When it comes to headaches, it may seem like pain is just pain. However, there are different types of headaches, defined by their variances in causes and symptoms. Identifying the kind of headaches you suffer from is essential to creating a treatment plan and can be the key to finding strategies to manage pain when an attack is on the horizon.
Tension Headache
As the most common type of headache, most everyone has experienced the dull, aching pain of a tension headache. The forehead, neck, and shoulder muscles may feel tender or “tight,” with a sense of pressure behind the eyes.
Tension headaches have a variety of causes: stress, caffeine, dehydration, hunger, and poor sleep. They can be treated with over-the-counter pain medication, but be sure to address the root cause as well by drinking more water, going to sleep earlier, or cutting back on caffeinated drinks.
Migraine
Migraines are intense headaches that inhibit the sufferer’s ability to function normally. While their cause isn’t fully understood, migraines often run in the family and can be triggered by things like stress, poor sleep, hormone fluctuations, and weather changes.
Migraines occur in three stages, though not everyone experiences distinctions between the phases of a migraine. Prodrome occurs hours or days before an attack and is characterized by low energy, mood swings, irritability, and anxiety. During the next phase, aura, the sufferer may have trouble speaking or seeing. They may experience visual disturbances, like bright spots or shapes. Among others, symptoms of the attack phase include an intense, pulsing, one-sided pain in the head; nausea and vomiting; sensitivity to light, sound, and smell; and dizziness.
Cluster Headache
Less common than migraines and tension headaches, cluster headaches are named such because they occur in a series of attacks, often several in a day, with each attack lasting 15 minutes to 3 hours. Cluster headaches can go on like this for a matter of days or even months, with the headaches typically occurring around the same time each day.
Besides the reoccurrence of the attack, symptoms of a cluster headache include piercing pain behind one eye, near one temple, or on one side of the head. On the affected side, nasal congestion, swelling, redness, and eye watering can occur.
For many, chiropractic care can be a useful treatment when it comes to addressing headaches and headache-related pain. For more information on treatment plans for headaches, contact the team at Crossroads Chiropractic.
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