leads to an increase in intracranial pressure. Hence the initial symptoms.

How to treat. Depends on the location, size and type of education.

intracranial bleeding

Having received an injury to the head vessels, a person may not understand this immediately. Sometimes hemorrhage appears several hours after the rupture of the vessel, but is potentially very dangerous.

signs. Sudden, increasing pain in any part of the head. Accompanied by visual impairment, speech skills, coordination, personality disorders, nausea. Symptoms come on in turns and get worse over time. Eventually, the person may lose consciousness.

Possible reasons. A vessel rupture can occur as a result of trauma (strong impact) or due to excessive thinning of its walls.

How to treat. First of all, the doctor will need to remove the accumulated blood from the skull, since the hematoma will put pressure on the brain, damaging it. Then it is extremely important to find out the cause of the hemorrhage: if it was not preceded by obvious trauma, the gaps may recur. Such patients need examination of the vessels of the brain.

Temporal arteritis

The disease usually occurs in people aged 50 and older and can lead to total blindness if left untreated.

signs. Severe headaches occur against the background of weight loss, insomnia, depression, sometimes elevated temperature and redness of the scalp. The shoulder and neck can also hurt.

Possible reasons. Many different factors can trigger the disease, including viral infections. A strong attack on the immune system causes it to malfunction and causes the immune system to attack the walls of the blood vessels. Among the other "provocateurs" of arteritis are uncontrolled medication, intense exposure sunlight, alcoholism, hypothermia and various injuries.

How to treat. The most commonly used steroid drugs that stop the inflammation of the blood vessels. If there are associated problems with vision (for example, clouding of the lens), an ophthalmologist should be involved in the treatment.