Why Do I Get Headaches

Sleep Loss And Insomnia

Because sleep deprivation is a common cause of morning headaches, people with insomnia also have a high risk of experiencing morning headaches. People with this sleep disorder struggle to fall asleep or to stay asleep. As a result, they often do not get sufficient sleep and may feel unrested or sluggish during the day.

Bruxism Or Teeth Grinding

Sleep bruxism, or teeth grinding or clenching during sleep, can make you wake up with a headache. This forceful and excessive movement also leads to tooth wear, muscle pain, and gum damage. Causes of sleep bruxism include having an irregularly shaped jaw, stress and anxiety, sleep disruption, alcohol use, and coffee.

A dentist can determine if you have sleep bruxism. Treatment often involves wearing a mouthguard at night. Your dentist may also prescribe drugs for pain management and recommend cognitive behavioral therapy to manage stress and anxiety.

Why Do I Get A Headache When I Drink Alcohol

Because your body views alcohol as a toxic substance, its perfectly normal to experience a headache from drinking alcohol. Alcohols effects on your body include dehydration, inflammation, reduced sleep quality, and the buildup of toxic substancesall of which can give you a headache.

Those who experience headaches from drinking generally fall into one of two categories:

• People already prone to headaches, including regular migraines.
• People who get hangovers .

Migraines

Drinking too much can trigger migraines, and possibly other types of headachessuch as cluster headaches and tension headachesin people who are already susceptible to these issues. Such headaches can occur while you are drinking, or a few hours aftereven if youve had as little as one drink.

Hangovers

One of the most common symptoms of a hangover is a headache. Hangovers occur when the alcohol levels in your blood drop significantlyfrequently the morning after you drink. Hangovers can affect pretty much anyone who has had too much to drink.

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What Can I Do To Prevent A Headache When I Drink

There are several steps you can take to prevent a headache the next time you drink, including:

• Drink a glass of water after every alcoholic beveragethis will keep you hydrated and likely slow you down.
• Replenish your body with electrolytes and supplements like vitamin B, but avoid medicines containing acetaminophen.
• Drink in moderation.

If you frequently suffer from alcohol-related headaches, and are struggling to cut back, there are also new solutions. Ria Healths online program can help you cut back or quit without having to put your life on hold. Get access to anti-craving medications, regular coaching meetings, expert medical advice, digital tools, and moreall from an app on your smartphone.

How Can My Headache Be Managed

Many people who experience regular headaches will recognise some of the signs that a headache is about to come on. This might be the right time to take any medicines you have been prescribed by your doctor, or purchased over the counter. It may also help to try:

• lying down in a dark, quiet room
• placing a cold or warm cloth on the back of your neck or on your forehead
• taking a walk in fresh air

Your doctor or pharmacist can help you work out if you need medicine for your headache and the best time to take it.

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How Do I Know Which Type Of Headache I Have

While some headaches have unique features that make them easy to diagnose, most headaches arent that straightforward.

If you regularly get headaches at night and youre not sure why, it may be worth making an appointment with your doctor. They can help you narrow down the type of headache you have or rule out any underlying conditions that might be causing them.

To do this, theyll likely ask you a series of questions. These might be about:

Keeping these questions in mind, prepare a headache diary for your doctor. For about two weeks prior to your appointment, document every headache you have. Make sure to include all the details about pain characteristics, timing, triggers, and so on.

Is It Normal To Get Headaches Everyday

May 16, 2022

No, its NOT normal to get headaches everyday

Most people have headaches from time to time. But if you have a headache more days than not, you might have chronic daily headaches, which come in many forms most of them pretty disabling.

You may be suffering from chronic daily headaches if the headaches occur 15 days or more a month and you have experienced them for at least three months.

In general, there are four kinds of chronic daily headaches. They include:

What Causes Chronic Headaches?

No one really knows why some people suffer from this debilitating condition. Conditions that may cause it include:

• Inflammation or other problems with the blood vessels in and around the brain.
• Strokes, in which blood vessels in the brain a blocked, reducing blood flow to the brain.
• Infections, including meningitis.
• High or low intracranial pressure.
• Brain tumors.
• Overuse of pain medication.

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What Causes A Headache

The exact cause of headaches is not completely understood. It is thought that many headaches are the result of tight muscles and dilated, or expanded, blood vessels in the head. Although migraine headaches were previously thought to be due to dilated blood vessels in the brain, newer theories suggest that changes in brain chemicals or electrical signaling may be involved. Other headaches may be caused by an alteration in the communication between parts of the nervous system that relay information about pain, coming from the area of the head, face, and neck. Lack of sleep and poor sleep quality are often the cause of chronic headaches. Occasionally, there is an actual problem in the brain, such as a tumor or malformation of the brain, although this is rare.

