Why Your Headaches Might Be Hiding a Bigger Issue

Giving Hermia a run for her money, Headaches are the perfect example of "Though she be but little, she is fierce." Little in the sense that it's extremely common. They are the most prevalent and disabling trait of headache disorders and affect people of all ages. It does seem to be a tiny bit sexist since migraine, a primary headache disorder, is said to affect women three or more times more than it does men.

While they can be annoying and even debilitating, they are often dismissed as a minor inconvenience. However, in some cases, headaches can be a symptom of a more serious underlying health condition. They are also the best example of how over-the-counter meds most often treat the symptom and not the cause.

Our job today is to figure out if you've had chronic pain in your head that appears with seemingly no rhyme or rhythm. Kofuku is ready to show you that there is a definite method to all this madness and help you crack it wide open.

The one good thing about this is that we all know what a headache is. Your mother knows it well, and her mother and her mother. Jokes aside, it is a pain in the head or neck. It can be a fairly dull ache - manageable but persistent, a throbbing sensation - where it gets a little hard to function, or even a sharp pain - pause everything, even breathing is too noisy. Headaches can be caused by a variety of factors, including stress, fatigue and a secret third thing (underlying medical conditions).

Common but Unknown Causes of Headaches

1. Extreme Dehydration:

India's hot weather is a prime spot for heat strokes and, you guessed it, dehydration. Of course, dehydration by themselves may cause headaches, but more often, there's a secret headache disorder lurking in the shadows, being the mastermind. When you're dehydrated, your blood volume decreases, which can lead to reduced blood flow to the brain. This is what has the potential to cause a headache.

2. Eye Strain:

People with Myopia, techies and phone addicts who stare at screens for long periods can cause Digital Eye Strain, which can lead to headaches.

3. Medication Overuse:

Taking over-the-counter or OTC pain relievers (cough paracetamol *cough) too often can lead to medication overuse headaches. Even after laws banning the promotion of paracetamol in combination drugs, producers still parade it around as the ultimate painkiller for muscle pains, too, though it doesn't deal with the anti-inflammatory business at all. The less known effects of overconsuming paracetamol include multi-organ failure. It is slow, but sure.

4. Sinus Infections / Allergies:

Sinus infections or common colds that come with sniffles and coughs can cause pressure and pain in the head and face, leading to headaches. And since allergic reactions manifest through congestion and inflammation in the sinuses, this also becomes a worthy contender.

5. Blood Pressure:

Both high BP and low BP can put a strain on the blood vessels in the head, which can cause headaches along with a variety of other symptoms.

6. Obstructive Sleep Apnea:

It is a sleep disorder that causes people to stop breathing during sleep. Terrifying as it is, it can also induce massive headaches in the morning. It didn't increase the risk of headaches, but every patient who participated in the study did have a comorbid headache disorder.

Affecting 50% more women than men after puberty, TTH are the most common type of headaches. They are either caused by stress or muscle tension in the neck and shoulders. With presenting both episodic and chronic, TTH chronically can be more debilitating than episodic, which can occur on fewer than 15 days a month. Symptoms of tension headaches include a dull ache in the head, tightness or a band of pain in the neck and shoulders, and sensitivity to light and sound.

Migraines are more severe than headaches. They are essentially levelling up from headaches, except there's more and prolonged pain. They are characterised by throbbing pain on one side of the head, nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound. Migraines are considered debilitating and can interfere with daily activities, much like any other disability.

They are also complex conditions that can be triggered by a variety of factors. While some Migraine triggers are more common than others, everyone's experience is unique. Here's a few examples of some common and uncommon triggers:

Common Migraine Triggers

1. Stress: Both emotional and physical stress can trigger migraines. This includes anything from work-related stress, financial constraints, relationship disagreements, and even positive stress like excitement.

2. Hormonal changes: one of the main reasons why women are more likely to experience migraines is due to hormonal fluctuations. These can be anything between menstrual periods, pregnancy, and menopause. So naturally, they start during their teenage years, fresh off of hitting puberty.

3. Certain foods and drinks: Some people find that certain foods and drinks can trigger migraines. Most commonly, red wine, aged cheeses, chocolate, caffeine, and artificial sweeteners.

