Headache is one of the most frequent complaints of people seeking help from specialists. It indicates that some processes are disturbed in the body. Headache can be due to overwork, taking medications, injuries, serious illnesses. If this symptom is often tormented, then do not ignore it. It is very important to contact a specialist in time and find out what causes a headache every day.
Arterial hypertension
Headache may be associated with arterial hypertension. This is a chronic condition of the cardiovascular system, a disease characterized by a persistent increase in blood pressure (abbreviated designation - HELL) from 140/90 mm RT. Art. and higher. Arterial hypertension affects about 20-30% of adults. With age, this figure increases. Somewhere, 50% of people over 60 have a chronic disease.
In people suffering from arterial hypertension, the pressure is increased, the head hurts in the early hours. The place of localization of pain is the occipital region. It is worth noting that pain may not occur with mild or moderate increase in pressure. They are always observed only with a rapid increase in blood pressure more than 200/120 mm RT. Art.
Arterial hypotension
If your head often hurts, what are the reasons? One answer to this question is arterial hypotension. This is a condition in which blood pressure is 90/60 mm Hg. Art. and less. He is characterized by a headache. It can be dull, constricting, bursting or pulsating. The place of its localization is the frontotoparietal or frontotemporal temporal region. With arterial hypotension, the following symptoms are also observed:
- weakness;
- lethargy in the morning, drowsiness;
- Dizziness
- emotional instability;
- sensitivity to weather conditions;
- pallor;
- palpitations and shortness of breath during exercise.
Specialists have created a classification of arterial hypotension. There are acute and chronic varieties. The latter is divided, in turn, into physiological, primary and secondary. Acute hypotension is a sharp decrease in blood pressure. A similar condition is observed with blood loss, acute myocardial infarction.
Low blood pressure, headache ... Sometimes absolutely healthy people notice such symptoms in themselves. An example would be athletes. With constant physical exertion, they have low pressure. This feature is an adaptive reaction of the body, a preventive measure. This type of arterial hypotension is called physiological.
The primary species is considered an independent ailment. It is not a consequence of any pathologies, does not occur against the background of existing diseases. Doctors see in primary hypotension a special form of neurosis-like disease of the vasomotor centers of the brain. But the secondary variety is observed in various diseases (for example, with heart failure, brain injuries, arrhythmias).
Subarachnoid hemorrhage
Suddenly occurring diffuse or occipital pain may be inherent in subarachnoid hemorrhage. With this term (abbreviated designation - NAO), specialists refer to the accumulation of blood in the cavity between the soft and arachnoid meninges. Hemorrhage occurs suddenly due to rupture of an arterial aneurysm or a traumatic brain injury.
People who have experienced subarachnoid hemorrhage note that the pain they experienced was the most severe of those they encountered in their life. Other symptoms of SAH include nausea, vomiting, and loss of consciousness. With hemorrhage, a person needs urgent medical attention. This is a very dangerous condition that can lead to death or severe disability.
Intracerebral hemorrhage
Diffuse or local intense pain can be a symptom of intracerebral hemorrhage. This is the entry of blood into the substance of the brain. Hemorrhage occurs when the altered walls of the cerebral vessels rupture or during diapedesis (the exit of blood elements from the vessels in violation of their permeability and tone).
Who could face this dangerous condition? Most often, hemorrhage occurs in people in adulthood and old age due to cerebral atherosclerosis, hypertension. Much less often, the causes are blood diseases, inflammatory changes in the cerebral vessels. Brain hemorrhage sometimes occurs in young people. The most common reason is the use of drugs.
Brain education
If the head often hurts, what are the reasons? An unpleasant symptom can be caused by various brain formations (hematomas, tumors, abscesses). The pain is most often diffuse. Sometimes it occurs in the place where the volumetric formation is localized. In the early stages of the disease, it makes itself felt in the morning and is weak. As the disease progresses, the nature of the pain changes. She becomes constant and stronger. Other symptoms indicating the presence of volumetric formations include:
- vomiting without nausea;
- the appearance of oculomotor disorders;
- memory impairment;
- behavior change, etc.
It is worth noting that pain sometimes occurs when the head is tilted, coughing, straining, and physical stress. Such a symptom may be characteristic of tumors of the posterior cranial fossa. Pain that occurs in these situations and is short-term, can occur without intracranial pathologies.
