When your head begins to pound, instead of hoping for the best, review your symptoms and match them to the correct type of headache. Armed with that information, you can then apply the best treatment and get rid of your pain as quickly as possible.
Tension headache: Doctors don’t know for sure why stress or tension makes your head ache, but there’s no question that it happens. Symptoms include a dull, steady pain, often feeling as though you have a tight band wrapped around your head from front to back. Your neck and shoulder muscles may be tight and sore as well. If you suffer from tension headaches, a massage and a good night’s sleep can get rid of them temporarily. But you’ll need to deal with whatever is causing your stress to take care of them for good.
Sinus headache: This kind of headache causes pain in the front of your head or your face, and is often centered on one side or the other (indicating that only one sinus cavity is inflamed). It may be accompanied by tenderness, fever and a stopped-up or runny nose. You can defeat the occasional sinus headache by taking allergy medicines or decongestants. If they keep coming back, you may have a sinus infection – talk to your doctor about starting a course of antibiotics.
Migraine headache: If you have severe pain on one or both sides of your head, accompanied by nausea and/or sensitivity to light and sound, you may have a migraine headache. Most migraine sufferers start getting them in childhood or early adolescence, but some don’t start until later in life. Talk to your doctor about trying some of the migraine prevention treatments, such as beta blockers.
If you’re experiencing headaches for the first time and/or they suddenly get much worse than ever before, schedule a checkup with your doctor. Though uncommon, there are some dangerous conditions that can cause severe headaches early on.
