WHAT IS A HEADACHE?

Can the brain feel pain?

A headache is not a pain in your brain. It tells you when other parts of your body hurt, but it cannot actually feel pain. Most headaches happen in the nerves, blood vessels and muscles in a person’s head and neck. Sometimes the muscles or blood vessels swell, which means they get larger.
They also can tighten or go through other changes that stimulate or put pressure on the surrounding nerves. The nerves send pain messages to your brain, and you end up with a headache.

WARM UP

• Do you suffer from headaches?
• lf so, how often do you get a headache?
• Where is the pain located?

Types of headache

The most common type of headache is a tension, or muscle-contraction, headache. This happens when stressed-out head or neck muscles become too tense. With this kind of headache, the pain is usually constant.
Pain that is especially sharp and throbbing is often a sign of a different kind of headache called a migraine.
Sometimes, just before a migraine1 occurs, the person sees wavy lines or bright spots of light. This is called an aura. People who get migraines often feel sick and sometimes throw up.

MORE

1 Of the one billion people on Earth who have migraine disorder, three-fourths are women. Medicai experts suspect this has to do with the cyclical nature of female hormones.

What causes headaches?

Sometimes a headache is just a part of another illness, such as a cold or flu. If you are not sick, other factors may cause a headache. For example, staying up too late, skipping a meal, or staying out in the hot sun too long.
Excitement about a special event or worry about something, strong odours, such as perfume, smoke, fumes, some types of food1, caffeine, chocolate and tea may cause headaches, too.
The tendency to get headaches is often inherited, in other words, it runs in the family.

DO

1 Have you ever experienced headaches after eating some particular kind of food? What?

Headache treatment

Most tension-type headaches are treated with over-the-counter medications. Cognitive behavioural therapy, massage therapy, acupuncture can also help relieve pain.

Migraine treatment might include: rest in a quiet, dark room, hot or cold compresses, massage and small amounts of caffeine. Preventive medications can also be used over the long period.

Some symptoms may suggest a more serious condition, so it is important to get a quick diagnosis and treatment in case of:

  • a very severe, sudden headache;
  • headache after a head injury;
  • temperature, stiff neck, confusion, double vision, weakness, numbness or difficulty speaking;
  • pain that worsens despite treatment.
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