Neck pain after sleep: why does the neck and back of the head hurt, what to do

Headache and soreness in the right eye area may indicate serious health problems.

Receptors responsible for pain are located in the veins, blood vessels and lining of the brain.

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This can make it feel like only half of your face and head are hurting. Pain on the right side often occurs due to mechanical injury and migraines. It is extremely rare that the right hemisphere of the head and eyes may hurt due to the presence of a malignant tumor on the right side. In any case, if you experience pain and discomfort, you must visit a specialist to make an accurate diagnosis and eliminate the problem.

Causes

Pain in the area of the right eye and head can occur for many reasons, but there are several main ones, the manifestation of which cannot be self-medicated. Causes of prolonged headaches and discomfort:

Prolonged fatigue and being under severe stress. Soreness may be accompanied by throbbing and discomfort in the area of the right eye. It often occurs when spending a long time at the computer or in front of the TV. In this case, pain on the right side can occur in the morning or evening and manifest itself as a stabbing sensation in the temple or forehead area.
Bruises of various types. The slightest blow can lead to concussions, which ultimately lead to brain diseases.
Glaucoma and other eye diseases. If one eye is affected, the patient experiences severe discomfort. The pathology may be accompanied by a prickly sensation in the eyes, and the image begins to float.
Incorrect selection of contact optics (lenses or glasses). When wearing incorrectly selected optical accessories, discomfort may occur in one or both eyes, migraines may develop, lacrimation increases, and the eyes quickly become tired.
Spasmodic attacks in blood vessels. If the load is not performed correctly, compression or damage to blood vessels occurs in the cervical spine. As a result of such a clamp, pain may occur in the right side of the head, minor hemorrhages causing discomfort. A migraine may develop, with pain radiating to the right eye. Additionally, nausea, absent-mindedness, and slight loss may appear.
Osteochondrosis – can cause headaches, dizziness and pain in the neck and eyes. Symptoms can appear with varying intensity, both on the right side and on the left.
Hematoma inside the skull, malignant formations, meningitis and a pre-stroke condition - all this can provoke pain in the head and eye area on the right side. Additionally, with these conditions, the patient may experience significant weight loss, morning sickness, and frequent cramps.
Eye injuries and infectious diseases can also cause pain on the right side.
Colds and diseases of the respiratory system.
Damage to the vascular system.

Causes of pain in the frontal lobe

Pain in the frontal part of the head can indicate various diseases, but the most common cause is inflammatory processes. They occur when the sinuses in the bones become inflamed. There are four sinuses in the human skull: two frontal (they are located above the eyebrows) and two nasal (on the sides of the nose).

When pus appears in the sinuses, pressure occurs. If the pus does not drain on its own, the pressure increases and pain appears. It is usually dull and aching. There is a feeling as if something is bursting the sinuses from the inside and pressing on the eyes, and when bending forward it noticeably intensifies.

Such inflammatory processes can begin in the nasal sinuses, then we are talking about sinusitis, in the frontal sinuses - about sinusitis. Also, inflammation usually occurs in the posterior cavity of the nasal passage; such pain is characteristic of ethmoiditis.

Additional symptoms for such pain are fever and runny nose with purulent discharge. There is also a bad smell from the nose.

What to do if a symptom occurs

To alleviate pain before visiting a specialist, the first step is to restore normal sleep and give the body a rest. To do this, you can take an infusion of valerian. You should avoid drinking strong coffee drinks that contain caffeine. Instead, it is better to brew tea with the addition of thyme, mint and chamomile. You can reduce pain by applying cold to the place where it appears; for this it is better to make a compress using ice.

During the period of migraine and severe pain on the right side of the head, discomfort can be reduced with the help of special massage actions. To do this, you should very carefully massage the area where the pain is coming from with your fingers. The duration of such a massage should be at least 10 minutes. It must be remembered that in cases where the pain is caused by tumors, massage is prohibited.

You also need to know that folk remedies can help relieve discomfort only with mild symptoms. In the event of cerebral hemorrhages, vomiting, or dizziness, self-medication is prohibited. In such cases, effective treatment should only be determined by a specialist, since such manifestations cannot always be cured with medication.

It is important to understand that the first step is to determine the reason why the pain appeared on the right side. It is necessary to undergo an examination consisting of the following procedures:

a deep blood test that allows you to see all possible deviations from the norm;
computed tomography - to identify possible tumors and problems with blood vessels that cause pain;
ophthalmological examination – necessary to exclude problems with the visual organs.

