TYPES OF HEADACHES: CAUSES, DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENTS

The Real Fast Facts

 

headache or cephalgia is defined as "a pain or ache in the head...It accompanies many diseases and conditions, including emotional distress.

Headaches are one of the most common ailments, with most people experiencing a headache at some point in their life.² They can affect anyone regardless of age, race and gender.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that around 47% of adults worldwide will have experienced a headache within the last year. As well as being symptoms of other conditions, headache disorders can lead to the development of other illnesses. Depression is three times more common in individuals with severe headaches than in healthy people.

Headaches are extremely common – most people have a headache at some time in their life. Most headaches disappear on their own (with a little time) or with the help of mild pain relievers. Although most headaches are mild and temporary annoyances, some people have headaches that are so severe they need to consult a doctor for pain relief.
Children can also have headaches, some well before they reach the age of 10. Research shows that before puberty, headaches are more common in boys, but that trend is reversed after puberty. Adult women experience more headaches than adult men, and they're often linked to a woman's menstrual cycle. With advancing age, both women and men tend to have fewer, less severe headaches.
Headaches come in various forms: tension, migraine, sinus, and cluster headaches. In a small number of cases, headaches may signal a more serious condition that requires immediate medical attention.

Causes

Headaches can be triggered by a variety of factors. The most common cause of headaches is prolonged tension or stress. These are called tension headaches or muscle-contraction headaches. Virtually everyone suffers from this at some time. Muscles in your scalp, neck, and face tighten and contract, causing spasms and pain. Psychological factors such as anxiety, fatigue (e.g., eyestrain), and stress (e.g., long periods of concentration) as well as mechanical factors such as neck strain (e.g., working on a computer for prolonged periods) are often the culprits behind a typical tension headache.
Migraines are generally more severe and can be debilitating. The cause of migraine is not known but many trigger factors are recognized. These include hormonal changes (during a woman's menstrual cycle), certain foods (e.g., chocolate, aged cheeses), beverages (e.g., red wine), strong odours, lack of sleep, and even stress. It is not uncommon to experience mixed tension-migraine headaches.
Sinus headaches are less common than people think. Many people with sinus headaches actually have migraine headaches. They can occur after a bout of upper respiratory infection, such as a cold. Along with the headache, people often have a runny or stuffy nose. Sinus headaches are caused when bacteria invade and infect the nasal sinuses.
Cluster headaches are a relatively uncommon type of headache. They more often affect men, run in families, are strongly associated with cigarette smoking, and tend to occur in clusters over a few days, weeks, or months with long headache-free periods lasting from months to years. In some cases, they are triggered by alcohol. The cause is not known.
So-called "ice pick" or primary stabbing headaches are severe headaches that occur suddenly, causing a few seconds of intense pain at a small, localized spot. The exact cause of these headaches is unknown, but they are usually not due to a serious problem.

Symptoms and Complications

Tension headaches generally cause a constant pressure or a dull ache that affects the entire head. In most cases it begins slowly, with the ache usually focused above the eyes. There's a feeling of tightness across the forehead or at the back of the neck. The ache can last for hours or days at a time, with mild-to-moderate pain that is not worsened by activity and that typically improves when the source of tension is removed.
Cluster headaches occur in "clusters" or groups, with pain lasting about 20 to 90 minutes at a time. The ache and pain is limited to one side of the head and can be extremely severe. They are often accompanied by other symptoms on the side of the headache such as redn and tearing of the eye, drooping eyelid, and nasal stuffiness and dripping.
Migraines range from mild to severe. They often occur as one-sided head pain but can sometimes affect both sides. The location, duration, and intensity of pain vary widely from person to person as well as from one episode to another. Migraine is usually a pulsating pain, often with other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, visual disturbances, and hypersensitivity to light, noise, and smells. A migraine attack can last from hours to days, averaging 12 to 18 hours per episode. They're often so severe and incapacitating that many migraine sufferers are unable to carry out normal daily activities.
Migraine headaches are divided into two categories: migraine with aura and migraine without aura. Some people experience a pre-headache stage known as an aura, which can last about 10 to 30 minutes. A typical aura includes visual disturbances such as blind spots, zigzag flashes, and light sparks. The aura normally clears as the headache starts, but there can be some overlap. Sometimes the aura will occur without a headache but more often no aura occurs before the headache.
Although headaches can be painful and debilitating, they are usually not due to dangerous conditions. However, headaches can occasionally be a sign of something more serious. Very severe high blood pressure (above 180/110 mm Hg), stroke, brain tumour, or an aneurysm (a dilated weakened blood vessel) in the brain may cause headaches. Meningitis (an infection of the brain's lining) may also cause a headache. Warning signs are a sudden onset of headache accompanied by fever, stiff neck, and visual problems (double vision).
It's critical that you seek emergency medical care if you experience a headache that:

