Tag: headaches
Understanding Headache Types Is Key To Treatment

Understanding Headache Types Is Key To Treatment

Mayo Clinic News Network (TNS)

We have all experienced the annoying, relentless and throbbing pain associated with a headache. They can slow us down or even bring us to a complete stop. However, did you know that there are several different types of headaches, and knowing the type you’ve got can be the first step in effectively treating it?

Mayo Clinic Health System nurse practitioner Erin Pokorny takes a look at different types of headaches and shares what you can do to fight them.

  • Tension-type headaches: These are considered to be the most common types of headaches. They are often described as dull and achy and are often brought on by stress, neck pain, missing meals and a variety of other things. Treatment options: Tension-type headaches can often be treated by over-the-counter medication, such as aspirin, ibuprofen or acetaminophen. You may also want to try alternative treatments including meditation, relaxation training and massage.
  • Migraines: We’ve all heard about migraines, and we know that they’re not to be taken lightly. The pain associated with migraines is often described as throbbing and severe. Migraines are often associated with nausea, vomiting or increased sensitivity to light and sound. Pain may worsen with increased activity. Untreated, migraines can typically last anywhere from 4 to 72 hours. Treatment options: If you know the triggers for your migraines, make sure to avoid these known causes. Over-the-counter medication can help. Other treatment options include prescription medications; rest in a quiet, dark room; or a hot/cold compress to the head or neck.
  • Cluster headaches: These are rare but occur on and off for weeks at a time. Cluster periods can last for days or months, and you may experience one or more cluster headaches a day. Typically, these headaches begin quickly and reach maximum intensity within minutes. They usually affect one side of the head and can be accompanied by tearing/redness in one eye or drooping of that eyelid, and a runny or stuffy nose. Treatment options: Over-the-counter medication won’t help cluster headaches due to their short duration. Preventive medication can help, as well as injections of sumatriptan for quick relief. Inhalation of 100 percent oxygen through a mask and prescription triptan nasal sprays can help.
  • Chronic daily headaches: These headaches occur 15 days or more a month. The different types of chronic daily headaches are characterized by their frequency and duration. The signs, symptoms and time frame vary depending on the type of headache you have. Treatment options: Treatment for chronic daily headaches often focuses on underlying diseases and conditions to stop them. If no underlying conditions are found, preventive medication becomes the focus of treatment.

“Nobody wants their days hindered by annoying and painful headaches. It’s important to be able to identify the type of headache you’re experiencing in order to execute the best treatment options,” says Pokorny. “Make sure to schedule a visit with your health care provider if symptoms persist.”

(Mayo Clinic News Network is your source for health news, advances in research and wellness tips.)
(c)2015 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: Jugbo via Flickr

FDA Approves Device To Treat Migraine Headaches

FDA Approves Device To Treat Migraine Headaches

By Monte Morin, Los Angeles Times

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the marketing of an electronic medical device intended to treat migraine headaches.

In an announcement released Tuesday, officials said the transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, or TENS, device was the first ever to receive such approval.

The device, which will be marketed under the name Cefaly, is manufactured by Cefaly Technology of Belgium.

“Cefaly provides an alternative to medication for migraine prevention,” read a prepared statement from Christy Foreman, director of the Office of Device Evaluation at the FDA’s Center for Device and Radiological Health. “This may help patients who cannot tolerate current migraine medications for preventing migraines or treating attacks.”

Migraine headaches affect roughly 10 percent of the population and are characterized by intense, throbbing head pain. Migraines can last for just a few hours or as long as several days and are often accompanied by nausea and extreme sensitivity to light and noise. According to the National Institutes of Health, they are three times more common in women than in men.

The FDA described Cefaly as a “portable, battery-powered, prescription device that resembles a plastic headband worn across the forehead and atop the ears.”

The device uses a self-adhesive electrode to apply electrical current to the skin, which can be felt as a tingling sensation. The manufacturer says the current stimulates the trigeminal nerve, which is responsible for facial sensations and has been linked to migraines.

A Belgian clinical study found that the device did not completely prevent migraines, nor did it reduce the intensity of those that did occur. However it did reduce the number of days each month that migraine sufferers experienced attacks compared with patients who received only a placebo, the FDA said in its release.

The clinical study involved 67 patients who suffered more than two migraine headaches a month.

Also, a patient satisfaction survey of more than 2,300 users of the device in France and Belgium suggested that just over half of them were satisfied with the product and were willing to continue use.

Complaints included “dislike of the feeling and not wanting to continue using the device, sleepiness during the treatment session, and headache after the treatment session,” the FDA announcement said.

Photo: Jugbo via Flickr

Stress Makes Headaches Last Longer, Study Finds

Stress Makes Headaches Last Longer, Study Finds

By Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times

Stress is known to trigger headaches. Now it gets worse: Researchers have found that the more intense a person’s stress, the more time he or she will spend in pain.

The findings are based on data from the German Headache Consortium Study. Researchers interviewed 5,159 adults about their headache history and other health factors once every three months from 2010 to 2012. Among other things, volunteers were asked to rate the intensity of their stress on a 100-point scale.

Tension headaches — the most common type — were the most sensitive to stress, the researchers found. About 30 percent of people surveyed said they suffered tension headaches, which lasted for an average of 2.2 days per month. However, for every 10-point increase in stress intensity, the duration of these headaches increased by 6.3 percent. That worked out to an extra 3.3 hours per month.

Also, 14 percent of people in the study suffered from migraines, and they had them for 4.5 days per month, on average. These headaches were not quite as sensitive to stress — a 10-point bump in stress intensity was correlated with a 4.3 percent increase in migraine duration. However, since migraines lasted longer than tension headaches, that translated to 4.6 extra hours of migraine misery per month.

For the 10.6 percent of people unlucky enough to experience migraines and tension headaches at the same time, a 10-point increase in stress was correlated with a 4 percent increase in headache duration. These combination headaches lasted for 3.6 days per month, on average, and the added stress lengthened these headaches by nearly 3.5 hours per month.

All of the results were adjusted to account for the age and gender of each headache sufferer, along with his or her smoking and drinking habits, use of acute-pain drugs and other factors.

The researchers could not draw any conclusions about a link between stress and “unclassifiable” headaches, which were reported by 17 percent of people in the study.

The findings show that stress “is a problem for everyone who suffers from headaches,” said Dr. Sara H. Schramm of the University Hospital of University Duisburg-Essen, the study’s leader. Finding ways to manage stress should be a priority for patients and their doctors, she added in a statement.

The study will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in Philadelphia. It was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Photo: Jugbo via Flickr