Stress headaches?

Question

I keep getting really bad stress headaches and in exams and stuff it gets so bad I can barely focus. and I also get hot flushes is that relates.
How do i get rid of them or get them under control?

Answer 1

A tension headache is the most common headache, and yet it's not well understood. A tension headache generally produces a diffuse, usually mild to moderate pain over your head. Many people liken the feeling to having a tight band around their head. A tension headache may also cause pain in the back of your neck at the base of your skull.

Although headache pain sometimes can be severe, in most cases it's not the result of an underlying disease. The vast majority of headaches are so-called primary headaches. Besides tension headaches, these include migraines and cluster headaches.

In many cases, there's no clear cause for a tension headache. Fortunately, effective treatments for tension headaches are available. Managing a tension headache is often a balance between fostering healthy habits, finding effective nondrug treatments and using medications appropriately. In addition, a number of preventive, self-care and alternative treatments may help you deal with headache pain.

Prevention
Although medications can provide temporary relief, lifestyle changes are ultimately the best way to combat tension headaches. Make sure you're following a regular sleep schedule and eating balanced meals. In addition, the following tips may help:

Exercise regularly. Regular aerobic exercise, such as walking, swimming or biking, can help reduce the frequency and intensity of headaches. Exercise relieves stress, relaxes your muscles and increases the levels of one of your body's natural stress relievers, beta-endorphin. Yoga, massage, stretching and posture classes also can help prevent tension headaches. If you already have a headache, exercise can help relieve the pain. In some cases, however, exercise may bring on a headache, so check with your doctor before starting any exercise program. Your doctor may recommend that you work with a physical therapist to learn exercise techniques that may specifically benefit people with chronic tension headaches.
Manage stress. In addition to regular exercise, techniques such as biofeedback training and relaxation therapy can help reduce stress. Biofeedback teaches you to control certain body responses that help reduce pain. During a biofeedback session, you're connected to devices that monitor and give you feedback on body functions such as muscle tension, heart rate and blood pressure. You then learn how to reduce muscle tension and slow your heart rate and breathing yourself. The goal of biofeedback is to help you enter a relaxed state so that you can better cope with your pain. Ask your doctor whether such a program might help you.

Cognitive behavior therapy also may help you learn to manage stress and reduce the frequency and severity of your headaches. During this type of talk therapy, a counselor helps you learn ways to view and cope with life events more positively.

Other relaxation techniques include deep breathing, yoga, meditation and progressive muscle relaxation, which is accomplished by tensing one muscle at a time, and then completely releasing the tension, until every muscle in your body is relaxed. You can learn relaxation techniques in special classes or at home using books or tapes. Many of them may also be helpful for children.

Preventive medications
Certain medications taken at regular intervals may reduce the frequency and severity of attacks. Your doctor may prescribe these if you have more than two headaches a week or have tension headaches that aren't relieved by acute medication and nondrug therapy. Your doctor also may recommend preventive medication if your headache lasts longer than three to four hours, if severe pain becomes disabling or causes you to overuse acute medication, or if you can't take acute medication because of other medical conditions.

Doctors often prescribe antidepressants to prevent tension headache, especially the chronic form. These drugs aren't painkillers. Rather, they work to stabilize the levels of brain chemicals such as serotonin, which may be involved in the development of a headache. You don't have to have depression in order to use these drugs.

Preventive medications may include:

Tricyclic antidepressants. Tricyclic antidepressants, including amitriptyline and nortriptyline (Pamelor), are the most commonly used medications to prevent tension headache. They're effective against both the episodic and chronic forms. Side effects of these medications may include weight gain, drowsiness, dry mouth, blurred vision and constipation. Older adults also may experience confusion or faintness when taking tricyclic antidepressants.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Antidepressants such as paroxetine (Paxil), venlafaxine (Effexor) and fluoxetine (Prozac, Sarafem) produce fewer side effects than do the tricyclic antidepressants but generally are less reliable in preventing headaches. Further studies are needed to demonstrate their effectiveness.
NSAIDs. Chronic tension headache may be effectively managed with NSAIDs such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) and ketoprofen (Orudis). In these circumstances, you take the medication daily.
Other medications. Other medications that may prevent tension headache include anticonvulsants such as divalproex (Depakote) and muscle relaxants such as tizanidine (Zanaflex). If you experience migraine-like symptoms, your doctor may prescribe a medication commonly used to treat migraines, such as beta blockers or calcium channel blockers.
Preventive medications may require several weeks to build up in your nervous system before they take effect. So don't get frustrated if you haven't seen improvements shortly after you begin taking the drug — it may take a couple of months or longer. You may need a combination of different medications for maximum effectiveness. Also be aware that overusing caffeine or painkillers for acute relief may reduce the effect of a preventive drug.

To obtain the greatest benefit from preventive medication, keep your use of acute pain relievers to a minimum. Your doctor will monitor your treatment to see how the preventive medication is working. If your headaches are under control, your dose of medication may be reduced gradually over time.

Answer 2

Yes, stress can cause headaches, but stress headaches come and go. If you've had a headache for 3 years, you should see a doctor without delay. It could be something as simple as - you need glasses - but the longer you leave it, the more damage could be done. You don't need to suffer. Whatever the problem - your doctor can help. Good luck.

Answer 3

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RE:
Stress headaches?
I keep getting really bad stress headaches and in exams and stuff it gets so bad I can barely focus. and I also get hot flushes is that relates.
How do i get rid of them or get them under control?

Answer 4

You might want to go to a blood pressure check up and get some medication (stress headaches happen because of blood pressure rushing to the brain ---a sign of nervousness).

I would suggest another alternative ---go exercise. Do something with a lot of heart pumping and sweat. This will help ease the stress levels and maybe could help you a little with the stress you feel prior to exam.

Answer 5

Headache is a pain in the head, scalp or neck.
Headaches can be caused by minor problems
like eyestrain, lack of coffee or more serious reasons
like head injury, brain tumors, encephalitis and
meningitis. Taking painkillers continuously can
have harmful side effects, so it is better to
modify your lifestyle. More information available at