OK It really depends on the type of headache you have. So I will give you the major types of headaches and the symptoms. You may have a migraine or you may have a cervicogenic migraine. Each is treated differently.
Migraine- One sided, more common in females, Sensitivity to light, pain behind one eye, throbbing, brought on by bright lights, chocolate, cheese, red wine or menstrual cycle.
Can also have an aura and have a funny taste.
Hypertension- At the top and back of your head. Throbbing. You usually wake up with this headache and after about 3 hours it subsides. Usually caused by High Blood pressure. Need medicines to reduce blood pressure.
Cluster Headache, adolescent to adult, more common in males, one sided, usually over temple or eye area, may have a blood shot eye, wakes you up at night, runny nose, sweating, tearing of the eyes, Worse in spring or fall, lasts 15min- 2hrs. relief for a little bit and then comes right back.
Muscular tension- A band-like distribution around head (like wearing a very tight head band). Brought on by stress, tension, fatigue, work.
Temporal Arteritis- Only over age 50. One sided over temple area, pain in jaw, burning, aching throbbing, sensitive scalp, fever. tender arteries. If visual symptoms- go to ER with this one.
Cervicogenic(neck caused)- Pain in upper neck and back of head. Pain when moving the head. daily, reduced movement in neck area. Brought on by stress, head movement and head alignment. Can mimic a migraine including nausea. If it is a head and neck related alignment you can have temporal headaches or headaches that arc from behind the ear forward. Possible sharp pain behind your ear at the base of the skull along with correlated shoulder pain. Can last for days and weeks at a time until misalignment is corrected. Very little or only short term relief when taking headache medications.
Sinus- Localized, certain positions are worse, steady throb, worse in the morning.
Subarachnoid Hemorrhage- abrupt onset, constant stiff neck, feels like someone hit you in the head, Caused by high blood pressure, stress or aneurysm. Life threatening.
Brain Tumor- Onset morning and evening, varies from mild to severe, may throb, wakes you up at night, symptoms getting worse, neck stiffness worse than ever.
Subdural Hematoma- caused by trauma. It is a slow bleed in the brain. Natasha Richardson died from something like this.
OK now that I have told you the types of headaches. Here is what you do for them.
Migraines, muscular tension, cervicogenic, and some sinus and cluster headaches can be helped by a chiropractor. If it is sinus, you need to ask the chiropractor if they have a sinus/cranial treatment (not all do).
For Hypertension, cluster, temporal arteritis (unless it has visual component) and brain tumor- go see your doctor
For Temporal arteritis with visual impairment, subarachnoid hemorrhage and subdural hematoma, go to the Emergency Room right away.
Migraines seem to appear with age. I started getting them once every few months when I was 24 and then they increased progressively to one a week by age 27. I don't think I've ever had throbbing in the chest, but I have had all the other symptoms with my migraines. When they started occurring too frequently for me to ignore, I began to look for new solutions. I know quite a few people who are on medication for migraines. I hate taking extra meds, especially since they have not seemed to help anyone I know. It's bad enough that they don't always work, but add to that taking a pill everyday, and a lot of negative side effects. I used to take Excedrin and it seemed to help, but the worse they got, the less it worked. Also, taking more than one dose of Excedrin can cause a rebound headache. I was hesitant, but I decided to start seeing a chiropractor due to the success stories of others. (If that is an option for you make sure you find a good one, some of the bad stories are true about some chiropractors, but the good ones know what they're doing) My x-ray showed a few subluxations (sort of nerve pinching) in my upper neck that were contributing to the problem. I have only been going to the chiropractor for 5 months, but now I only get about 1-2 migraines a month rather than one a week. There are also other remedies... magnesium supplements, feverfew, lavender oil on the temples, drinking gatorade, a migraine relief roll on stick called "HeadOn" found near all the headache medicine in most pharmacies, an ice pack on the head or neck (a ziplock bag with ice, wrapped in a towel if you can't take the cold), a little neck massage (usually you can feel the points that are causing the migraine if you apply a little pressure on them). Sometimes applying pressure with a fingertip moving with a tiny circular motion for about 10 seconds can help. Also, stay away from MSG (monosodium glutamate). It's not only in chinese food, you can also find it in some spice mixes like taco seasoning, different types of snack foods, seasoned rices, etc... When I have a migraine come on fast I drink a large glass of gatorade, lie in a dark room with lavender oil on my temples, HeadOn on my forehead, and an ice pack on the spot that hurts the most. It sucks just lying there, but watching tv, reading, or using the computer usually make it worse (and if you can do any of those things you probably don't have an actual migraine anyway). I take Excedrine at the first sign of a migraine (if it's not too late at night - it has caffine), then about 5 hours later I take 800 mg of ibprofen, and then if I need to, I will take Tylenol PM before bed to fall asleep. Hope this helps... it's taken me years to come up with anything that works.
Great answer (above) regarding the different types of headaches! I definitely recommend Chiropractic for chronic migraine sufferers. Quite often, I will also prescribe medications(s) to supplement treatment, if over-the-counter medications have failed. There are several options for medical and alternative treatments. Generally, the best first step is to keep a headache diary to identify what your migraine triggers are. That way, you can avoid triggers to reduce the frequency of headaches. Sometimes it's a matter of getting more sleep, and reducing stress. I know this is not always easy in today's world! As always, talk to your health provider about the best option for you. It's very important to see someone who will listen to your concerns!
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OK It really depends on the type of headache you have. So I will give you the major types of headaches and the symptoms. You may have a migraine or you may have a cervicogenic migraine. Each is treated differently.
