Wednesday, April 14, 2010

HEADACHE

What is a headache?

Headache is defined as pain in the head or upper neck. It is one of the most common locations of pain in the body and has many causes.

Major categories of headaches

1. Primary headaches
- Tension headaches are the most common type of primary headache; as many as 90% of adults have had or will have tension headaches. Tension headaches are more common among women than men.
- Migraine headaches are the second most common type of primary headache. An estimated 28 million people in the United States (about 12% of the population) will experience migraine headaches. Migraine headaches affect children as well as adults. Before puberty, boys and girls are affected equally by migraine headaches, but after puberty, more women than men are affected. An estimated 6% of men and up to 18% of women will experience a migraine headache.
- Cluster headaches are a rare type of primary headache, affecting 0.1% of the population. An estimated 85% of cluster headache sufferers are men. The average age of cluster headache sufferers is 28-30 years of age, although headaches may begin in childhood.

2. Secondary headaches
- Secondary headaches are those that are due to an underlying structural problem in the head or neck. There are numerous causes of this type of headache ranging from bleeding in the brain, tumor, or meningitis and encephalitis.

3. Cranial neuralgias, facial pain, and other headaches
- Neuralgia means nerve pain (neur= nerve + algia=pain). Cranial neuralgia describes a group of headaches that occur because the nerves in the head and upper neck become inflamed and are the source of the head pain. Facial pain and a variety of other causes for headache are included in this category.

source
 
I had terrible headache today and for the past few days. It must be the primary headache. Which one I'm not sure beacuse now I had headache.
 

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