why i have so much headaches all the time?

Question

i have really bad headaches these days i really dont want to take painkillers to control it but i gotta i got no choice...im not diagnosed by migrain or any mental disease but still im having headaches..what you think why im having headaches??is this because of stress or anything else???DO you know any exercises to control it??

Answer 1

What do the headaches feel like? Where are they located?

To say you have a headache does not begin to describe this phenomenon. There are tension-type headaches, migraine headaches, cluster headaches, organic headaches and rebound headaches. Headaches can plague young children, even babies, and headaches can stop the strongest and bravest in their tracks.

Tension-Type Headaches are often caused by stress, physical and environmental factors.

Chronic Tension-Type: Description

Chronic tension-type headaches may be the result of stress or fatigue, but more than likely, they can be attributed to physical problems, psychological issues, or depression

Chronic tension-type headaches affect both men and women, but women do have a greater incidence of them. This prevalence among women, however, may be due to the fact that women seek medical help and report headaches more frequently than men.

A pattern of chronic tension-type headaches generally begins between the ages of 20 and 40, and every personality type can experience them.

Symptoms

Physical Symptoms
The primary difference between episodic and chronic headaches is headache frequency and severity of some symptoms. Thus, your chronic headaches may feel like what we described for episodic headaches:

- The muscles between your head and neck contract for hours or days.

- You experience a tightness around your neck or even feel as if your head and neck were in a cast, and only certain positions seem to provide relief. (A "stiff" neck might be symptomatic of a more serious disorder.)

- You may feel a soreness, a tightening band around your head (a "vice-like" ache), a pulling, or pressure sensations.

- For most of you, the pain is continuous, annoying, but not throbbing.

- Your headache primarily occurs in your forehead, temples or the back of your head and/or neck.


Physical Symptoms Associated with Anxiety or Depression
Although many people do not easily or comfortably accept the notion that they could be depressed, the fact remains: The chronic tension-type headache is generally the result of -- not necessarily the cause of -- either anxiety or depression. You may not even realize that you are feeling anxious or are in a state of depression; but, once you recognize the source of your emotional concerns, you can find relief.

If it is determined that the underlying source of your chronic tension-type headache is depression, then you may also be experiencing one or more of the following symptoms. Remember, though, that these may also be symptoms of other diseases, and this is why a medical evaluation is so important.




Changes in sleep patterns If your headaches are related to anxiety, then you may have trouble falling asleep or you may suffer from insomnia. If your headaches are associated with depression, then you may awaken frequently during the night, awaken before you wanted to in the morning, or you may be sleeping excessively (hypersomnia).
Early morning/late day occurrence. You may awaken to a headache or find it occurring just when you think you are leaving the stress behind.


Migraine Headache

There are several different types of migraine headaches

Symptoms

There are several types of migraine, all share basic features, and each person will suffer this headache in a unique way. Generally, however, migraine often begins as a dull ache and then develops into a constant, throbbing and pulsating pain that you may feel at the temples, as well as the front or back of one side of the head. The pain is usually accompanied by nausea and vomiting, and sensitivity to light and noise.

The two most prevalent types of migraine are migraine with aura (formerly referred to as classic migraine) and migraine without aura (formerly referred to as common migraine).



Migraine without Aura
As we have said, migraine is a vascular headache, which means the headache is associated with changes in the size of the arteries inside and around the skull. During the pre-headache phase, blood vessels constrict; when vascular dilation occurs, the migraine begins. The blood vessels are thought to become inflamed as well as swollen, and it is believed that migraine pain is caused by this inflammation, as well as by the pressure on the swollen walls of the blood vessels.

Most migraine sufferers experience two to four headaches per month; but, some people can get one every few days, and others may only have one or two a year. Most migraine headaches last at least four hours, although very severe ones can last up to a week. Headaches may begin at any time of the day or night; and while a sufferer may wake up with one, a migraine will rarely awaken a person from sleep.

Approximately one-third of migraine sufferers experience an aura prior to the headache pain.

