Pain in the back of the head on the left can be caused by a number of different reasons. It is worth noting that, in itself, a headache is one of the most common symptoms in various diseases, which is one of the ten popular reasons for applying for sick leave. Although to many this symptom seems quite ordinary and standard, it is a very unpleasant pain, which can vary in intensity and strength, the causes of occurrence.
Features of pain
Pain in the back of the head on the left, like any other headache, can be called scientific cephalgia. There are two types of it - primary and secondary. Primary headache is in no way associated with other diseases, this situation occurs in 90-95 percent of cases. The secondary is provoked by one reason or another. It is worth noting that only two to four percent of headaches become a sign of a serious illness of the body when a life threat occurs.
Popular types of primary pain include migraine headaches, in most cases one-sided, and two-sided tension headaches. In this case, almost all parts of the head - temporal, frontal, parietal, occipital, can be unpleasant.
Left occipital lobe
In this article, we will understand what causes pain in the back of the head on the left. Among all kinds of types and variations, this particular type of pain is considered the leader in terms of negative feelings and the scale of the discomfort caused, although it cannot be called the most popular.
At the same time, the pains in the back of the head on the left are very insidious, since often they are completely impossible to distinguish from discomfort in the neck or occipital part of the head. In most cases, such pain manifestations appear when turning or slightly tilting the head.
Types of pain
Specialists distinguish several types of headache on the left in the back of the head. We divide them into conditional four categories.
- Acute and sharp pain in the nape of the left side, as a rule, occurs in this place due to strong negative emotions, depressive states, and a sudden frustration. In a situation where some kind of misfortune or trouble falls upon a person at once.
- Dull pain in the back of the head on the left is one of the most common types that cause patients maximum discomfort. Any touch to the localization site becomes painful. Such symptoms are observed in patients suffering from osteochondrosis or arthritis.
- Aching pain inside the head in most cases is caused by spasms of the neck or shoulders. Often it manifests itself as a result of prolonged intellectual stress.
- Throbbing pain in the back of the head on the left is a special type of malaise provoked by high blood pressure. Therefore, it manifests itself in the morning.
Causes
Just note that there are a huge number of causes of pain in the back of the head on the left. In this article we will analyze only the most common. Severe pain in this part of the head can be accompanied by damage to the nerve fibers of the cervical plexus. In this case, the sensations become so pronounced that the patient seems to have a nape on his head. This is accompanied by a state of ripple and backache. Unpleasant sensations are given in the lower jaw, eyes, the area located behind the ear.
In some cases, a violation of the sensitivity of the skin in the affected area is possible. The patient’s hands and fingers are numb constantly, and the skin itself becomes painful and pale. At the same time, the back of the head on the left side hurts with such force that the patient becomes scared to just move. Laughter, any turns of the head, sneezing, coughing increase discomfort.
In this case, the cause of pain in the back of the head on the left is the pathology of the connective tissue, spinal injury, neoplasms or infectious diseases. The diagnosis should be made on the basis of the overall clinical picture. During treatment, the irritating factor should be eliminated, as well as symptomatic therapy. As the pain decreases, conservative treatment can be supplemented by physical therapy or massage.
Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine
This is another common cause of left headache in the back of the head. In certain cases, this condition occurs as a result of a malfunction of the blood circulation in the tissues, which happens against the background of a spasm in the vessels. The reason for this lies in changes in the structure of cartilage of the intervertebral discs, as well as a decrease in the functionality of the channel in which the vessels and nerves themselves are located.
Currently, this disease is regularly found in young people with a sedentary lifestyle. They constantly experience severe pain in the back of the head on the left. Also at risk are patients with injuries and curvature of the spine, obesity, after excessive emotional and physical exertion, with failures in metabolic processes.
With osteochondrosis, the patient is tormented by dull or shooting pains in the back of the head, which can be given to the shoulder or arm. There are also possible jumps in blood pressure, muscle weakness and decreased sensitivity, stiffness of movements, impaired coordination, bifurcation in the eyes, hearing loss, and in some cases, cervical migraine.
You can resist this pathology with the help of muscle relaxants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, vitamins, chondroprotectors. Physical therapy, physiotherapy exercises, and massage also have an effect.
Stress headaches
With this diagnosis, as a rule, it appears on the left side of the pain in the back of the head, since there are many nerve endings. Pain is formed due to a malfunction in metabolic processes due to spasm of muscle fibers.
This is considered a consequence of mental or physical overload, stress. Such conditions lead to prolonged muscle tension. In such a situation, people who lead a sedentary lifestyle often find themselves. Sensations that are oppressive in nature, gradually spread throughout the skull, squeezing the head like a cramped headgear or hoop.
This headache on the left side of the head is not considered organic, so it is only occasionally accompanied by specific symptoms that cause anxiety. The patient's mood worsens, he immediately becomes inattentive and irritable. He is unable to concentrate on any business, and the fight against bouts of pain is effective even without the use of drugs.
It is necessary to adjust your mode of rest and work, include physical activity in your own daily routine. It is also recommended that you routinely knead the problem area using therapeutic exercises or massage. In an extreme case, doctors recommend taking a course of sedatives based on natural ingredients.
Migraine
Systematic pain in the neck and nape of the left is characteristic of this neurological disease. Moreover, as a rule, one hemisphere is affected, and its symmetrical manifestation is extremely rare. As a result, unpleasant sensations arise in the back of the head or frontal zone, spreading to the temple, and as a result cover almost half of the cranium. At its core, pain becomes persistent, throbbing and intrusive. Migraine attacks can be repeated from several times a day to one or two for a whole year. It is worth noting that the more often they develop, the more the intensity of cephalgia decreases.