The way a child exhibits a headache may be related to many factors, such as genetics, hormones, stress, diet, medications, and dehydration. Recurrent headaches of any type can cause school problems, behavioral problems, and/or depression.

Light Sensitivity And Headaches

During a headache or migraine, you may be very sensitive to light, especially bright and flashing ones. Research shows that slow, flickering lights are more irritating than rapid ones. To avoid headaches caused by flickering light, try using anti-glare screens on computer monitors and daylight spectrum florescent bulbs.

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How Do I Cope With A Brain Tumour Headache

Below are some suggestions to help manage and treat headache pain that people with brain tumours can experience:

• take the medication prescribed by your doctor
• tell your doctor straight away if the medication stops working or becomes less effective
• keep a headache diary

Symptoms can change over time. Be sure to tell any your doctor or nurse as soon as possible about any new symptoms or changes in existing symptoms.

What Types Of Headache Are Associated With Serious Illness

The child may have varying degrees of symptoms associated with the severity of the headache depending on the type of headache. Some headaches may be more serious. Symptoms that may suggest a more serious underlying cause of the headache may include the following:

• A very young child with a headache

• A child that is awakened by the pain of a headache

• Headaches that start very early in the morning

• Pain that is worsened by strain, such as a cough or a sneeze

• Recurrent episodes of vomiting without nausea or other signs of a stomach virus

• Sudden onset of pain and the “worst headache” ever

• Headache that is becoming more severe or continuous

• Personality changes that have occurred as the headache syndrome evolved

• Changes in vision

The symptoms of a headache may resemble other conditions or medical problems. Always consult your child’s doctor for a diagnosis.

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What Causes Headaches After Drinking Alcohol

Several factors contribute to alcohol-related headaches, including:

• Dehydration: Alcohol is a diuretic, which means it can cause you to urinate more than normal, depleting the amount of water in your body.
• Insomnia: While alcohol may help you fall asleep at first, it often disrupts your rest as the night wears on.
• Acetaldehyde: This and other toxic compounds can build up in your body as your liver processes alcohol out of your system
• Hormonal imbalances: This includes increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can lead to increased tensionincluding headaches

Do Brain Tumours Cause Head Pain

Headaches are one of the most common symptoms of a brain tumour, but they are also common in healthy people, and can be due to many everyday causes.

The headaches are not caused directly by the tumour itself, as the brain has no pain receptors, but by a build-up of pressure on pain-sensitive blood vessels and nerves within the brain.

The build-up of pressure can be due to the tumour pressing on these vessels/nerves or by the tumour blocking the flow of cerebrospinal fluid within the brain.

Headaches are rarely the only symptom of a brain tumour.

Doctors do NOT generally worry if your headache is:

• occasional
• doesnt last long
• has an identifiable cause, such as a hangover, lack of sleep, flu-like illness, sinus infection or if you have been fasting or overusing medication.

However, people often worry whether their headache is due to something more serious, such as a brain tumour, particularly if they have frequent or severe headaches causing a lot of pain.

If youre worried, you should speak to your doctor, who can undertake a neurological examination. This involves testing your vision, hearing, balance, reflexes, arm and leg strength, and coordination. If this examination does not show anything outside the normal range and you have no other symptoms, you are unlikely to have a brain tumour.

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What Is A Stress Headache

Stress headaches aren’t an official classification of headaches in the International Classification of Headache Disorders but are more accurately known as “tension-type” or tension headaches, Ellen Drexler, MD, a board-certified neurologist based in New York, told Health.

“Tension-type headaches are defined by the absence of migraine features, so they tend to appear on both sides of the head, feeling like a pressure pain, without the usual migraine accompaniments of nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, and worsened by head movement,” said Dr. Drexler. “They’d be the sort of run-of-the-mill pressure in the front of your head kind of headache of mild to moderate severity.”

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus database, tension headaches are the most common type of headache and are described as pain or discomfort in the head, scalp, or neck, often associated with muscle tightness. Tension headaches affect roughly 70% of people, and can last for 30 minutes to 72 hours, Susan Broner, MD, assistant professor of clinical neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College, told Health. In order to be properly diagnosed with tension headaches, you need to have a history of them. “To make the diagnosis, you’ve had to have had at least 10 of these ,” said Dr. Broner.

When Should You See A Specialist

As a general rule, for nonsevere headaches, it is a good idea to first discuss your headaches with your primary care provider before seeking out a headache specialist. Approximately 2 out of 3 people talk to their primary care doctor first, according to the American Headache Society. However, if the recommended treatments are not working well or you have unusual symptoms, your doctor may refer you to a neurologist.