Further prescription of therapeutic therapy will directly depend on the cause of pain. During the examination, in case of short-term pain, specialists allow you to take painkillers. Often the patient is recommended to take Analgin, Spasmalgon or Citramon, as they relieve spasms, help dilate blood vessels and stop pain.

If you have a severe migraine on the right side of your head, you should take an anti-inflammatory drug that will help eliminate fatigue and relieve pain. It is important to increase the amount of water you drink and get more rest, preferably in the fresh air.

Treatment

Treatment for headaches can only be prescribed after a complete diagnosis. An individual plan is assigned. Treatment may include the following therapies:

physiotherapy;
massage;
acupuncture;
medical and physical training complex

These methods are considered conservative, but if necessary, more radical methods can be used, for example, nerve blockade, ablation of the occipital nerve using radiofrequency irradiation.

Complications

Most often, the right side of the head and the right eye hurt due to migraine. This disorder causes pain in the right temporal lobe; with strong tension in the temporal artery, the pain spreads to the eye. In rare cases, the pain spreads to the heart area, which can provoke frequent urination.

Migraines can cause discomfort, which is accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Dizziness, severe drowsiness and increased fatigue may occur.

You need to understand that a distinctive feature of migraine is its manifestation in the morning. Along with the pain, severe irritability and nervousness may occur. Moreover, such manifestations quickly disappear after taking painkillers.

Characteristics of headache

To roughly understand what can cause a headache, you need to understand a little about its manifestations:

The strength of the attack. Severe pain is a possible sign of hemorrhage and you should see a doctor immediately. Also, severe attacks may indicate the presence of atherosclerosis of blood vessels located in the brain and passing through the cervical region. With this disease, a gradual narrowing of the blood vessels occurs, so pain is the first bell.
Place of manifestation. In the back of the head, pain can be caused by neurological diseases, and in the frontal part of the head it indicates inflammatory processes.
How quickly it develops. If a symptom appears suddenly, then one of the reasons is most often an increase in blood pressure.

If we do not touch on serious diagnoses, then in ordinary cases, if the forehead and back of the head hurt, we can talk about either some kind of inflammation or neuralgia. But let's look at this in more detail.

Prevention

Most diseases cause pain, which is almost impossible to prevent. In this regard, there are no precise preventive measures. To prevent the development of unpleasant sensations, you should protect the body from overexertion. Mental and physical fatigue can negatively affect people's health.

To prevent severe headaches, you should spend more time outdoors. Also, regular exposure to the street will contribute to the overall strengthening of the body.

Attention should be paid to a healthy lifestyle, especially for people who have sedentary jobs. Adequate sleep is also important, the duration of which should be at least 8 hours a day. This time is enough for the body to regain strength and rest. To ease pain, you can, if possible, replace trips on public transport with walking.

It must be remembered that the more the patient protects himself from stress and various strains, the less pain will appear in the right side of the head and eyes.

Features of pain

Attacks can be either constant or periodic. Quite often, patients note that the back of their head hurts more during physical activity or bright light.

On the right, other unpleasant symptoms are possible:

Tremors and cramps of the fingers.
Deterioration of hearing and vision.
Dizziness.
Nausea.

You should not endure it if the right side of the back of your head hurts and the above symptoms are observed. After all, a similar symptomatic picture is recorded in many diseases.

At the Doctor Pozvonkov Center for Progressive Medicine, a therapist, vertebrologist, and neurologists receive daily consultations, and the latest medical equipment is used to conduct comprehensive diagnostics.

Treatment and prevention

To prevent cephalalgia after sleep, it is necessary to normalize your lifestyle; organize a comfortable sleeping place, ventilate the room before going to bed. To reduce the risk of primary headaches, this is usually quite enough. Additionally, you should remember that you need to minimize stress and nervous tension. It is important to learn to perceive the world around you from a positive perspective.

But if the pain is secondary, that is, it occurs due to health problems, you can get rid of it only after curing the disease that caused the pain syndrome.

Diagnostics

To find out exactly why the back of the head on the right side of the head hurts, you need to make an appointment with a neurologist. After a visual examination, collecting anamnesis, checking reactions and reflexes, the patient’s neurological status is determined, and the probable causes of headache localized in the occipital part of the head on the right are named. To clarify the diagnosis, an instrumental examination is prescribed:

MRI, CT. Allows you to detect pathological conditions (narrowing, compression of the ducts) that provoked a violation of the outflow of cerebrospinal fluid. The study reveals brain pathologies - tumors, areas of hemorrhage, signs of infectious or ischemic lesions of the brain matter.
Rheoencephalography. Study of the circulatory system of the brain, blood flow speed, features of blood supply to areas of the head.
Electromyography. Shows the nature and intensity of bioelectrical activity in muscle tissue.
Dopplerography. Study of the bloodstream in the area of the back of the head and neck.