• gets worse over days or weeks
• is accompanied by impaired neurological function (e.g., loss of balance, weakness, numbness, or speech disturbance) and double vision (could signal a stroke)
• is accompanied by persistent nausea and vomiting
• is accompanied by seizures, mental disturbances, and loss of consciousness
• is associated with a fever or stiff neck (could signal meningitis)
• is different than the usual pattern of headaches you have experienced
• strikes suddenly with great intensity
• wakes you from sleep or is worse when you lie down

Making the Diagnosis

If you tend to have headaches that are frequent and severe, your doctor will examine you for any serious, life-threatening conditions (e.g., stroke, meningitis) and start emergency care if needed. As well, if you regularly have headaches and experience a change in the pattern of your usual headaches, you should see your doctor.
Typically, a thorough medical history and physical examination is enough for a good diagnosis. Since tension headaches are very common, your doctor will ask questions about your current stress level and other personal factors (e.g., work) that may be triggering your headaches. Depending on the location, duration, and any accompanying symptoms, the type of headache can be determined.
In some cases, a brain scan called a CAT (computer assisted tomography) scan or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) may be used to check for serious causes of headache.

Treatment and Prevention

Since tension headaches are caused by factors such as neck strain, stress, and anxiety, treatment involves eliminating the stressful situation, if possible. Taking an over-the-counter pain reliever such as acetaminophen* or ibuprofen, and finding ways to relax, rest, correct poor posture, and exercise can all help to relieve and prevent headache pain.
Cluster headaches respond poorly to over-the-counter medications. Oxygen therapy and prescription medications such as lithium, calcium channel blockers (used also to treat high blood pressure), steroids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and some antimigraine medications, among others, can help in many cases. If you suspect that you have cluster headaches, you should check with your doctor.
Sinus headaches usually require antibiotics or other treatments to clear up the infection. Once the infection is gone, the headache will go away, too. Until the infection gets better, taking an over-the-counter pain reliever can help ease the pain.
Migraines can be treated with over-the-counter pain relievers, such as acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), acetaminophen, or ibuprofen, if the headaches are mild.
Stronger medications may need to be prescribed if the headaches are more severe. These can be divided into two groups:
1) Acute treatments:

• pain relievers containing codeine or meperidine
• NSAIDs
• ergot derivatives (e.g., ergotamine)
• serotonin agonists called "triptans" (e.g., sumatriptan, zolmitriptan)
• dopamine antagonists (e.g., metoclopramide, prochlorperazine)

2) Preventive treatments:

• antiseizure medications such as valproic acid, divalproex sodium, gabapentin, and topiramate
• blood pressure medications such as beta-blockers (e.g., propranolol or metoprolol), candesartan, lisinopril, and calcium channel blockers (e.g., flunarizine and verapamil)
• riboflavin (vitamin B2), coenzyme Q10, butterbur, or magnesium supplements
• serotonin blockers such as pizotifen
• tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline and nortriptyline
• avoiding headache triggers

There is some evidence suggesting that chiropractic care, such as spinal manipulation, can help alleviate headaches originating from the neck.

GET TO KNOW 33 CURATIVE MEASURES TO STRESS

  GET TO KNOW 33 CURATIVE MEASURES TO STRESS

The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.”
Sydney J. Harris

“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.”
Bertrand Russell

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”
John Lubbock

Feeling stressed in today’s society is pretty much inevitable.

But how stressed you get or how often this happens are two things that you can have a great influence over.

Without smart habits for dealing with situations that could be stressful life can be a whole lot more burdensome that it needs to be. You may feel tired before the week has barely begun. Be overwhelmed on a daily basis. Get an upset stomach, headaches or migraines too often and even start to feel burned out.

So what can you do about it?

In this article I’d like to share 33 tips and habits that have helped me to live a less stressful life.

