Headache

Plain that occurs over various parts of the head is called a headache. It is one of the humankind's most common afflictions. In the United State alone, up to 50 million persons seek medical help for this problem every year, and about half a billion dollars is spent on headache remedies annually. Headache also as sign of will getting some diseases like flu or cough.

Most headaches are caused not by organic disease but by fatigue, emotional disorders, or allergies. Intermittent tension headache are caused by worry, anxiety, overwork or inadequate ventilation. The most common type a chronic tension headache, is often caused by depression. Only about 2 % of all headaches result from organic disorders, including diseases of the eye, ear, nose, throat, and sinuses; brain tumors; hypertension and aneurysm (the ballooning of an artery, brought about by a weakness in an artery wall).

Brain tissue itself is insensitive to pain, as is the bony covering of the brain (the cranium). Headache pain results from the stimulation of such pain-sensitive structures as the membranous linings of the brain (the meninges) and the nerves of the cranium and upper neck. This stimulation can be produced by inflammation, by the dilation of blood vessels of the head, or by muscle spasms in the neck and head. Headache brought on by muscle spasms are classified as tension headaches; those caused by the dilation of blood vessel are called vascular headaches. The major groupings of headaches besides those brought on by organic disorders are Tension Headaches and Vascular Headaches.

Almost 90% of all persons seeking medical help for headaches suffer from tension headaches. These are characterized by a diffuse ache that either spreads over the entire head of feels a tight headband.

The most common types of vascular headache are migraine and cluster headaches, for which no known cure exist. About 60% of all migraine sufferers are women, and most patients first develop symptoms between the ages of 10 and 30. In approximately 30% of all cases, migraine attacks are preceded by warning signs such as blind spots, zigzag flashing lights, numbness in parts of the body, and distorted visual images.

Migraine pain almost always occurs on only one side and is usually accompanied by nausea. Factors that may trigger migraine attacks include stress, fatigue, changes in the whether, fasting, menstruation, certain drugs, and foods that contain substances that affect the blood vessels. Many migraine patients have family histories of the problem.