Possible signs that you may need to see a specialist for your headaches include:

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You Have A Sinus Infection

Sinus headaches are not that common, Dr. Hutchinson notes. “Most sinus headaches are just migraines with sinus symptoms,” she says. So if you have recurrent headaches in your sinus or facial area, chances are it’s a migraine or a tension headache. In fact, studies have shown that approximately 90 percent of people who see a doctor for sinus headaches are found to actually have migraines, according to the Mayo Clinic.

While both migraines and sinus infections cause pain when you bend forward, sinus infections dont typically feature nausea, vomiting, or sensitivity to light, the Mayo Clinic says. But if your headache is paired with fever, phlegm, or any other indication you might be sick, an underlying sinus infection may be to blame.

Fix it: If you do have a sinus infection, the headache should go away after taking antibiotics to knock out the infectionso pay a visit to your physician.

When Should I See My Doctor

Headaches are common and most people will experience at least one in their lifetime. They are usually mild, but you should see your doctor if your headaches occur frequently and they prevent you from doing the things you can normally do. You should also go to see your doctor if you frequently take pain medicine for headaches.

In some cases, headaches can be a symptom of something more serious. If you experience any of the following symptoms, see your doctor as soon as possible:

• thunderclap headache a severe headache that comes on suddenly
• a headache that gets progressively worse over the course of several weeks
• a morning headache with nausea that doesnt go away
• a headache with fever, change in personality, neck stiffness, double vision, ringing in the ears, loss of balance or loss of sensation
• a new headache for patients with cancer, immunodeficiency, or anyone with a family history of glaucoma
• aura symptoms that last longer than an hour, include muscle weakness, are different than usual or occur for the first time when you take an oral contraceptive pill

In many of these cases, your family doctor may decide to refer you to a specialist.

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Can Headaches Or Migraines Be Cured

Treating health problems that cause headaches, such as high blood pressure, can eliminate head pain. Recently, there have been several new advancements in our understanding of what causes headaches. Although we are closer than ever before to a cure, at this time there is no cure for primary headaches. Treatment focuses on relieving symptoms and preventing future episodes.

Headache And Jaw Or Dental Problems

If the teeth of a persons upper and lower jaw fail to meet smoothly, the resulting muscle tension in the jaw can cause headache. Treatment may include correcting the bite, replacing missing teeth or using occlusal splints, which allow the jaw to close without dental interference. Surgery may be needed in severe cases.Tooth decay, dental abscesses and post-extraction infection can cause headache, as well as referred pain to the face and head, and these need to be professionally treated by a dentist.

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Youre Dealing With Hormonal Issues Like Menstruation

Thanks to the drop in estrogen right before menstruation, many people experience PMS-related headaches. In fact, menstruation is one of the biggest migraine triggers for people who have periods.

But it’s not the only time a change in estrogen levels can cause a headacheboth perimenopause and postpartum periods are marked by a significant drop in estrogen, and as a result, often come with headaches. Pregnancy, too, affects estrogen levels, so you may notice that your headaches worsen during this time, the Mayo Clinic says. “Any time of hormonal change is a vulnerable time for headaches,” Dr. Hutchinson says.

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Fix it: If you notice that your headaches appear to be cyclical and coincide with your period, its worth bringing this up with your doctor, who may suggest going on hormonal birth control or switching your current birth control.

As the Mayo Clinic explains, hormonal birth control can have an effect on your headache patterns and for some people, hormonal contraception may make headaches less frequent and intense because they reduce the drop in estrogen that happens during your menstrual cycle.

For short-term headache relief around your period, typical headache remedies can help, like using ice or a cold compress, practicing relaxation techniques, or taking an over-the-counter pain relief medication.

Primary Vs Secondary Headaches

There are two major kinds of headaches: primary headaches, which include migraines, cluster headaches, and tension headaches and secondary headaches, which are caused by underlying factors such as medical conditions. Both kinds of headaches are common in cancer patients certain kinds of treatment, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy, can cause headaches.

A red flag that a headache could be indicative of a medical issue is if it is a new or unusual headache for example, one that causes someone to wake up at night, or one that is associated with changes in position. Another red flag is if the headache is accompanied by other symptoms, such as weight loss. Some headaches can be relieved through over-the-counter pain medication, or by having a cup of coffee, for coffee drinkers but if the headache is persistent and doesnt improve like it normally would with typical measures, there could be cause for concern and enough reason to see a primary care physician.

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What Does A Brain Tumour Headache Feel Like

Headaches associated with brain tumours:

• can be throbbing or a dull ache, depending on where they are in the brain
• occur intermittently starting gradually, but fading over a few hours
• tend to get worse over time
• can resemble common migraine or tension-type headaches.

Other types of headache

Other types of headaches include:

• tension headaches

For more information about these and other headache types, see the National Headache Foundations Complete Headache Chart.