Migraine with Aura
While most migraine sufferers experience visual problems during the headache, you may be someone whose migraine begins with an aura, a manifestation of neurological symptoms. Generally, the aura begins from five to thirty minutes before the actual onset of the headache. You may see wavy or jagged lines, dots or flashing lights; or, you experience tunnel vision or blind spots in one or both eyes. The aura can include vision or hearing hallucinations and disruptions in smell (such as strange odors), taste or touch. It can become even more disconcerting or frightening if it involves feelings of numbness, a "pins-and-needles" sensation or even difficulty in recalling or speaking the correct word. These neurological events may last sixty minutes and will fade as the headache begins.

Hemiplegic Migraine
If you suffer from this rare but severe type of migraine with aura, you probably also have a family history of it. The hemiplegic migraine often begins with temporary motor paralysis and/or sensory disturbances on one side of the body, followed by the headache -- within the hour -- which may be accompanied by numbness or the "pins and needles" sensation. When the headache appears, the initial neurological symptoms may disappear.

Ophthalmoplegic Migraine
Also a rare and severe migraine, the ophthalmoplegic migraine’s pain usually surrounds the eyeball and lasts from a few days to a few months. There may be paralysis in the muscles surrounding the eye. If these symptoms occur, you should seek immediate medical attention because the symptoms can be caused by pressure on the nerves behind the eye.

Retinal Migraine
Another rare migraine, the retinal type starts with a temporary, partial, or complete loss of vision in one eye. It is followed by a dull ache behind that eye that may spread to the rest of the head.

Basilar Artery Migraine
This very rare form of migraine is accompanied by dizziness, confusion or lack of balance. It comes on suddenly and can result in fleeting visual disturbances, the inability to speak properly, ringing in the ears, and vomiting. Throbbing occurs in the back of the head. The basilar artery migraine is strongly related to hormonal influences and primarily strikes young adult women and adolescent girls; as sufferers age, the migraine with aura may replace the basilar artery type.

Abdominal Migraine
It is difficult to diagnose this migraine because the pain is felt in the abdomen. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea may occur, and the pain usually occurs in the middle of the abdomen. The attack typically lasts hours and occurs mostly in children as a forerunner of migraine.



Cluster Headaches

Description

They are called cluster headaches because the attacks come in groups. The pain arrives with little, if any, warning, and it has been described as the most severe and intense of any headache type. It generally lasts from 30 to 45 minutes, although it might persist for several hours before it disappears. Unfortunately, it can reoccur later in the day. Most sufferers experience one to four headaches a day during a cluster period.

Cluster headaches frequently surface during the morning or late at night; the cluster cycle can last weeks or months and then can disappear for months or years. Clusters often occur during spring or autumn and, thus, are often incorrectly associated with allergies. Approximately 10 percent of the sufferers, however, experience chronic cluster headaches that occur all year long.

It is estimated that less than one percent of the population are victims of cluster headaches, and they encounter the headache somewhere between the ages of 20 and 45. More men (about five to one) than women suffer from cluster headaches.

Symptoms

The cluster headache was once considered a type of migraine, because it is vascular. Unfortunately, it is possible for a person to suffer from both migraines and clusters, although it is rare.

The headache is usually unilateral and rarely switches sides from one attack to another. You might feel the pain begin around one eye, "like a nail or knife stabbing or piercing" your eye, or as if someone "were pulling out" your eye; it may be accompanied by a tearing or bloodshot eye and a runny nose on the side of the headache. It can radiate from the eye to the forehead, temple and cheek on the same side. The pain of a cluster headache has been described as piercing, burning, throbbing, pulsating, and so excruciating that most victims cannot sit still and feel compelled to rock in a chair, walk back and forth, or bang their heads against something.



Hormone Headaches-Usually in Woman

Rebound Headache-if you are constantly taken analesic to stop your headache this could be a likely occurance

It is quite typical, when an occasional headache hits, to head for your medicine cabinet or local pharmacy, and take an over-the-counter analgesic.

Over-use of medications — exceeding labeling instructions or physician's advice — can precipitate a "rebound" into another headache. This is particularly true if your medication contains caffeine, which is included in many drugs because it speeds the efficacy of the other ingredients. However, as beneficial as caffeine is in this context, if you are also drinking caffeine (coffee, tea or soft drinks), then you become more vulnerable to a rebound headache.

