Headache is a very common pain problem in daily life, mainly in the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital areas. It can be seen in a variety of diseases, but most of them have no specific significance. For example, systemic infections and febrile diseases are often accompanied by headaches. Headaches can also be associated with mental stress and overexertion. However, recurrent or persistent headaches may be a sign of some organic diseases and should be examined carefully to clarify the diagnosis and treat promptly so as not to delay treatment.
So what may cause headache? Generally speaking, the common clinical causes are these.
1. Cranial lesions.
(1) Infection: various meningitis, meningoencephalitis, encephalitis, brain abscess, cerebral tuberculosis, cerebral parasitosis, toxic encephalopathy, etc.
(2) Vascular lesions: subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral thrombosis, cerebral embolism, hypertensive encephalopathy, cerebral blood supply deficiency, intracranial aneurysm, cerebrovascular malformation, intracranial venous sinus thrombosis, thrombo-occlusive vasculitis, etc.
(3) Occupational lesions: brain tumor, intracranial metastases, brain tuberculoma, intracranial leukemia infiltration, intracranial cysticercosis or encysticercosis, etc.
(4) Craniocerebral trauma: concussion, cerebral contusion, subdural hematoma, intracranial hematoma, and sequelae of traumatic brain injury.
(5) Others: migraine, cluster headache, headache-type epilepsy, headache after lumbar puncture and lumbar anesthesia, etc.
2.Extracranial lesions.
(1) Cranial diseases: skull base indentation, skull tumor.
(2) Cervical spondylosis and other neck diseases.
(3) Neuralgia: trigeminal nerve, glossopharyngeal nerve and occipital neuralgia.
(4) Headache caused by diseases of the eyes, ears, nose and teeth.
(5) Muscle contraction headache (or tension headache).
3.Systemic diseases.
(1) Acute infection: such as influenza, typhoid, pneumonia and other febrile diseases.
(2) Cardiovascular diseases: such as primary hypertension, heart failure.
(3) Poisoning: such as lead, alcohol, carbon monoxide, organophosphorus, drugs (such as belladonna, salicylates) and other poisoning.
(4) Other: uremia, hypoglycemia, anemia, pulmonary encephalopathy, systemic lupus erythematosus, menstrual and menopausal headache, heat stroke, etc.
(4) Neurological disorders.
Neurasthenia and hysterical headache.