Often the head hurts: the reasons, the nature of pain, to which doctor to apply

Headache is one of the most frequent complaints of people seeking help from specialists. It indicates that some processes are disturbed in the body. Headache can be caused by overwork, taking medications, traumas, serious illnesses. If this symptom often suffers, then do not ignore it. It is very important to turn to a specialist in time and find out what the head hurts every day.

Arterial hypertension

Headache can be associated with hypertension. This is a chronic condition of the cardiovascular system, a disease characterized by a persistent increase in blood pressure (abbreviated designation - AD) from 140/90 mm Hg. Art. and higher. About 20-30% of adults suffer from arterial hypertension. With age, this indicator increases. Somewhere, 50% of those over the age of 60 have a chronic condition.

In people with hypertension, the pressure is increased, the head hurts in the early hours. The place of pain localization is the occipital region. It should be noted that pain can not occur with mild or moderate pressure increase. They are always observed only with a rapid increase in blood pressure more than 200/120 mm Hg. Art.

Arterial hypotension

If the head often hurts, the reasons in what can consist? One of the answers to this question is arterial hypotension. This is a condition in which the blood pressure is 90/60 mm Hg. Art. And less. It is characterized by a headache. It can be blunt, constrictive, bursting or pulsating. The site of its localization is the frontal-parietal or frontotemporal region. With arterial hypotension, the following symptoms are also observed:

• weakness;
• Lethargy in the morning, drowsiness;
• Dizziness;
• Emotional instability;
• Sensitivity to weather conditions;
• pallor;
• Strong palpitation and shortness of breath when exercising.

Specialists created a classification of arterial hypotension. They distinguish an acute and chronic variety. The latter is subdivided, in turn, into the physiological, primary and secondary. Acute hypotension is a sharp decrease in blood pressure. A similar condition is observed with blood loss, acute myocardial infarction.

Low blood pressure, headache ... Such symptoms are sometimes noticed by absolutely healthy people. An example is athletes. At them at constant physical loadings the low pressure is observed. This feature is an adaptive reaction of the body, a protective measure. This type of arterial hypotension is called physiological.

The primary species is considered an independent ailment. It is not a consequence of any pathologies, does not arise against the background of existing diseases. Doctors see in the primary hypotension a special form of neurosis-like disease of the vasomotor centers of the brain. And here the secondary variety is observed at various diseases (for example, at a heart failure, traumas of a brain, an arrhythmia).

Subarachnoid haemorrhage

Suddenly, diffuse or occipital pain can be inherent in subarachnoid hemorrhage. This term (abbreviated designation - SAK), experts denote the accumulation of blood in the cavity between the soft and arachnoid medulla. Hemorrhage occurs suddenly due to rupture of arterial aneurysm or the development of craniocerebral trauma.

People who survived a subarachnoid hemorrhage note that the pain that they experienced was the strongest that they experienced in their lives. Other symptoms of SAK include nausea, vomiting, loss of consciousness. In case of hemorrhage, a person needs urgent medical help. This is a very dangerous condition that can lead to death or severe disability.

Intracerebral haemorrhage

Diffuse or local intense pain may be a symptom of an intracerebral hemorrhage. This is the ingress of blood into the substance of the brain. Hemorrhage occurs when the altered walls of the cerebral vessels are ruptured or when diapedesis occurs (the blood cells leave the vessels if their permeability and tone are impaired).

Who can face this dangerous state? More often, hemorrhage occurs in people in mature and elderly age due to cerebral atherosclerosis, hypertensive disease. Much less common causes are blood diseases, inflammatory changes in cerebral vessels. Hemorrhage in the brain sometimes occurs in young people. The most common reason is the use of narcotic drugs.

Education of the brain

If your head often hurts, what are the causes? An unpleasant symptom can be caused by various brain formations (hematomas, tumors, abscesses). Pain more often diffuse. Sometimes it occurs in the place where the volumetric formation is localized. In the early stages of the disease, it makes itself felt in the morning and is weak. As the disease progresses, the nature of the pain changes. It becomes permanent and stronger. Other symptoms that indicate the presence of voluminous formations are:

• Vomiting that occurs without nausea;
• The appearance of oculomotor disturbances;
• Memory impairment;
• Behavior change, etc.

It is worth noting that the pain sometimes occurs when the head is tilted, coughing, straining, physical strain. Such a symptom can be characteristic for tumors of the posterior cranial fossa. Pain that occurs in these situations and is short-term, can occur without intracranial pathologies.