The main focus will be on how to prevent getting stressed in the first place. But the article also contains a whole bunch of effective habits for dealing with a stressful situation when you are right in the middle of it.

I hope you will find a few favorites among these tips and habits that you can start using in your own life this week to reduce the stress and live a much lighter and more relaxing life.

1. One thing at a time.

You’ll feel better and less stressed if you just do one thing at a time. No matter if it is at work, in school or in your private life. This will make it easier to focus and to do a job of higher quality right away. Instead of having to go back several times and polish and rearrange to get the result you want.

If you have to multi-task a few things during your day then set off some time for that. Single-task during most of your day but set off an hour in the afternoon for instance to do all of that multi-tasking stuff in one big swoop.

2. Write everything down.

If your memory is anything like mine then it might be a bit like a leaky bucket too often. So write everything down. Your ideas, tasks and stuff you just have to remember.

Then you don’t have to worry about forgetting. And you will free up your mind for focusing on other things than remembering.

3. Keep your daily to-do list very short.

10 years ago I never used a to-do list. I got very little done. Then I started using a too overloaded to-do list. I got more done but I was stressed and felt overwhelmed a lot of the time. Today I use a very short daily list of just the 1-3 most important tasks. It works really well.

4. Don’t make mountains out of molehills.

One of the best ways to make your day and life easier, lighter and less stressful is to not build mountains out of molehills. To not create extra drama, overthink or create a problem out of something that doesn’t matter much. Or just out of air.

So how can you handle this bad habit?

Well, when a big problem is starting to build in my mind I first say something like: Hold on now…

This helps me to pause and become more receptive to change my line of thinking. Then I ask myself:

Will this matter 5 years from now? Or even 5 weeks from now?

Those two steps have helped me to build a lot less mountains in my life.

5. Spend 80% of your time focusing on a solution.

And only 20% of your time on dwelling on your non-molehill issue or problem. Instead of taking a common path and doing it the other way around. You’ll live a much more action-filled life and feel less pessimistic and powerless if you do.

6. Ask instead of guessing.

Reading minds is very hard. Misunderstandings will be plentiful if you try to do it. So communicate instead. You’ll have a lot less unnecessary conflicts, negativity and waste less of your and other people’s time.

7. Pack your bag before you go to sleep.

A simple one but one that can save you a lot of stress in the morning. Take 5 minutes before you go to bed to do this and you’ll also be less likely to forget something important like your schoolbook, wallet or phone.

8. Balance fully focused work with complete rest.

I usually work for 45 minutes. Then I take a 15 minute break away from the computer. I eat a snack, take a short walk or maybe watch half an episode of one of my favorite TV-series. This helps me to relax and to avoid stress building up during the day.

9. Set clear boundaries for your day.

This is very important, at least for me.

I need to have a good balance between work and rest. So I don’t work before 8 in the morning or after 7 in the evening.

10. Disconnect over the weekend.

It is also really helpful to find a good balance between work and rest from a weekly perspective. I do that by staying away from work and staying offline – except for one email check – during the weekend. I highly recommend trying it out.

If you have a cellphone for work leave it at your job. Or at least put it in silent mode, check it once every 24 hours and only call back if it is something important. Otherwise, let it wait until Monday.

These strict limits between hourly, daily and weekly work is a huge help for me to avoid the grey zone.

When you are in the grey zone then you are basically thinking and worrying about work when you are at home or you having a day off. Or you think about your private life and challenges there while you are at work.

Avoid the grey zone. It sucks the life out of you and can leave you so stressed that it becomes hard to focus or even to get a good night’s sleep.

11. Make sure you take time to do what you love to do.

Learn to get the necessary done quicker and don’t get lost in “have-tos”. Prioritize what really matters to you and carve out time during your weekend or evenings to do what you love doing.

Maybe it is playing soccer with your kids, painting, writing, taking photos or reading. Whatever you love to do, make sure you set off some time for it regularly in your schedule. Because few things will relieve stress and energize you like an activity you love doing.

12. Delegate.

You don’t have to do everything yourself. You don’t have to control or micromanage. If possible delegate and let someone else get that task or project to done.

13. Eliminate.

Do you even have to do everything that is on your schedule? What things could you stop doing altogether with no or very small consequences?

What things are your heart maybe not in like it used to be?

Could you say no to one or a few of those things to have more time and energy for what matters in both your professional and private life?

