Headache is a common symptom, common, can be a manifestation of many diseases, serious injuries, but can also be caused by non-pathological factors
1. Mechanism of headache
Before looking at the causes of headaches, let’s take a look at the mechanism and origin of this condition. In essence, this is the response of the inner or outer nervous system to fear when stimulated. There are many sources of stimuli such as: anaemia, inflammatory processes, tumour invasion, pathology causing dilatation, twisting of blood vessels, etc.
Headaches have many causes; they can be medical or not
The mechanism of headache of physical injuries usually occurs in two ways:
– Injury to the organism increases the production of chemical mediators, acting on pain receptors, thereby causing headache symptoms. These mediators are usually kinins, serotonin, prostaglandins.
– Physical injury causes mechanical stimulation of pain receptors, such as twisting, stretching, enema of blood vessels or other nociceptors.
From this mechanism, it is possible to identify more than 70 groups of causes of headache, in which most causes are benign. However, if the headache occurs continuously, along with other unusual symptoms, it may be a sign of a serious illness.
2. What is the cause of the headache?
Causes of headaches can be divided into two large groups, pathological and non-pathological.
2.1. Headache due to illness
Headaches can be caused by non-threatening conditions such as:
Sinusitis: 90% of sinusitis cases have frequent headaches or migraines. To get rid of this symptom, it is necessary to treat sinusitis.
Sinusitis causes frequent headaches
– Migraine headache
This is also a fairly common cause of headaches, medically known as cerebral vasomotor disorder or vasomotor headache. The patient has an unstable migraine headache, the scalp pulse is tense, and the pain is moderate to severe. The disease is common in middle-aged women, headache symptoms often occur in the morning.
Migraine migraine is quite benign, but headaches cause a great impact on the health and life of patients. In some cases, the disease can cause neurological complications.
– Increased intraocular pressure
Diseases in the ocular nervous system are also one of the causes of headaches. Especially the diseases of accommodation disorders, glaucoma, … cause intense migraine pain. In addition, there are symptoms of visual impairment, red eyes, …
– Anaemia
Anaemia, especially the lack of blood to the brain, causes severe headaches, accompanied by symptoms of fatigue, dizziness, Patients need to find out the cause and treat anaemia to overcome the condition. this.
– Chronic illness
Patients who experience constant headaches may have chronic diseases such as diabetes, lupus erythematosus, hypertension, …
Or headaches can be caused by dangerous diseases that cannot be ignored such as:
– Stroke
Patients with prior cerebrovascular accident often have persistent headache, which may be accompanied by other symptoms such as: decreased vision, vomiting, altered consciousness, impaired speech, loss of balance, numbness facial skin, … It is necessary to detect early warning symptoms for timely intervention, to avoid cerebrovascular accident that will cause serious consequences, even death
Or a headache could be an early sign of a stroke
– Brain Tumour
About 50% of patients with brain tumours often have unexplained headaches, which are worse at night to morning. Especially the pain became more and more intense, beyond the tolerance level. To diagnose whether a headache is caused by a brain tumour or not, a CT scan or an MRI is needed.
– Infection of the brain or meninges
This dangerous disease is characterized by a constant headache, along with obvious symptoms of an infection such as: often fever, fear of light and sound, stiffness in the nape of the neck, … Also need an MRI, Blood tests, marrow aspiration to diagnose the disease.
– Traumatic sequelae
Head trauma from severe to mild causing chronic hematoma damage is also the cause of frequent headaches. To overcome this condition, surgery is needed to release nerve compression and drain the hematoma.
2.2. Headaches not caused by disease
Most headaches are caused by non-pathological causes, mainly due to unhealthy lifestyle and psychophysiology such as:
– Dehydration causes anaemia, lack of oxygen to the brain.
– Stress, prolonged stress, frequent anxiety.
– Hormonal changes in postpartum women, premenopausal women or in the menstrual cycle.
– Side effects of some drugs, stimulants such as alcohol, coffee, …
– Disturbance in living habits in people who stay up late, people who often move between countries.
Headaches can be caused by stress, prolonged stress
If you have a headache due to a cause other than a benign pathology, the patient should still pay attention to regulate and change healthy living habits.
3. How to deal with a headache?
Non-pathological headaches also affect the patient’s daily activities more or less. Some simple fixes below also help you limit this situation:
– Relax the mind, relieve stress.
– Apply ice or massage the temples.
– Exercise regularly.
– Drink plenty of water, from 1.5 to 2 litters of water per day.
– Limit drinking alcohol, smoking, abuse of coffee, tea, …
– Eat lots of green vegetables, fruits, supplement essential vitamins and minerals.
Many patients abuse the use of pain relievers when frequent headaches persist. The abuse of pain relievers makes the underlying disease worse, causing many health consequences. It is necessary to find the cause and overcome the new cause to get rid of the annoying headaches.
Distinguishing the cause or cause of headaches due to dangerous or benign diseases, causes outside of the disease is very important to be able to overcome and eliminate the disease condition. If you often have headaches and other unusual symptoms, go to medical facilities for advice and treatment as soon as possible. Do not be subjective with any unusual signs of illness.