There are several causes of pain in the nape of the head on the left, from which the risks of such a disease are significantly increased. Among them, the following factors should be highlighted:
- refusal of healthy food in favor of fast food, convenience foods, products with harmful chemical additives;
- physical and nervous stress, regular stress;
- alcohol abuse and smoking;
- excess or lack of sleep;
- taking folk remedies or pharmacy drugs not agreed with the doctor, oral contraceptives may also be the fault;
- a sharp change in climate and weather.
During a migraine, pain in a patient occurs suddenly. In some cases, they may appear after precursors in the form of an aura. At the same time, they are accompanied by increased sensitivity to sounds, light, smells, as well as muscle weakness, dizziness, and causeless anxiety.
During a migraine, the patient is not able to do anything until the attack weakens or disappears altogether. At the peak of the pain, he feels nauseous. If everything ends with vomiting, the patient receives relief, after which, as a rule, he falls asleep.
The treatment of migraine in our time is aimed solely at trying by any means possible to stop the pain, prevent exacerbations, and also eliminate other symptoms. For this purpose, various medications can be used, including physiotherapeutic procedures, grandmother's recipes, reflexology methods. With age, the disease can weaken, in some period of life, attacks can completely stop, and then come back again. Absolutely precisely, the nature of migraine has not yet been established. Some believe that he has a genetic basis.
Injuries
Often the causes of pain are injuries to the head or neck. In particular, this leads to a significant increase in blood pressure, a violation of the integrity of the skin, as well as intracranial hemorrhage. In such a situation, the symptom appears either immediately after a stroke or other mechanical impact, or after a certain time. It is worth noting that cephalgia is regular in nature.
In most cases, the localization of sensations corresponds to the place of injury. As concomitant symptoms, nausea, dizziness, impaired coordination, confusion, short-term memory loss, even fainting may appear.
Delayed pain on the left in the back of the head may appear after a temporary improvement in the general condition of the patient. If necessary, he should undergo a diagnosis to verify the absence of extensive hematomas and bleeding.
The method of treatment of such conditions directly depends on the types of injury and the condition of the patient. If the damage is not severe, then you can limit yourself to bed rest, a compress that is applied to the problem area, as well as taking painkillers. In another situation, only a qualified doctor can advise you on how to proceed further, understanding your specific injury.
Arterial pressure
Cephalgia practically accompanies the exit of blood pressure indicators beyond the physiological norm. The structural features of the human vascular network are such that they focus and nucleate in the occipital part of the head. As a result, the patient has a feeling of fullness of the blood channels, as well as the diameter of their lumen, this increases the blood pressure on the walls themselves. This unpleasant symptomatology is characteristic not only of hypertensive patients, but also of patients with extremely low blood pressure.
With hypertension, the features and types of headaches are characterized by the following points:
- The pain is supplemented by a feeling of heaviness in the head due to a violation of the outflow of blood as a result of narrowing of the vessels. As a result, pulsating sensations appear, giving off to the temple, which are intensified by sneezing, coughing, head movements.
- The pain increases with muscle tension, supplemented by dizziness and nausea. The patient feels as if the base of the skull is compressed on both sides or only on one. Such conditions, as a rule, are formed as a result of stress caused by spasms of the blood channels.
- Against the background of drops in blood pressure, cerebrospinal fluid pain may form. They increase with motor activity.
- Dull or aching cephalalgia appears due to spasm in the arteries. This condition is supplemented by disorientation, dizziness, nausea.
- Neuralgic pains occur suddenly, differing in an extreme degree of intensity. They give to almost all departments of the cranium, as well as to the upper back and neck. Appear as a result of increased intracranial pressure, stress, compression of the trigeminal nerve.
Throbbing pain in the occipital region on the left is also characteristic of hypotension. With a decrease in vascular tone, blood begins to flow into the cranium. In the back of the head, painful sensations appear, which give to the temporal and parietal regions. This type of pain manifests itself in the morning, gradually passing throughout the day, due to the physical activity of the person. In a horizontal position of the body, unpleasant sensations and discomfort are amplified, as well as with tension in the muscles of the neck and tilting the head forward.
Vascular disease
Pathological processes that develop in the vessels of the neck and neck provoke circulatory disorders. They are accompanied by a headache. Alarming signs are already evident in the initial stages of vascular diseases, intensifying under the influence of external factors. Including excessive physical exertion, lack of sleep, weather changes, alcohol abuse and smoking.
When the left part of the back of the head is very sore, it is often associated with vascular problems. It is not recommended to start taking antibiotics uncontrollably. To alleviate the symptoms, in some cases it is sufficient to normalize the emotional background, and lower the blood pressure with a diagnosis of hypertension. In this case, airing the room, foot baths, taking medications as prescribed by the doctor helps.
In reviews of pain in the left part of the back of the head, patients who have repeatedly encountered such an ailment note that the fight should begin with identifying the causes of the disease. Today there are a lot of diagnostic methods - this is a patient survey and examination, urine and blood tests, CT, MRI, ultrasound of the vessels of the neck and brain, as well as an X-ray EEG.
Only after an accurate diagnosis is made, the doctor can develop a detailed therapy regimen, which will be aimed at eliminating the main provoking factor and associated symptoms. The patient should understand that medications for migraine will not help with hypertension, so you should not self-medicate, because you still will not be able to make a diagnosis.
If the pain occurs one-time, it is recommended to go for a walk or ventilate the room, if possible sleep or rest, do light gymnastics for the neck or massage the collar zone. It is also recommended to drink peppermint tea, which effectively soothes, you can add lemon balm, motherwort, valerian. Healers advise putting tissue soaked in cabbage juice on the affected area, as well as massage the whiskey with essential oil of mint, lemon, and orange.