The root cause of Headaches

Headaches were regarded as severe illnesses in classical Greece. Asclepius, the god of medicine, was prayed to by victims for relief. And if the pain persisted, a doctor would administer the best-known treatment—making a tiny hole in the skull to drain purportedly infected blood. Trepanation is a terrible technique that frequently caused a more severe condition to take the place of the headache. Thankfully, modern medicine does not use power tools to treat headaches.

However, there is still much to be discovered about this old disease. Primary headaches and secondary headaches make up today's classification of headaches. The former are the condition; they are not symptoms of an underlying illness, injury, or condition. Although primary headaches account for 50% of reported cases, secondary headaches are actually much more well-understood, so we'll get back to them in a moment. These are brought on by other health issues, and their causes include heart disease, head and neck injuries, dehydration, caffeine withdrawal, and head and neck pain. Over 150 diagnosable types have been categorized by doctors; each has a variety of potential causes, symptoms, and treatments.

We'll use the most typical scenario—a sinus infection—as our example. Our noses, upper cheeks, and foreheads are all covered in a network of cavities known as the sinuses. Infected sinuses cause our immune system to overheat the area, roasting the bacteria and enlarging the cavities far beyond their normal size. The neck and head muscles, as well as the cranial arteries and veins, are under pressure from the engorged sinuses. Their nociceptors, or pain receptors, activate in response, signaling the brain to release a barrage of neuropeptides that swell and heat up the head by inflaming the cranial blood vessels. The achy, throbbing pain of a headache is produced by this discomfort combined with sensitive head muscles. Not all headache pain is caused by swelling. Each headache has a different level of discomfort brought on by tense muscles and inflamed, sensitive nerves. On the other hand, every case is a response to a cranial irritant. Primary headaches' causes are still unknown, in contrast to secondary headaches, whose origins are clear.

The three primary types of headaches—recurrent, protracted migraines; excruciatingly painful, rapid-fire cluster headaches; and, most frequently, tension headaches—remain the subject of ongoing scientific research. As the name implies, tension headaches are known to give sufferers the feeling that a tight band is being squeezed around their heads. These headaches make the pericranial muscles more sensitive, which causes them to painfully pulse with blood and oxygen. Patients cite dehydration, stress, and hormonal changes as triggers, but these don't quite fit the symptoms. For instance, the frontal lobe actually recedes from the skull during a headache caused by dehydration, resulting in a swelling of the forehead that does not correspond to the location of the pain during a tension headache. Although no one is certain, scientists have hypothesized various causes for the problem, such as hypersensitive nociceptors and spasming blood vessels. In the meantime, more severe primary headaches are the subject of most headache research.

Recurrent headaches called migraines can feel like a vise on the skull for anywhere between four hours and three days. About 20% of the time, these attacks are severe enough to overwhelm the brain with electrical energy, which causes sensory nerve endings to become overexcited. Auras, which are hallucinations caused by this, include seeing flashing lights and geometric patterns as well as feeling tingly. Another common type of headache is a cluster headache, which causes stabbing, burning pain behind one eye, resulting in a red eye, dilated pupil, and drooping eyelid. Tension headaches and the majority of secondary cases can be treated with over-the-counter painkillers, such as anti-inflammatory drugs that reduce cranial swelling, which is the only effective way to address these conditions, which have a significant negative impact on the quality of life for many people.

Additionally, a lot of secondary headache triggers, such as dehydration, eye strain, and stress, can be proactively avoided. Cluster headaches and migraines are more complex, and no effective, universal cure has yet been found for either condition. But thankfully, pharmacologists and neurologists are working diligently to solve these urgent mysteries that consume our thoughts.