Understanding Chronic Headache: Causes, Symptoms, and Management

What is it?

A headache is a common and non-specific complaint. causes of headaches are divided into two main groups:
- Primary headaches - This group includes headaches such as migraine, tension headache, cluster headache and more. These are headaches with typical and unique patterns, which do not result from another medical condition (hence, are called primary). Primary headaches are a common cause of chronic headaches.
-secondary headaches - These headaches are secondary to another medical condition. This group includes many causes, some of which are not worrying and some of which require treatment. The causes can be divided into internal and external to the head: External causes are, for example, viral illness, dehydration and more, whereas internal causes are, for example, cerebral hemorrhage or head trauma.

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Additional names

This group contains additional names:
- Craniofacial pain
- Epidural OB anesthesia induced headache
- Facial pain
- Post-traumatic Headache
- Episodic Paroxysmal Hemicrania
- Chronic Paroxysmal Hemicrania
- Hypnic Headache
- Drug-Induced Headache
- Primary Thunderclap Headache
- Chronic Cluster Headache
- Episodic Cluster Headache
- Hemicrania Continua
- Tension Type Headache

Signs & symptoms

The nature of the headache depends on the type of headache you are experiencing. A headache can be described as being located on any part of the head, unilateral or bilateral, and of a stabbing, throbbing or dull nature. Certain types of headaches have accompanying symptoms like sensitivity to light and nausea. Note that there are signs that their presence, along with a headache, requires urgent medical examination: fever or a stiff neck, seizure, fainting or change of consciousness, head injury, a sudden weakness in one of the limbs, or a feeling that the pain is "the worst you've ever had in your life".

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of the type and cause of the headache is based on a person’s medical history, symptoms, and physical and neurological examination. According to the doctor's suspicion, additional tests, such as brain CT or MRI scans, may be needed.

Treatment

The treatment for a headache depends on the type of headache, its cause and its severity. For primary headaches, there are several medications for pain relief and prevention. In the case of secondary headaches, there may be a relief of symptoms once treating the underlying cause.

☝️ This is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult with your physician before making any medical decision.

Learn more about our editorial process for content accuracy.

Source of Information - We analyze big data of more than 23 million patients de-identified medical records from the following sources:

National Institution of Health ∙ World Health Organization ∙ University of Illinois hospital