Headache is extremely common, it can be a manifestation of general fatigue, stress or cold; it can also be a symptom of brain tumor, brain hemorrhage and other serious diseases. For headache, you cannot just treat symptomatic pain relief, especially if the headache is recurrent, persistent, accompanied by visual impairment and limb sensory disorder, you should ask your doctor to further identify the cause, make a clear diagnosis and treat it in time.
There are various causes of headache, mainly including the following.
1.Traumatic headache. Including local head trauma, concussion, brain contusion, intracranial hematoma. With trauma as the cause, there are obvious differences in symptoms, signs and treatment results depending on the degree of injury and different injury sites.
2.Febrile headache. It refers to the appearance of fever accompanied by headache symptoms in other diseases, including cold, upper respiratory tract infection, pneumonia, etc. It does not include central hyperthermia such as intracranial infection, trauma and tumor.
3.Toxic or drug-related headache. Including alcohol poisoning, carbon monoxide poisoning, lead, benzene, nitrate and other poisoning and oral vasodilator drugs, such as nitroglycerin.
4.Pentacameral disease headache. Including eye diseases such as glaucoma, refractive error, sinusitis, otitis media, mastoiditis, dental caries, alveolar abscess, etc.
5.Hypertensive headache and intracranial low pressure headache. Including hypertension with headache, intracranial low-pressure headache after trauma, cerebrospinal fluid ear leakage, nasal leakage and lumbar puncture are common.
6. Epileptic headache. With a history of epilepsy, it presents a transient episodic headache that occurs repeatedly.
7.Headache caused by cervical spondylosis. Including headache caused by cervical spine osteophytes, cervical intervertebral discs, degeneration of bone joints and ligaments and other diseases.
8.Neuralgia. Including trigeminal neuralgia and occipital neuralgia.
9.Migraine and cluster headache. It belongs to vascular headache.
10.Muscle contraction headache. It is often caused by tension, fatigue, noisy environment and harsh light, mostly seen in young adults and more in women. Headache is the main symptom with occipital and cervical muscle spasm, pressure pain and activity restriction, etc.
11.Increased intracranial pressure headache. Including headache caused by brain tumor, brain abscess, cerebral hematoma and other occupying lesions.
12.Membranous inflammatory headache. Including type B encephalitis, tuberculous meningitis, etc.
Self-diagnosis of headache belongs to which cause, first of all, should be combined with medical history. This includes any history of head trauma, any food, drug and environmental factors that cause headache. If the headache is accompanied by fever, it is necessary to distinguish whether the fever is a symptom of other diseases or central fever, that is, whether the headache is a symptom of fever or a symptom of cranial lesion itself, and this distinction is sometimes not easy. Secondly, it is necessary to analyze comprehensively with the rapidity of the onset, the location of the headache, the nature of the headache, the regularity of the headache time, and the accompanying symptoms, and the factors that induce the aggravation or relief of the pain, and also to understand the characteristics of various causes of headache. The following is a brief description to help differentiate them.
Traumatic headache is easily diagnosed with a clear history of trauma.
Febrile headache with obvious symptoms of fever and other diseases, rapid onset, unclear location of headache, for pain changes with the change of fever degree.
Toxic or drug headache. The headache symptoms can disappear after leaving the original environment or improving the environment by ventilation and other measures.
Headaches caused by diseases of the five senses. For example, headache caused by eye disease is often dominated by pain in the orbit, forehead and temporal area. Refractive error, farsightedness and astigmatism, prolonged reading, staring at bright spots or watching TV, and excessive fatigue of the eye muscles can cause pain in the frontal, temporal, and even occipital areas, and after resting or wearing glasses for correction, the headache is reduced or disappears. Glaucoma attacks often manifest as severe headache, eye pain, visual impairment with nausea and vomiting, sweating, etc. Sinusitis headaches are mainly in the frontal and nasal areas, often accompanied by nasal congestion and purulent nasal discharge. The pain is worse in the morning and relieved after waking up. The headache worsens when bending down and lowering the head, and improves when raising the head. Otitis media and mastoiditis often have a history of recurrent pus flow from the ear canal, and the pain is mainly around the ear and occipital area. Tooth decay and alveolar abscess often have pain mainly in the lateral jaw, spreading to the ipsilateral headache.
Hypertensive headache is seen in patients with severe hypertension, especially when the diastolic blood pressure exceeds 100 mmHg (13.3 Kpa), the pain is full headache, the frontotemporal part is often more obvious, dull pain with dizziness is more common, the blood pressure drops and the headache is reduced after treatment. Intracranial low pressure headache is often dominated by frontal-occipital pain, accompanied by vertigo and nausea, and the pain is obvious when upright and relieved after lying down.
Epileptic headache. Mostly located in the frontal region, episodic headaches are transient in nature. Seizures are often accompanied by dizziness, vomiting, pallor, sweating and other symptoms, and may be accompanied by twitching and staring of the hands and feet.
Headache caused by cervical spondylosis. The pain is often mainly in the occipital region and sometimes spreads to the frontal-temporal region. It is a dull pain of tightness and contraction. Fatigue, tension and neck activity can aggravate the headache, and it is mostly accompanied by pain and numbness in the shoulder and arm.
Neuralgia. It is characterized by episodic pain that can be pinprick-like or jerk-like, and can occur several times a day. The pain is confined to the nerve distribution area, such as trigeminal neuralgia, which can occur in the frontal or cheek area around one eye or jaw area, respectively, depending on the nerve branches. Occipital neuralgia is located in the occipital and upper cervical regions.
Migraine, with recurrent headache as the main symptom, is often triggered by fatigue and emotional stress, and is often preceded by aura of confusion, weakness of limbs and hallucinations. The attack is often dominated by throbbing headache on one side, accompanied by nausea and vomiting, pale face and other vegetative symptoms.
Cluster headache is a severe burning pain. It is often awakened from night sleep and is accompanied by lacrimation, runny nose and nasal congestion, etc. It occurs once a day or for several days. Each attack lasts for tens of minutes and can last for several days. Drinking alcohol can aggravate the attacks and ergotamine can relieve the pain.
Myoconstriction headache, a common chronic headache, is also called tension headache. It can be a full headache with varying manifestations such as tightness, heavy pressure, pulling pain, and distension in the head or unilateral, bilateral occipital and frontal, parietal, and temporal pain in separate or mixed areas. It is often accompanied by dizziness, insomnia, and forgetfulness. There is often muscle spasm and pressure pain in the occipital and cervical region, and the headache is aggravated in the afternoon and evening and can be relieved by rest and sleep.
Increased intracranial pressure headache is a deep, dull pain. Coughing and exertion may increase the headache. It is often accompanied by jet-like vomiting and disturbance of consciousness, and is a manifestation of severe disease.
Inflammatory meningeal headache is usually acute, with a persistent deep headache, accompanied by fever and vomiting. Tuberculous meningitis is a chronic headache. Combining the history and onset characteristics, it is not difficult to make a more definitive diagnosis. The final diagnosis can be made only after special tests.