4. Lack of sleep: Irregular sleep patterns or lack of sleep can increase the risk of migraines.

5. Bright lights and loud noises: Exposure to bright lights and loud noises can trigger migraines in some people. Flashing lights or imagery can have the same effect.

6. Weather changes: Changes in weather, such as barometric pressure changes or storms, can trigger migraines. Especially barometric pressure, since it deals with sinuses and can exacerbate migraines.

Uncommon Migraine Triggers

1. Neck pain: Tension in the neck and shoulders can trigger migraines.

2. Medications: Certain regular medications, including birth control pills, antidepressants, and BP meds, can trigger migraines.

3. Perfumes and colognes: Strong scents like jasmine or camphor and specific perfumes can trigger migraines in some people.

4. Dehydration: Dehydration can lead to headaches, which can sometimes develop into migraines.

5. Physical activity: While exercise is beneficial, intense physical activity can sometimes trigger migraines. Dr Ali, a neurologist at Henry Ford, says these headaches are mainly caused by overheating or being out of shape and trying to go all in with the workouts.

6. Sensory overload: Overexposure to sensory stimuli, such as bright lights, loud noises, or strong smells, can trigger migraines.

The most important thing to take out of this is that there are many triggers, but they are still personalised to some extent. Some scents can be a trigger for you and not for someone else. A migraine diary is one helpful way to keep track of it all.

You can identify your personal triggers, avoid them and manage your migraines more effectively. Because migraine is a chronic disorder, ageing the symptoms and avoiding triggers is the best way to live with it. It's also advisable to get a doctor's two cents on this so you have a better understanding.

Stress is, in fact, a common trigger for a lot of headache disorders. When you're stressed, your body releases hormones that can cause muscle tension and inflammation, especially around the shoulder area. This is what can lead to headaches.

A 2021 study explored the causal nature of stress towards headaches and found that high-stress life events can even bump episodic migraine into chronic migraine. It also concluded that stress sensitised the individual by altering cortical excitability, where the strength of the cortical neurons relative to a given stimulus is changed significantly. This made it susceptible to triggers, creating a classic never-ending loop situation.

Headaches are one of those persistent little buggers. They need careful monitoring and, more often than not, are because of an underlying medical condition. So if you're getting headaches every month or feel akin to a vampire during the day, weirdly often enough that it actively interrupts your daily life, then you've got to see a doctor.

The better half of living is about figuring out when to ask for help and when to bite your teeth and go through it. Headache disorders most definitely belong to the former lot. Of course, you know your body better than most, so having a clear idea of how persistent the headaches are and determining any triggers can help you manage them better. Getting a professional's perspective and going from there would still be better.

Here are some of the quick fixes to manage and/or prevent headaches:

• Get plenty of rest: It's very simple, you see. Your head has a brain, and your brain needs sleep to function. Given that this is a headache we're talking about, it's better to be safe and have at least 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep. It also helps that sleep apnea is one of the most common triggers of migraine.

• Stay hydrated: India has its perks, and one of them is not summer in some regions where heatstroke still causes death today. Along with heatstroke, dehydration is also a problem and is one of the leading causes of headaches. So be vigilant and connect the dots. You've been out all day with no idea of when or how much water you drank, and now suddenly, you have a drummer in your head banging sticks at the side of your skull? Dehydration!

• Manage stress: Having the means to calm yourself down from high-stress situations is a very good skill to develop. Be it breathing exercises or saying the alphabet in reverse in your head, managing stress can help you prevent headaches and even stop them from developing into a headache disorder.

• Cold compress: Applying a cold compress to your forehead can help relieve the pain a little. It essentially numbs the area and gives you respite. As the title says, it is literally a quick fix and not a long-term solution.

• Dark, quiet room: The tried and tested method by vampires all over the world! Dark is the best for photosensitivity, which just so happens to be one of the symptoms of a migraine. Try to quickly find a dark, quiet room to rest and wait out the episode.

Headaches, although common, can be quite vicious. It's a disability that impairs your functions, which is why they shouldn't be dismissed as a minor inconvenience. Consistency, in this case, is the key to figuring out when the headaches sometimes become a symptom of a more serious underlying health condition.

So, if you or your school-hating child experience frequent or severe headaches, it's important to see a doctor to rule out any underlying medical conditions. Especially since it has no age bar. With proper diagnosis and treatment, you can manage your headaches and improve your quality of life by miles!