Intracranial pressure is measured using a lumbar puncture or ventriculostomy procedure. Certain difficulties in differential diagnosis arise due to the large number of structures studied (intervertebral discs, arteries, meninges, muscle tissue, ligaments) and mechanisms responsible for the development of cephalalgia.

What to do if your neck hurts after sleep?

Many people ask a similar question: what to do if your neck hurts after sleep, which specialist should you contact to diagnose the pathology and prescribe adequate treatment? We recommend that you contact your physician to conduct an examination of the health of the structural parts of the cervical spine. Based on the results of the data obtained, a consultation with a neurologist or vertebrologist may be recommended.

Once a diagnosis has been made, symptomatic and etiological treatment is possible. The first is different in that the doctor’s task is to eliminate negative symptoms (in particular, pain and stiffness of movement). In this case, no one will eliminate the cause of the pain. As a result, attacks can recur again and again.

Etiological treatment is aimed primarily at eliminating the cause of the pain syndrome. In this case, the doctor’s primary task is to completely restore the physiological structure of the cartilage tissue of the intervertebral disc. Unfortunately, today this approach to the treatment of diseases of the spinal column is practiced mainly in manual therapy clinics. Official medicine hastens to assure every patient that his pathology is not curable and that it is only possible to get rid of pain for a while.

In reality this is not the case. With the help of manual therapy techniques, you can not only quickly and safely eliminate pain in the neck and other parts of the spinal column, but also restore its health completely. Our manual therapy clinic uses traction, therapeutic massage, gymnastics, osteopathy, reflexology and many other types of influence.

What you need to know before starting treatment

This is why before you begin treatment, it is very important to determine what exactly is causing your headache. Here are some questions that can help you determine what exactly is causing your headache:

How long does a headache last?
How common are headaches?
Is the pain localized or felt all over your head?
Where is the pain felt?
Can any infectious disease cause my headache?

Using your answers, your doctor can help you determine the cause of your headaches in the forehead and eyes, temples and back of the head, or elsewhere. Based on a correct diagnosis, the doctor will be able to choose the right course of treatment, which will help you get rid of not only this symptom, but also solve the problem as a whole.

On the topic: Remedies for headaches - what you can and cannot do.

Why does my neck and back of my head hurt after sleep?

The pain syndrome has a fairly clear morphological picture of pathological changes in the soft tissues. All of them, without exception, are penetrated by a network of nerve endings that transmit impulses to the corresponding structures of the central nervous system. A person experiences pain when mechanical pressure is applied to the nerve endings. It can be triggered by injury or inflammatory reaction factors, against the background of which soft tissue swelling develops.

Now let’s figure out why the neck hurts after sleep, what mechanisms of pain may be involved. During a night's rest, the brain partially unloads its functions, briefly ceasing to control certain areas of the muscle frame. As a result, the muscles relax as much as possible, their function of supporting the bone skeleton is weakened. If a person has pathological changes in the cartilaginous structure of the intervertebral disc, then in most cases the muscles are forced to perform a compensatory function, keeping the vertebral bodies in a normal position. During night sleep, such a person may experience both physiological relaxation of the neck muscles and their increased tension. In any of these cases, neck pain occurs after waking up in the morning.

If the neck and back of the head hurt after sleep, then it can be said with a high degree of probability that the muscle structures did not relax, thereby disrupting the blood flow through the cerebral blood vessels. A slowdown in venous outflow from brain structures against the background of an insufficient influx of arterial, oxygenated blood provokes the development of swelling and pain in the occipital region. Venous discirculation and disruption of the trophism of the nerve fiber of the brain may develop. A long course provokes the development of acute cerebrovascular accident in the occipital lobes of the brain.

No less dangerous is the situation when neck pain after sleep occurs against the background of physiological muscle relaxation. In this case, the vertebrae are displaced relative to each other, due to which the radicular nerves are pinched. The innervation of the shoulder girdle, coronary and cerebral vessels is disrupted. A person experiences a loss of strength, increased fatigue, and constant pain in the shoulders and neck.