Every fifth adult in Russia lives with migraine. However, most of these people are unaware of their diagnosis - they take painkillers and attribute headaches with nausea to “magnetic storms” or poisoning.
Why patients suffer for years without knowing about their diagnosis, what misconceptions about migraine are common among patients and doctors, and when you need to see a neurologist instead of taking pills, “Things like this” learned at the conference “Headache Treatment: Theory and Practice.”
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What could be causing you to have a headache every day for a month?
There are many causes of headaches, but the first thing that came to mind in your case was tightness of the neck muscles and what else is there in this place. Incorrect position of the head and back when sitting for a long time at the computer, table, while doing needlework and with a constant habitual incorrect sleeping position, the muscles of the back and neck shrink, compress, strain, the gaps between the vertebrae of the neck narrow and, as a result, there is a poor supply of blood and oxygen to the brain.
Vessels and nerve endings suffer. Hence the frequent headaches.
The problem here lies in the fact that we get used to such postures and do not notice their incorrectness, and when we are told about this and the consequences of improper sitting, we do not believe (that a headache can be caused by such nonsense, and not from serious diseases such as hypertension and etc.).
And the solution to the problem of headaches is simple - correct posture, gymnastics for the body, shoulder girdle and especially the neck, correct sleep patterns and a lot of fresh air. Believe me, I know what I'm saying.
In most relatively healthy people, this is the most common cause of headaches.
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Headaches can be associated with various reasons, ranging from lack of sleep, increased brain activity, high or low blood pressure, to various neoplasms, benign and malignant tumors. It is possible that you have developed a migraine.
Do not delay going to the doctor, only he will be able to determine the exact cause of the pain, as well as prescribe adequate treatment. Do not make do with half measures, such as painkillers or just rest, the reason may be very serious, and a visit to the doctor is urgent!
There are many reasons, maybe you suffered an acute inflammatory disease and the inflammation process went to your head; a complication could be sinusitis, dandy, meningitis; There could also be a head injury, chronic disease of the kidneys, heart, or thyroid gland.
You should consult a doctor immediately and undergo an examination. Headaches are a signal of disruption of processes in the body; sometimes they require urgent intervention and cannot be tolerated or self-medicated.
A headache can be caused by a simple lack of fluid in the body. Neglecting even insufficient drinking of water, our brain, consisting mainly of liquid, begins to experience a lack of it! If your head has been hurting for a month, then the problem may be deeper. Headaches can be caused by constipation, problems with the thyroid gland, and all kinds of benign and malignant neoplasms.
Migraine and status migraine
Migraine is the most common cause of long-term pain. A migraine attack lasts from 4 to 72 hours. The exact reason why the disease develops has not been established today. Scientists have several theories about its origin. Some believe that this type of pain is genetically determined. But the factors that provoke a new attack are well known:
- emotional shocks and stressful situations;
- consumption of alcoholic beverages;
- overwork of a physical and intellectual nature;
- eating certain foods, for example, chocolate, smoked meats, nuts, hard cheese;
- sleep disorders;
- changes in weather conditions;
- smoking.
A typical migraine attack can be divided into 4 phases:
- Prodromal phenomena. They may appear several hours or even days before the headache begins. The patient may complain of irritability, increased fatigue, pallor, frequent yawning, appetite disturbances, frequent urination, and increased sensitivity to cold.
- Aura. It is not observed in all people; only 25% of people with migraine report its presence. The aura is observed a maximum of 20-60 minutes before the pain. These are short-term disturbances in the functioning of the senses, for example, visual disturbances (dots, zigzags in front of the eyes), olfactory, tactile disorders.
- Headache attack. The pain of migraine is so specific that it allows one to immediately suspect the correct diagnosis. Lasts from 4 to 72 hours. It has a pulsating, strong character, with unilateral localization. Accompanied by a gag reflex and a feeling of nausea, hyperesthesia to light and sounds. The pain increases with the slightest physical activity.
- Postdromal period. This is recovery from a migraine attack. As a rule, people feel stale in the head, general weakness, and pain in muscle groups. This period can last several days.
A complication of migraine is status migraine. This is when the headache lasts for more than 72 hours despite specific treatment. It is very severe with numerous vomiting and constant nausea, which often causes critical dehydration of the patient. Status migraine is an emergency condition that is treated in the intensive care unit.
Prolonged headache associated with pressure changes
If a person has a headache for a long time, then the first thing to do is measure blood pressure. Headache accompanies both its increase and decrease.
Hypertension, especially untreated, which is often complicated by hypertensive crises, always occurs with headache. This condition is characterized by pulsating or bursting cephalalgia, which is accompanied by nausea, tinnitus, and flickering of spots before the eyes. This pain can last for several days, or even weeks, until the pressure normalizes.
Arterial hypotension is accompanied by headache of low intensity and diffuse nature. At the same time, patients complain of constant fatigue, increased fatigue, decreased performance, and constant drowsiness.
Prevention
To prevent headaches from appearing every day, you must follow some recommendations from experts:
- It is better to completely give up drinking alcohol and smoking, since these bad habits have a detrimental effect not only on blood vessels, but also on the entire body as a whole.
