SHARES
“Many people told me I should do something about my headaches. I am suffering from bad headaches and have been taking all the over the counter painkillers and slowly they stop working. My headache got worse! At one point, I’m starting to believe that it’s all in my head – that I’m mad or something. I know that’s not true and there’re millions of people in the community suffering too. How do I find relief?”
Headache is a general term, as headaches fall into different categories. Most headaches refer to tension headache which is usually related to stress. Less often, you may suffer from migraine headache which is one-sided head pain more commonly seen in women.
How is tension headache different from migraine?
1. Character of pain:
In tension headache, the pain feels like a tightening band around your head. Furthermore you may also have tense neck and shoulder muscles. However, in migraine, you experience throbbing pain, as if the pain is beating like the heart. This is one main difference.
2. Location of pain:
Tension headache tends to be band-like around the head whereas migraine headache tends to be one sided. However having said that, you can still have one sided tension headache or migraine headache on both sides which is less common.
3. Timing and pattern:
Both of them can happen anytime, sometimes gradually, sometimes suddenly. Usually an aura precedes migraine, accompanied by extra sensitivity to light, sound and smell, nausea, and vomiting, Sometimes, it’s like a mini-stroke – temporary vision disturbances, numbness and muscle weakness. Aura doesn’t happen in tension headaches.
Migraine tends to be episodic, lasting for hours to 3 days. Tension headaches come and go , sometimes lasting more than two weeks, causing chronic head pain.
4. Severity:
Both can have varying severity. When it is mild, you can still carry on your normal daily activities. However, when the pain is severe, you can be lying on your bed incapacitated!
5. Triggers for headache:
The usual trigger for tension headaches is stress, whilst in migraines it is less clear, but is commonly linked to the menstrual cycle. Some of the common migraine triggers are in acronym – “CHOCOLATE”.
Ch – Chocolate
O – Oral contraceptive pills
C – Caffeine
Ol – Alcohol
T – Travel
E – Exercise
Also, lack of sleep, stress and cheese can trigger migraine too.
Photo by Decker Law on Flickr
Tips to avoid or stop headache and migraine
1. Rule out other health conditions
Consult your doctor to check you out to rule out a blocked sinus, a dental or an ear problem, or any brain and heart problems. After making a diagnosis through necessary tests and imaging, he will treat the underlying medical condition.
2. Manage your stress
Learn to say no nicely and negotiate alternatives to declutter your life, relationships and work. Relax to reduce stress like deep breathing, massage, and squeezing a stress ball. Plan ahead and avoid being overwhelmed by responsibilities.
3. Get enough sleep
Ensure adequate sleep, a normal adult would require 6-9 hours of sleep daily.
4. Exercise regularly
Active exercise pumps in regular doses of happy hormones to keep you healthier and less stressed. Although exercising may induce migraine, in the long run, it strikes less frequently and less severely.
5. Avoid specific triggers
Specific triggers tend to set off migraines, keeping a migraine diary will help you identify the triggers. For instance, it may prompt you to avoid certain food, change your contraceptive pills or method or do things differently to remove the root causes of stress.
6. Headache Medications
Pain relief:
In general, your doctor will advise against using painkillers repeatedly because this will make your headache worse and harder to treat. Instead, use a hot or cold pack and bed rest for pain relief.
For moderate to severe pain, you doctor will prescribe painkillers or a combination for better pain control.
In acute migraine, the doctor may prescribe a triptan (eg sumatriptan, zolmitriptan)
Prevention of migraine:
If your migraine headache is acute, relapses frequently, leaving you disabled and in despair, there are medications to prevent migraines such as beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers to relax and ease narrowing of blood vessels. Other medications include anticonvulsants, antidepressants and antiepileptics, however they work temporarily only and with a number of side effects.
A world’s first migraine specific drug, Aimovig is now available, self -injected once monthly. It blocks a protein fragment that triggers and perpetuates migraines. It may not prevent all migraine attacks but at least can reduce the frequency by more than 50% and make the attacks less severe.
Photo by Newtheory on Flickr
Conclusion
Headache can be disturbing and debilitating. Take time to learn about your headache triggers and avoid them. Your neurologist doctor is always there to help you sort out your headache!
Find a Neurologist in Malaysia, on Getdoc
Find a Neurologist in Singapore, on Getdoc
References:
- Jasvinder C. Migraine headache [Medscape]. WebMD LLC. 2019. [Available from: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1142556-overview; last updated on 2019 Jan 31; assessed on 2019 May 24]
- Michelle B. Tension headache [Medscape]. WebMD LLC. 2019. [Available from: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/792384-overview; last updated on 2017 Nov 21; accessed on 2019 May 24]
by Chang Xian
View all articles by Chang Xian.
