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How to Tell What Kind of Headache You Are Experiencing

March 18, 2024

How to Tell What Kind of Headache You Are Experiencing

Most of us are familiar with some type of the painful, throbbing, and distracting discomfort of a headache. There are various kinds of headaches. This post will go over 10 different kinds of headaches:

Tension headaches

If you experience a tension headache, you might feel an aching, dull sensation all around your head. It is not throbbing. Sensitivity or tenderness around your forehead, neck, shoulder, or scalp muscles also may happen.

Cluster headaches

A cluster headache can be characterized by piercing pain and severe burning. They happen behind or around one eye or on one part of the face at a time. Occasionally, redness, swelling, sweating, and flushing may happen on the part that is affected by the headache. Eye tearing and nasal congestion also oftentimes occur on the same part as the headache.

Those headaches arise in a series and mainly it occurs as headaches behind eyes. Every individual headache may last from fifteen minutes to 3 hours. Most folks suffer 1 – 4 headaches per day, typically around the exact same time every day, during the cluster. After a single headache resolves and you take something for headache relief, another one soon will follow.

Migraine

Migraine pain involves an intense pulsing from deep inside the head. The pain may last for days. The headache substantially restricts your capability of carrying out your daily regimen. Migraine is usually one-sided and throbbing. Folks who have migraine headaches often are sensitive to sound and light. Headaches and nausea are also common

A migraine headache condition may run in the family, or it may be related to other nervous system disorders. Females are 3 times are more likely to develop migraines than males. 

Sinus or allergy headaches

Sometimes headaches occur as a result of allergic reactions. The discomfort from those headaches often is concentrated in the front of your head and in your sinus region.

Migraine headaches commonly are misdiagnosed as a sinus headache. As a matter of fact, up to 90% of “sinus headaches” actually are migraine. Folks with sinusitis or seasonal, chronic allergies are vulnerable to such headaches.

Hormone headaches

Females typically suffer headaches which are connected with hormonal fluctuations. Pregnancy, birth control pills, and menstruation all impact your levels of estrogen, which may cause a headache. These headaches specifically related to the menstrual cycle also are called menstrual migraine. These may arise directly before, during, or after menses, as well as while ovulating.

Caffeine headaches

Caffeine impacts blood flow to the brain. Having too much caffeine may give you a headache, as might stopping caffeine “cold turkey.” Individuals with frequent migraines are at risk of causing a headache because of their caffeine usage.

Exertion headaches

Such headaches quickly happen after times of intense physical activity. Running, weightlifting, and sex all are typical triggers for exertion headaches. It is considered that those activities trigger an increase in blood flow to the skull, which may trigger a throbbing headache on both parts of the head.

Hypertension headaches

Elevated blood pressure may cause you to experience a headache, and such a headache indicates an emergency. That happens as the blood pressure becomes dangerously elevated.

Rebound headaches

A rebound headache, also called a medication overuse headache, may feel like a tension-type, dull headache, or it might feel more intensely painful, such as a migraine.

Post-traumatic headaches

This type of headache may develop after any kind of head injury. Post-traumatic headaches feel like tension-type or migraine headaches, and generally last up to six to twelve months after an injury occurs. They may become chronic.


For more information on how to tell what kind of headache you are experiencing contact BASS Urgent Care today!

At BASS Primary Care Walk-in Clinic, it's Your Health, Your Schedule.