Frequent Headaches

Whether or not you have been suffering from or are being diagnosed with constant headaches, it is crucial to acquire knowledge in this topic for improving your overall physical and emotional well-being. The impact of constant headaches can be very long-lasting and will normally extend beyond the attack period. They can also affect every parts of your life, from the food you eat to the social activities that you are involved in.

The fact is, constant headache is a painful and debilitating neurological condition that costs the Americans billions of dollars in spending for health care, reduced quality of life and lost in workplace productivity. These constant headaches can come in many forms with many underlying causes that trigger them. A migraine attack is a common example of constant headaches that is frequently accompanied by symptoms such as vomiting, nausea, visual disturbances, mental confusion and sensory changes. Do not take migraines too lightly as the entire episode may span a period of several debilitating days resulting in significant crippling for anyone experiencing a frequent headache.

Migraine can be classified into 2 major types namely, migraine with aura (classic migraine) and migraine without aura. Around 80% of migraine victims have migraine without aura. In the recent years, migraines were also easily confused with other types of headaches. Other types of constant headaches that share almost the same symptoms are tension headache, sinus headache and cluster headache. Special care and extra attention must be taken to diagnose these headaches as some of them will have minor symptoms that are unique to themselves only.

Headaches can strike men and women, young and old, with women 3 times as likely to experience migraines as men. It is estimated that 30 million Americans have experienced a constant headache at least once in their lives. Among them, more than half remain undiagnosed due to mis-diagnosis or reluctance to seek help. It is very important to get a proper diagnosis and this may well be the most challenging step of getting the constant headaches treated.

There are currently many effective treatments for common headaches and these include drugs that can be bought at the local pharmacies or surgical treatments that aims to eliminate the root cause totally. On top of these, there are also alternative treatments such as acupuncture, vitamins and herbal supplements.

If you are a victim of constant headaches, then the best practice is to document them down with a headache diary so that the potential headache triggers could be identified. From here, you could also identify the type of headaches you are suffering from so that the correct treatment could be used. This will help to save alot of time and money by avoiding misdiagnosis and using the wrong prescriptions. The type of information you may want to record in your headache diary are:

• Date and time
• Type of headache
• Medications
• Disability
• Suspected Trigger

Below is one such example:

Data and Time – 15 Mar 2011 @ 1518

Type of headache – Migraine (Suspected/Unclassified)

Medications – 2 doses of Midrin

Disability - 3 hours of partial disability (rest on bed)

Suspected Trigger – Withdrawal from smoking

Remember, living with constant headaches can be emotionally difficult for both you and your family or friends. More often than not, headache patients may experience anxiety or even depression as a result of these frequent headaches. The best way to tackle them is to be patient and to seek help from appropriate channels.