A headache is far from the most pleasant sensation. And worst of all, when she takes a person by surprise. This can happen at work, while driving, or while resting. But it also happens that discomfort can occur when coughing. Is headache dangerous in this case? Is it an independent disease, or is it a symptom of more serious health problems?
Cough pain: what is it?
The manifestation of pain during coughing or sneezing is a rare occurrence. As a rule, this is a symptom of a not very dangerous pathology, which is benign. Moreover, pain in the head during sneezing and coughing can cause a short-term increase in venous pressure. And this is not good.
As patients describe, a headache when coughing is very similar to that experienced by a person with intense physical exertion. Most often, discomfort is felt throughout the head, but there are also cases where the pain is concentrated in the temples, in the forehead or in the back of the head.
Due to the fact that seizures are most often short-term, it is believed that they are not hazardous to health, although this is not always true. Sometimes it happens that unpleasant sensations appear due to neoplasms in a person’s head.
It is important to remember that any pain should be treated comprehensively and only after talking with your doctor. The unpleasant sensations of sneezing and coughing, which appear day after day, are not the norm.
Primary and regular headache when coughing. What is their difference?
First, it is worth noting that the primary headache when coughing or sneezing is usually not dangerous to health, but if the attacks recur, then it is worthwhile to assume the presence of some kind of pathology.
Most often, patients complain of primary headache when coughing. The reason for this phenomenon may not be established, because doctors say that, once manifested, such a symptom may no longer appear.
Most often, primary cough pain appears due to low blood pressure and due to colds. Such sensations are not uncommon for weather-dependent patients.
Consultation with a specialist is necessary when constantly coughing pain gives to the head. The reasons for this pathology are completely different. Although in this case they can be completely harmless.
Pain features
Doctors conducted a study and found that when coughing, sharp pain in the head occurs more often in males. How to recognize that discomfort is associated specifically with coughing or sneezing?
- Unpleasant sensations appear immediately after a person coughed or sneezed.
- It is also noted that such pains are short-lived, but very intense and bright. A person may even feel discomfort for some time after an attack.
It is worth noting that most often patients, turning to a doctor, note that the pain is localized in only one half of the head. There are frequent cases when unpleasant sensations arise unexpectedly and disturb for several years, and then just as suddenly disappear. In severe cases, the whole head hurts, even presses on the eyes.
Causes of pain
Most often, headache during coughing and bending occurs for the following reasons:
- Tobacco use.
- High pressure in the vessels of the brain.
- Allergy.
- Lung diseases (inflammation).
- Cold. This cause of cough pain is most often called. Unpleasant sensations appear due to nasal congestion, when a person cannot breathe normally, and pressure increases in the sinuses. Also, the development of pain in the head during sneezing and coughing is due to powerful intoxication of the body (the immune system tries to fight the infection).
- Strong physical load on the body.
As you can see, many causes are not at all dangerous to human health, some of them are easily eliminated (for example, colds), and others can significantly worsen a person’s health.
It is worth separately highlighting the pain in the head when coughing by heavy smokers. A person who often smokes a lot endangers his blood vessels and the cardiovascular system as a whole. Smokers suffer from a chronic cough, and after a smoked cigarette, as a rule, the pulse quickens and blood pressure rises.
Weather dependence as a cause of headache with cough
If a person is weather dependent, then he often suffers from headaches when coughing. Many patients who feel the change in weather have chronic illnesses and experience coughing in the back of the head.
It is worth noting that weather-dependent people should check their health, because very often in patients of this category they find:
- problems with the heart muscle and blood vessels;
- disruption of the musculoskeletal system;
- problems in the genitourinary system;
- diseases of the nervous system;
- poor immunity.
Very often, patients with a diagnosis of vegetovascular dystonia suffer from such pain.
If the patient suffers from chronic diseases of the respiratory system, then he tolerates wet weather worse than healthy people, as well as those days when the atmospheric pressure rises significantly.
Pain and bronchial asthma
When coughing, pain in the head is noted at the initial stages of the development of bronchial asthma. Along with this symptom, patients experience feelings of constriction in the chest and difficulty breathing. If you listen to the patient, then wheezing and whistling will be clearly audible.
Bronchial asthma is dangerous because the patient takes frequent and short breaths. As a result, an insufficient amount of oxygen enters the body, which is the cause of high blood pressure.
When the attack comes to an end, the patient begins an intense cough, in which sputum goes well. If there is no sputum, but the cough continues and is accompanied by a headache, then we can talk about obstruction of the airways. In this case, the patient must be urgently hospitalized.
How to establish the reason?
If a person is constantly tormented by severe pain in the head when coughing, then this is an occasion to consult a doctor for an additional examination. Modern diagnostics allows you to make a diagnosis quickly and easily.
Basically, with such complaints, the following examinations are prescribed:
- Testing to check for inflammation. As a rule, venous blood is taken from the patient and a detailed biochemical analysis is done.
- Ultrasonography.
- Measurements of the speed of movement of blood in the vessels of the brain.
- If the doctor suspects that the cause of the pain lies in the patient’s head, very often an MRI with contrast is prescribed to the patient to exclude the tumor.
Drug treatment
When coughing, pain in the head does not go away on its own. After diagnosis and diagnosis, you must immediately proceed to treatment.
If the cough caused the pain, then in such cases it is necessary to eliminate the root cause. If the cough does not bother the patient, and the cause of the discomfort is not serious, then the pain can be easily relieved by drugs, for example, painkillers or relieving spasm.
A patient who suffers from high intracranial pressure must necessarily take medication to stabilize it.
If, during the diagnostic procedures, a serious disease was found, then, depending on its type, the patient is prescribed either conservative treatment or surgical intervention. In any case, delaying this is not recommended.
It is not recommended to prescribe and take medicines on their own, without consultation. It is important to remember that pain is only a symptom of possibly serious problems in the body.
Folk remedies
The most popular way to relieve headaches when coughing is to use a vinegar compress. With vinegar, you need to moisten a piece of gauze and put it on your forehead.
Coughing attacks relieve boiled potatoes perfectly. It is recommended to crush hot potatoes, add vinegar and apply such a compress for the night. The bandage is placed on the neck and chest, but not in the area of the heart. After this, the patient should rest under the covers for a quarter of an hour.
If the pain in the head during coughing is associated with dilated vessels, then cold compresses will help ease the situation. It is worth noting that the colder the water in which the gauze is wetted, the faster the relief comes. Once gauze has taken body temperature, it needs to be changed. To facilitate the process, you can use ice.
Herbal teas have soothing and analgesic properties. Some patients who suffer from discomfort during coughing and sneezing, argue that regular use of herbal infusions has a positive effect on overall health.
Decoctions of herbs such as chamomile, lemongrass and St. John's wort help fight headaches. It is worth remembering that it is recommended to brew and insist them only in china. Drink the drink immediately after preparation. Over time, decoctions lose their beneficial properties.