Chronic headache causes

chronic headache causes

Everyone has headaches from time to time, but if you experience a headache more days than not, you may have a variety of head pain, known as chronic headaches or chronic daily headaches. By definition, it's called chronic daily headaches when occuring 15 days or more a month, for at least 3 months. It can be divided into primary and secondary chronic headaches. To be considered primary (true) chronic headaches, they must also not be the result of other underlying condition.

Chronic headache causes
Until now, the exact causes of many cases with chronic headaches are not well understood. Primary chronic headache doesn't have an identifiable underlying cause. There is a part of brain that suppresses pain signals but doesn't work properly.
Secondary chronic headache can be caused by:

• Inflammation or infection on the brain tissue or blood vessels around them, including stroke, meningitis
• High intracranial pressure
• Brain tumor
• Traumatic brain injury

Chronic headache risk factors

• Depression 
• Sleep disorders
• Anxiety
• Obesity
• Snoring
• Overuse of caffeine
• Abuse of pain killers
• Regular use of physical postures that put a strain on neck or head

There are 4 types of chronic headache  and symptoms:

1. Chronic migraine: affect only one side of head, cause a pulsating sensation, cause moderate until severe pain, induced by routine physical activity. The symptoms are: nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to sound and light.
2. Chronic tension-type headache: it happens on both sides of head, cause mild until moderate pain, the pain is not pulsating but pressing or tightening, the pain is not aggravated by routine physical activity. In chronic tension-type headache, it doesn't cause sensitivity to sound or light and if there is nausea, it's mild only.
3. Hemicrania continua: this type of headache cause pain only at 1 side that doesn't shift sides. Other characteristics are: daily and continuous with no pain-free periods, cause moderate to severe pain, responsive with pain reliever such as Indocin, sometimes the pain becomes severe with development of migraine-like symptoms. The symptoms are: tearing or redness of the eye on the affected side, runny nose, dropping of the eyelid or pupil constriction.
4. New daily persistant headache: this type of headache becomes constant within a few days of the moment from the first headache. These characteristics are: hurt on both sides of head, cause mild until moderate pain, no pulsating pain but feels like pressing, and not induced by routine physical activity.

Chronic headache treatment

There are some preventive therapies that your doctor may recommend, such as:

• Antidepressants. It can be indicated for chronic headache. It also treat the depression, anxiety and sleep disturbances
• Beta blockers. It can treat episodic migraines.
• Anti seizure drugs. It can prevent chronic headache as well as prevent migraines.
• Nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs. It may be helpful especially if you're going through withdrawal from other pain killers. It can also be used periodically when the headache becomes more severe.

Source: Mayo Clinic

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