Inflammation of the paranasal sinuses
If the head often hurts in the forehead, heaviness is felt near the nose, then this is sinusitis. This term means inflammation of the mucous membrane lining one or more sinuses. Sinusitis occurs as a complication of influenza, runny nose, and infectious diseases. Bacteria and viruses provoke inflammation.
Pain and severity with sinusitis are not the only symptoms. Other signs of the disease are:
- nasal congestion;
- fever;
- purulent discharge from the nose;
- soreness when tapping the area of the affected sinus.
Acute angle-closure glaucoma
The term "glaucoma" refers to an eye disease for which such an attribute as an increase in intraocular pressure is inherent. There are 2 forms of this ailment. One of them is called angle-glaucoma. It occurs due to contact between the trabecular network and the iris. With an ailment, outflow of intraocular fluid from the eye becomes difficult, the functioning of the trabecular network is disrupted. As a result, intraocular pressure rises.
Acute angle-closure glaucoma is what causes headaches every day in some people. With this disease, people complain of pain in the eye area, vision of the rainbow circles around the light source, visual impairment. To confirm or exclude angle-closure glaucoma, intraocular pressure is measured.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
When the head often hurts, the reasons may lie in a long-received head injury. Pain can torment for an extended period. Her character is dull, diffuse and intensified during physical exertion. Usually this symptom is accompanied by memory impairment, decreased attention, poor sleep, dizziness, fatigue and psycho-emotional disorders.
In some cases, there are suspicious signs such as an increase in headache, drowsiness, confusion, a change in the size of the pupils, asymmetry of reflexes. They may not be the consequences of a head injury, but symptoms of a chronic subdural hematoma.
Tension headache
A headache of tension, symptoms and treatment of an ailment is a very relevant topic today. What is meant by the named concept? This is a common type of primary pain. Currently, it is called differently. Specialists use a new term - a headache of the tensive type.
This symptom can occur at any age. It begins to manifest itself most often after 25 years. Tension pain is characterized by moderate intensity. In almost all cases, it is bilateral, and the place of its localization is the temporal, frontal and occipital areas. For pain, a compressive effect is characteristic. It lasts, as a rule, from several minutes to several days. Vomiting is not observed. Sometimes there is nausea, sound and photophobia.
A headache of tension, the symptoms and treatment of which are known to about 20% of the inhabitants of our planet, has a different etiology. The causes of pain are various:
- getting into stressful situations;
- sleep disturbance;
- irregular nutrition;
- Too high or too low ambient temperature;
- hormonal disorders;
- excessive eye strain, etc.
Pain when taking medication
If the head often hurts, the reasons may lie in the medication taken. The following drugs cause a painful symptom:
- vasodilator (calcium antagonists, nitrates, chimes)
- anticonvulsants;
- corticosteroids;
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory;
- lipid-lowering;
- antihistamines;
- estrogens;
- antibacterial.
Visit to a specialist
If headaches periodically torment, then you need to seek help. Behind this symptom are life-threatening diseases. If my head hurts often, which doctor can help? First you need to make an appointment with the therapist and tell him about your problem. It is very important to bring to the specialist all the important information, because the effectiveness of treatment depends on this.
So, at the reception should tell:
- in which area of the head is the pain localized;
- what time of day she makes herself felt;
- when the pain first occurred (for example, a few days ago);
- when the pain becomes maximum;
- what additional suspicious symptoms are observed with a headache;
- Are any medications taken?
- how many pain attacks per day;
- are there any diseases.
It is imperative to express your point of view about why pain could have arisen. Maybe a few weeks (months, years) ago, an injury or blow to the head was received. This is very important information that will help a specialist determine the cause of a headache.
The therapist, after listening to all the complaints, will prescribe the necessary examinations (blood test, radiography, computed tomography, etc.). The doctor will also give a referral to the necessary specialist (for example, to the otolaryngologist in the presence of diseases associated with the ear, throat, nose, head, neurologist to exclude or confirm ailments related to the nervous system) in order to finally find out why the patient often has pain head.
The reasons (what to do, we described above) for the appearance of such a symptom, as is clear from all of the above, are different. But summing up, it is worth noting that only 5% of patients who turn to doctors with complaints of a headache have serious diseases. Despite this, do not refuse to make a visit to a specialist. The doctor will find out the real cause of the pain and give advice on how to get rid of this painful symptom.