Reevaluate what you usually do in a day or week and see if there is something you would like to stop doing.

14. Be 10 minutes early.

This one has transformed my traveling from stressful situations to relaxing pieces of time in my day.

15. Stay on track by asking yourself questions every day.

One good way to find clarity, to not get behind on work and to actually do what matters each day is to ask yourself questions regularly.

Questions like: What is the most important thing I can do right now?

And: Is doing this bringing me closer to my goal?

If you like, write one of the questions down on a post-it note and put it where you will see it every day. It is very easy to forget to ask yourself the question otherwise.

16. Let your lunch be a slow time of relaxing.

Don’t wolf down your lunch in 7 minutes flat. That will only ramp up the stress that you bring with you from the first few hours of work.

Instead, let your lunch be a time of relaxation. Eat slowly and focus on the smell, texture and taste of the food. Put down the fork and knife down between bites to make that easier.

I have found this to be a wonderful way to relax midday. And to get the best experience out ofwhat you are eating.

17. Keep a very simple workspace.

Mine is for example a simple and small black desk with my laptop on it. A few flowers. And a glass of water. This simplicity makes it easier for me to focus on what truly matters in a relaxed and undistracted way.

18. Build a zone of few distractions for your work hours.

A simple workspace makes it easier to focus. I also find it helpful to keep instant messaging programs offline and to keep my smart phone in another room and in silent mode. And to use my browser only when I need to.

By doing so I am less distracted, it is easier to think clearly and I feel less stressed.

19. Get to done with something that stressed or bothers you.

An unfinished task that is tumbling around in the back of your mind can cause quite a bit of stress and negativity within. So if you know you have one of those then ask yourself:

What is one small I can do today to start getting this task to done?

Then take that first step and put yourself in motion towards finishing.

20. If it does not get done then there is a day tomorrow too.

Sometimes life interferes or you have a bad day. And you don’t get done what you had planned or hoped for.

The best way – in my experience – to handle this is to simply and kindly tell yourself that there will be a day tomorrow too and you can do it then.

Beating yourself up or getting angry will only add stress that will suck the energy, self-confidence and motivation out of you. And life is too short for that.

21. Everything in its place.

When things have their own home where you always put them back then they will be a lot easier to find and your work space and home will be in better order. This will greatly reduce the number of stressful times when you can’t find an important report or your car keys as you are heading out the door.

22. Check your email etc. just once and as late in the workday as possible.

I usually check and process my email, social media accounts and various statistics for my website during the last hour of my workday.

By doing so I save the stress that it can cause me and the new tasks it can produce until I have already put in several of my most energetic hours on doing my most important tasks.

23. Limit your daily information intake.

Take a few minutes each month to unsubscribe to newsletters, blogs, podcasts etc. that you don’t get much out of anymore or you rarely even listen to or read.

This makes it easier to focus on what truly matters for you, to spend more of your time on taking action and to not get stuck in information overload and analysis paralysis.

24. Listen to yourself.

When you are starting to feel drained, more irritable and creativity plummets then don’t just keep on going right into the brick wall. Listen to yourself and your body. Schedule more time to take care of yourself.

Just spend the evening in bed watching your favorite movies. Or go out for a walk or run in the woods. No one will reward you for running into that wall or even becoming burned out. Be kind to yourself and prioritize your health.

25. Be here.

When you spend too much time in your head reliving the past or imagining the future then it is easy to become worried. Fearful. Stressed out. Choose to spend more of your day and time in the present moment.

One simple way to reconnect with the now if you get lost in the past or future is to just focus fully outward for a minute or two. Sit or stand still and take in everything that is happening around you at this moment. See it. Hear it. Smell it. Feel the sun, the rain or your soft sweater on your skin.

26. Stop trying to do things perfectly.

Go for good enough instead and when you are there then you are done. And can move on to the next task or project. Set this more human bar to measure success by not only to finish things but also raise and then keep your self-esteem at a healthy level.

Because when you measure yourself to a perfect standard then it will pretty much impossible to keep your self-esteem up and feel good about yourself more than once in a while.

27. Ask for help.

You don’t always have to go it alone. You can ask your friend, parents or partner or even someone you do not know that well for a helping hand. You might not always get it but you may be surprised at how helpful and kind people can be if you just ask.