Migraine- One sided, more common in females, Sensitivity to light, pain behind one eye, throbbing, brought on by bright lights, chocolate, cheese, red wine or menstrual cycle.
Can also have an aura and have a funny taste.
Hypertension- At the top and back of your head. Throbbing. You usually wake up with this headache and after about 3 hours it subsides. Usually caused by High Blood pressure. Need medicines to reduce blood pressure.
Cluster Headache, adolescent to adult, more common in males, one sided, usually over temple or eye area, may have a blood shot eye, wakes you up at night, runny nose, sweating, tearing of the eyes, Worse in spring or fall, lasts 15min- 2hrs. relief for a little bit and then comes right back.
Muscular tension- A band-like distribution around head (like wearing a very tight head band). Brought on by stress, tension, fatigue, work.
Temporal Arteritis- Only over age 50. One sided over temple area, pain in jaw, burning, aching throbbing, sensitive scalp, fever. tender arteries. If visual symptoms- go to ER with this one.
Cervicogenic(neck caused)- Pain in upper neck and back of head. Pain when moving the head. daily, reduced movement in neck area. Brought on by stress, head movement and head alignment. Can mimic a migraine including nausea. If it is a head and neck related alignment you can have temporal headaches or headaches that arc from behind the ear forward. Possible sharp pain behind your ear at the base of the skull along with correlated shoulder pain. Can last for days and weeks at a time until misalignment is corrected. Very little or only short term relief when taking headache medications.
Sinus- Localized, certain positions are worse, steady throb, worse in the morning.
Subarachnoid Hemorrhage- abrupt onset, constant stiff neck, feels like someone hit you in the head, Caused by high blood pressure, stress or aneurysm. Life threatening.
Brain Tumor- Onset morning and evening, varies from mild to severe, may throb, wakes you up at night, symptoms getting worse, neck stiffness worse than ever.
Subdural Hematoma- caused by trauma. It is a slow bleed in the brain. Natasha Richardson died from something like this.
OK now that I have told you the types of headaches. Here is what you do for them.
Migraines, muscular tension, cervicogenic, and some sinus and cluster headaches can be helped by a chiropractor. If it is sinus, you need to ask the chiropractor if they have a sinus/cranial treatment (not all do).
For Hypertension, cluster, temporal arteritis (unless it has visual component) and brain tumor- go see your doctor
For Temporal arteritis with visual impairment, subarachnoid hemorrhage and subdural hematoma, go to the Emergency Room right away.
I hope this helps.
I wish you the best.
Migraines seem to appear with age. I started getting them once every few months when I was 24 and then they increased progressively to one a week by age 27. I don't think I've ever had throbbing in the chest, but I have had all the other symptoms with my migraines. When they started occurring too frequently for me to ignore, I began to look for new solutions. I know quite a few people who are on medication for migraines. I hate taking extra meds, especially since they have not seemed to help anyone I know. It's bad enough that they don't always work, but add to that taking a pill everyday, and a lot of negative side effects. I used to take Excedrin and it seemed to help, but the worse they got, the less it worked. Also, taking more than one dose of Excedrin can cause a rebound headache. I was hesitant, but I decided to start seeing a chiropractor due to the success stories of others. (If that is an option for you make sure you find a good one, some of the bad stories are true about some chiropractors, but the good ones know what they're doing) My x-ray showed a few subluxations (sort of nerve pinching) in my upper neck that were contributing to the problem. I have only been going to the chiropractor for 5 months, but now I only get about 1-2 migraines a month rather than one a week. There are also other remedies... magnesium supplements, feverfew, lavender oil on the temples, drinking gatorade, a migraine relief roll on stick called "HeadOn" found near all the headache medicine in most pharmacies, an ice pack on the head or neck (a ziplock bag with ice, wrapped in a towel if you can't take the cold), a little neck massage (usually you can feel the points that are causing the migraine if you apply a little pressure on them). Sometimes applying pressure with a fingertip moving with a tiny circular motion for about 10 seconds can help. Also, stay away from MSG (monosodium glutamate). It's not only in chinese food, you can also find it in some spice mixes like taco seasoning, different types of snack foods, seasoned rices, etc... When I have a migraine come on fast I drink a large glass of gatorade, lie in a dark room with lavender oil on my temples, HeadOn on my forehead, and an ice pack on the spot that hurts the most. It sucks just lying there, but watching tv, reading, or using the computer usually make it worse (and if you can do any of those things you probably don't have an actual migraine anyway). I take Excedrine at the first sign of a migraine (if it's not too late at night - it has caffine), then about 5 hours later I take 800 mg of ibprofen, and then if I need to, I will take Tylenol PM before bed to fall asleep. Hope this helps... it's taken me years to come up with anything that works.
Great answer (above) regarding the different types of headaches! I definitely recommend Chiropractic for chronic migraine sufferers. Quite often, I will also prescribe medications(s) to supplement treatment, if over-the-counter medications have failed. There are several options for medical and alternative treatments. Generally, the best first step is to keep a headache diary to identify what your migraine triggers are. That way, you can avoid triggers to reduce the frequency of headaches. Sometimes it's a matter of getting more sleep, and reducing stress. I know this is not always easy in today's world! As always, talk to your health provider about the best option for you. It's very important to see someone who will listen to your concerns!
I just posted an article on this very topic.
http://thedailyhealthreview.com/blog/2011/11/28/mi...
Good luck!
I get them bad too it can be very painful. Drink a soda caffeine helps or take pills my doc gave me some pills that had caffeine in them