- It is important to adjust your diet. It is necessary to limit the intake of the following products: sauces, spices, nuts, spicy and salty foods, smoked foods, cheese, red wine, sugar substitutes.
- You should not reduce your sleep time at night. It must be complete and last at least 8 hours. However, sleeping more than 9 hours is also harmful.
Organization of the workplace, correct posture when working at the computer and regular breaks - prevention of tension headaches and spinal problems
- The chin should not be pressed to the chest for too long.
- While working at the computer or reading a book, you should not lower your head too much. You should also not rest your hand on your chin.
These preventive measures will help get rid of headaches for a long time.
Leave your opinions on the benefits of the article or tell us about your experience in dealing with headaches.
Liquorodynamic cephalgia
Cervical osteochondrosis and other degenerative-dystrophic changes in the vertebrae can cause long-term headaches, which are associated with impaired blood circulation through the vertebral artery.
Liquorodynamic cephalgia can be caused by a large number of diseases. This is the number one cause of headaches in young children.
Signs of liquorodynamic cephalgia:
- prolonged pulsating headaches;
- the pain becomes more intense in the morning and in a horizontal position;
- accompanied by a feeling of nausea and vomiting without relief;
- pain spreads to the eyes with disruption of their function.
What causes the condition?
Why does my head start to hurt? Symptoms are caused by several reasons:
- Lack of sleep, insomnia;
- The stress a person endures every day, constant emotional tension;
- Poor nutrition leading to hypo- and vitamin deficiency;
- Consumption of products with a high content of chemicals (synthetic additives, preservatives, dyes, flavors);
- Meteorological dependence, in which the deterioration of a person’s health is explained by changes in atmospheric pressure, climate change, and a sharp drop in temperature;
- Concomitant diseases of the nervous, cardiovascular and endocrine systems, leading to disruption of homeostasis.
In addition, headaches can be a manifestation of cervical osteochondrosis, traumatic brain injuries, indolent colds, and pathologies of ENT organs. Migraine is also a condition in which discomfort appears for no apparent reason.
Chronic cerebral ischemia
This disease, which was previously called dyscirculatory encephalopathy, is a consequence of pathological processes such as atherosclerosis and arterial hypertension.
Due to these reasons, small capillaries of the brain narrow (hyalinosis in hypertension and atherosclerotic plaques), some of them stop functioning altogether. This leads to diffuse oxygen starvation of brain neurons and, as a consequence, prolonged and monotonous headaches.
The reason why a headache lasts for a long time may be brain tumors, for example, tumors, parasitic cysts or vascular aneurysms.
Brain tumors
As they grow, all tumors, both malignant and benign, cause headaches. Moreover, a characteristic feature is its gradual increase. As the tumor enlarges, there is compression of the surrounding brain tissue and an increase in intracranial pressure, which causes pain.
This pain is accompanied by nausea and vomiting, which do not bring relief, and various focal neurological symptoms, which depend on the location of the tumor.
Parasitic cysts
Parasitic diseases of the central nervous system are by no means uncommon, as some people think. Another thing is that they are rarely diagnosed. If parasitic cysts are not complicated, then such patients, as a rule, are diagnosed with primary cephalgia and prescribed symptomatic therapy, which only temporarily relieves symptoms.
Laboratory analysis
Laboratory diagnostics provide any useful information if the headache is due to developing inflammation. In this case, in blood tests one can observe an increase in the number of leukocytes, a shift in the leukocyte formula to the left, towards young forms, an increase in the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and the concentration of acute-phase proteins.
With vascular atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia can be observed, that is, an increase in the concentration of cholesterol and low- and very low-density lipoproteins.
During the puncture process, liquor fluid can be obtained. If meningitis or any other inflammation of the meninges is suspected, biological fluid is cultured to identify the pathogen and its sensitivity to antibiotics.
Instrumental research
Instrumental diagnostics mostly consists of methods such as:
- X-ray of the cervical spine;
- computer and magnetic resonance imaging of the brain;
- Doppler ultrasound of cerebral vessels;
- electroencephalography;
- rheoencephalography.
All proposed methods allow us to visualize the anatomical and physiological features of the brain and determine organic or functional disorders.
Depending on the etiology and course of the disease, consultation with a neurologist, cardiologist, endocrinologist, psychiatrist, or otorhinolaryngologist is necessary. All data obtained becomes the basis for further treatment.
Inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system
Sometimes the reason that a headache lasts for a long time can be inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system - meningitis and encephalitis.
Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes of the brain of any etiology (viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic). The most common cause of meningitis, especially in young children, is meningococcus.
Meningeal cephalgia is very intense, long-lasting and persistent, not relieved by analgesics, accompanied by a feeling of nausea, vomiting, high sensitivity to external irritants, impaired consciousness, high fever, resistant to therapy, stiff neck, hemorrhagic rash on the body.
Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain matter. In most cases it is a viral disease. In the clinical picture, along with head pain, focal symptoms of brain damage are noted.