In addition to the rebound headache, over-use can result in addiction to medications, more severe pain when they wear off, and possible serious side-effects.

Are You Over-Medicating?
It usually begins like this: When you get a headache, you take an analgesic, such as ibuprofen, acetaminophen, aspirin, or even a prescription medication that contains ergotamine. You may also find that caffeine, tea, coffee, colas, or soft drinks relieve your headache.

You may be experiencing at least a dozen headaches each month. If analgesics help, you start to use them more frequently and usually more often than package instructions call for. Soon your headache requires a higher dosage of medication to achieve the same relief. Or, you begin taking medications to ward off a potential headache.

Over-the-counter analgesics and prescription pharmaceuticals are meant to be taken as instructed; everyone's body and responses are unique and headache medication should be part of an overall treatment program. If you are over-using medication, seek medical attention because you may be innocently sabotaging your health and treatment.

Guidelines
You can assume that if you use acute treatment more than two days a week that you may be over-using and may have developed a dependency upon your OTC or prescription medications.



Sinus Headache

Sinuses are located in your forehead bone, the cheek bone on each side, and behind the bridge of your nose. When a sinus becomes inflamed, usually as the result of an allergic reaction, a tumor or an infection, the inflammation will cause a localized pain.

Sinuses are filled with air, and their secretions must be able to drain freely into the nose. If your headache is truly caused by a sinus blockage, such as an infection, you will probably have a fever. An x-ray will confirm a sinus blockage. Your physician's treatment might include antibiotics for the infection, as well as antihistamines or decongestants.

If you do not have a true sinus headache and take decongestants, for example, they could make your headache worse.

Because of the wide variety of headaches it would be hard for anyone here to say what is causing your headaches. My best advice is to go see a neurologist and have some testing done, an EEG, MRI, CatScan, and blood work, often this will reveal what is causing your headache.

Best of Luck to you,
Kimberly, RRT

Answer 2

While stress can be a factor it isn't the only reason you could be having headaches. Have you been to a nuerologist? I have suffered migraines since childhood and even though you say yours are not migraines how do you know? Have you only been to one Dr. to confirm this? Do not take just one oppinion from any Dr. Also things you eat, ie, peanut butter, lunch meats, fresh fruit (pineapple), etc. can give you these live altering headaches, so can something wrong in your neck or back. Do you have neck or back problems as well? You asked if there were any exercises for headaches..no not for headaches but maybe for the underlying cause. Try doing stretches for the back and neck. Loosening things up in those spots could easily put those headaches at bay. Have you had your eyesight tested lately? Sometimes people don't even realize they have an eye sight problem until they go have it checked out. I hope I have assisted you.
M.M.

Answer 3

1. When is the last time you had a headache? Couple of years (regular one) 2. What did you take for your headache? Advil 3. When is the last time you had a hangover headache? About a week ago 4. What worked for this headache? Time 5. What doesn't work at all for your headaches? Banging my head against a wall 6. Do you get dull headaches or throbbing headaches? I usually do not ever get headaches. When I do (regular ones) they are usually dull. A hot bath or real good massage works wonders. A chiropractor may help too to get you back in working order!

Answer 4

Sinus blood pressure a headache is an indication of dozens of things, if a doctor is unable to find a problem then maybe you need a holiday.

Answer 5

Stress, Rapidly Icreased Caffiene, Rapidly Decreased Caffiene, Sinus Infections. Could be alot of things. What I suggest doing is keep a journal of what you are eating and do a little research. You will be suprised at all the thing that could be the cause. I for ne Peanut butter

Answer 6

Have your vision tested, #1 cause of headaches is needing glasses.....

Answer 7

Try getting glasses, i did and my headaches stoppped. Go to your optomitrist and check to see if your vision is messed up.

Answer 8

Stress!

Answer 9

It could be caused by anything. The best thing to do is consult your doctor. Make sure you are getting plenty of fresh air. and sleep

Answer 10

Stress, the whole world seems like it is suffering from it now