Types of Headaches?

by Rose Williams

There are quite a number of commonly-known types of headaches. These include pressure headaches, migraine headaches, tension headaches, chronic daily headaches, cluster headaches, ice pick headaches and sinus headaches. These types of headaches can be very debilitating.

A migraine headache is a very severe, debilitating type of headache. This type of  headache has a deep impact upon the daily lives of its sufferers. The pain can be a pulsating sensation or sometimes a kind of throbbing headache. This throbbing pain can vary from moderate to severe.

The symptoms of the migraine types of headaches include nausea with high audio-visual sensitivity. These migraine types of headaches often comes with a precursory warning sensation called an 'aura'. (article continues below)

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This aura is experienced in the form of changes in visual perception. You may see bright flashes or blurs and sometimes you may even lose part of your vision. You may even experience a numbness or a tingling in your arms. These warning symptoms will fade a while before the migraine attack begins. A migraine headache can last for up to three days without any treatment, before it recedes.

The tension types of headaches cause a dull, constant pain in the forehead or the sides or back of the head. Some people liken a tension headache to a tight band wrapped around the head. This is thought to be one of the most common types of headaches. A tension headache does not produce symptoms such as light sensitivity, nausea or vomiting.

The tension types of headaches are called  either episodic or chronic types. Usually, most sufferers of these types of headaches, experience chronic headaches. It is thought that about 40% of the population suffers from tension headache types. Chronic daily headaches are another of these headache types.

What causes the types of headaches the most on a daily basis are chronic daily headaches like tension headaches or headaches that are caused by too much pain medication. With these headache types, the pain is of a constant, dull nature - there can also be a feeling of tightness like a rubber band around the head. A chronic daily headache is distinguished by its duration: that is that the pain must last for at least 15 days per month during a three month period of time.

Another one of these types of headaches  is the cluster headache group, which is a rare but very painful type of headache. The name of the headache comes from the fact that the headache occurs in clusters of pain. Frequently, periods of continuous cluster headaches may last weeks or months at a time. This is followed by long periods without any headaches at all.

Cluster headaches are to be found on one side of the head. Usually the sharp, penetrating pain begins behind an eye. Cluster headaches cause red, teary eyes, a blocked nose and sometimes symptoms like nausea and sensitivity to light may occur as well.

These are some of the various types of headaches. The pain from these types of headaches can be mild or it can be excruciating in its severity. To find relief from these types of headaches, you must talk to your doctor about what causes headaches and the correct medication or you can buy some over the counter headache pain relief tablets for certain types of headaches.