And then later on when they ask then you can return the kindness.

28. Talk it out with someone.

This can be a great relief and vent to have when you are in a stressed situation. Let your stress and the issue that it comes from out into the light and let someone close to you see it too.

Just letting it out can often help you to decrease the stress quite a bit and when you say it out loud then it also becomes easier to see if you are making a mountain out of a molehill.

The other person can also help you to ground yourself when needed and together the two of you may be able to figure out what to do about the situation. Or at least how to get started with improving it.

29. Zoom out.

One thing that helps me as I sometimes fall into victim thinking when I am stressed is to zoom out on my narrow perspective by asking myself this question:

Is there anyone on the planet having it worse than me right now?

30. Slow down.

If you slow down your body then in my experience your thoughts will once again become clearer and slower too. So sometimes when I am stressed and am trying to do everything quickly then I force myself to slow down. I move slower. I eat slower. I talk and walk slower.

It may be uncomfortable for the first minute or so but after a very short while my mind stops racing and the stress starts to melt away and is replaced with a bit more inner calmness.

31. Tell yourself: Just take care of today.

Focus only on that. Forget about all those tomorrows. And about all your yesterdays. Go small, narrow your focus greatly and just take care of today. Then you can take care of tomorrow when it comes.

This one is very helpful when you feel overwhelmed.

32. Just breathe.

Release the stress, calm your mind and body down and reconnect with the present moment again by fully focusing on your breathing. Breathe with your belly for just 1-2 minutes and focus only on the air you are breathing in and out.

33. Be smart about the three fundamentals of energy.

What are these three fundamentals? Getting enough sleep, eating healthy and exercising a couple of times a week.

I know, these things are very obvious. But when you manage these three areas in a good way in practice then that makes a huge difference for your mood, energy, outlook of life and how well you can handle stress.

DANGERS INVOLVED IN INDISCRIMINATE AND PASSIONATE KISSING



We know that kisses of passion can lead to one thing or another. But did you know that kissing can also lead to an infectious disease? Mononucleosis, or mono, is the prototypical “kissing disease,” and sexually-transmitted diseases are infamous following some romantic interludes. But did you know that there are many infections that can be spread through mere kissing alone?

Infectious Diseases in Saliva

Infectious diseases are spread through several routes of transmission. “Oral transmission” refers to spreading of microbes through saliva, foods or drinks. When a person accidentally consumes microbe-contaminated items, such as saliva during kissing, the swallowing action of the tongue wipes the microbes against the back of the throat, allowing the microbe to enter the body. Infections, such as mononucleosis (the kissing disease), caused by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and cytomegalovirus (CMV) are spread via oral transmission from virus-containing saliva.

Other infectious microbes that spread through saliva do so by sticking to the inner surface of the cheeks and mouth, the tongue, or teeth. An example is the bacterium Streptococcus, which can cause an array of infections, including gum disease and strep throat.

An important thing to keep in mind is that the surfaces of the respiratory tract (nose, mouth, and throat) are continuous and made up of similar tissues.

As a result, microbes that are found in the saliva can generally be found in other parts of the respiratory tract, including the nose and throat. Therefore, even colds and flus (and other respiratory infections) can potentially be spread through the saliva.

Infectious Diseases from Mouth Sores

Cold sores
Cold sores are caused by Herpes Simplex Virus-1 (HSV-1).

In contrast to infections spread through the saliva, HSV-1 is spread through open cold sores on the lips or near the mouth. Although the infection is contagious through all stages of a cold sore, the infection is most contagious when the sore is open and leaking fluid.

Hand, foot, and mouth disease
Hand, foot, and mouth disease, caused by Coxsackie virus, is another infectious disease that is spread through open sores in the mouth. This infection is common in kids, especially those in daycare or preschool settings. It spreads primarily via the fecal-oral route, a common problem among daycares, since changing of diapers goes on all day.

But canker sores are not infectious.
In contrast to cold sores and coxsackie virus blisters, canker sores have no infectious disease origin and cannot be spread through the saliva or kissing.

What about HIV and Hepatitis B Virus?

HIV and hepatitis B Virus (HBV) are blood-borne and sexually-transmitted infections that have been found in the saliva. Despite the presence of HIV in saliva, there have never been any reports of HIV transmission via this route.

CONFUSED ABOUT WHEN TO KISS?  CALL +2348086006666