Inflammation of the paranasal sinuses

If you often have a headache in the forehead area, a heaviness is felt near the nose, it is a sinusitis. This term means inflammation of the mucous membrane lining one or more paranasal sinuses. Sinusitis occurs as a complication of influenza, runny nose, infectious diseases. They provoke inflammation of bacteria and viruses.

Pain and heaviness in sinusitis are not the only symptoms. Other signs of the disease are:

• nasal congestion;
• fever;
• Purulent discharge from the nose;
• Painfulness when tapping the area of the affected sinus.

Sharp angle-closure glaucoma

The term "glaucoma" refers to eye disease, for which such a feature as increased intraocular pressure is inherent. There are 2 forms of this ailment. One of them is called a closed-angle glaucoma. It arises from the contact between the trabecular network and the iris. When the disease becomes difficult, the outflow of intraocular fluid from the eye, the functioning of the trabecular network is disrupted. As a result, the intraocular pressure rises.

An acute, closed-angle glaucoma is what some people have headaches every day . With this disease, people complain of pain in the eye area, a vision of iridescent circles around the light source, and impaired vision. To confirm or exclude angle-closure glaucoma, intraocular pressure is measured.

Craniocerebral trauma (CCI)

When the head often hurts, the reasons can consist in for a long time received BCC. The pain can be tortured for an extended period. Her character is blunt, diffuse and intensifying with physical activity. Usually this symptom is accompanied by memory impairment, decreased attention, poor sleep, dizziness, fast fatigue and psychoemotional disorders.

In some cases, there are suspicious signs, such as the increase in headache, drowsiness, confusion, changes in pupil size, asymmetry of reflexes. They may not be the consequences of TBI, but symptoms of a chronic subdural hematoma.

Tension headache

The headache of tension, symptoms and treatment of ailment - today is a very urgent topic. What is meant by this term? This is a common form of primary pain. At present it is called differently. Specialists apply a new term - headache of the tensile type.

This symptom can occur at any age. It begins to manifest itself more often after 25 years. The pain of tension is characterized by moderate intensity. In almost all cases, it is bilateral, and the place of its localization is the temporal, frontal and occipital regions. Pain is characterized by a squeezing effect. It lasts, as a rule, from a few minutes to several days. Vomiting is not observed. Sometimes there is nausea, sound and photophobia.

The headache of tension, the symptoms and treatment of which about 20% of the inhabitants of our planet know, has a different etiology. The causes of pain are different:

• Getting into stressful situations;
• Violation of sleep;
• Irregular meals;
• Too high or too low ambient temperature;
• Hormonal disorders;
• Excessive eye strain, etc.

Pain when taking medications

If the head often hurts, the reasons can consist in accepted medicines. An excruciating symptom is caused by the following drugs:

• Vasodilators (calcium antagonists, nitrates, quarantil);
• Anticonvulsant;
• Corticosteroids;
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory;
• Hypolipidemic;
• Antihistamines;
• Estrogens;
• Antibacterial.

Visit to a specialist

If headaches are periodically excruciated, then you need to seek help. Behind this symptom can be hidden diseases that are life-threatening. If your head often hurts, which doctor can help? First you need to make an appointment with the therapist and tell him about your problem. It is very important to bring to the specialist all the important information, because the effectiveness of the treatment depends on this.

So, at the reception should tell:

• In which area of the head is localized pain;
• At what time of day does it make itself felt?
• When the pain occurred for the first time (for example, a few days ago);
• When the painful sensation becomes maximum;
• What additional suspicious symptoms are observed with headache;
• Whether any medications are being taken;
• How many painful attacks happen per day;
• Whether there are any diseases.

It is necessary to express your point of view about what could cause the pain. Maybe a few weeks (months, years) ago, an injury or a blow to the head was received. This is very important information that will help the specialist to determine the cause of the headache.

The therapist, having listened to all the complaints, will prescribe the necessary examinations (blood test, radiography, computed tomography, etc.). The doctor will also give a referral to the necessary specialist (for example, to an otolaryngologist in the presence of diseases related to the ear, throat, nose, head, to the neurologist to exclude or confirm ailments related to the nervous system) in order to finally find out why the patient often hurts head.

The reasons (what to do, we described above) of the appearance of such a symptom, as is clear from the foregoing, are different. But summing up, it is worth noting that only 5% of patients who call on doctors with complaints of headache are diagnosed with serious diseases. Despite this, do not refuse to make a visit to a specialist. The doctor will find out the real cause of the pain and give advice on how to get rid of this painful symptom.