Every adult has experienced a headache at some point. However, headaches vary greatly in frequency and severity. Most people can self-diagnose their own headaches and often turn to over-the-counter medications to help relieve the pain. However, doctors do not have any set of tests to diagnose headache types and causes. Instead, they mostly rely on the description that patients give them, and typically, the descriptions of the symptoms of headache pains vary wildly.
There are plenty of different types of headache symptoms that people have to contend with. Since there are so many different types, the symptoms vary from one extreme to the other.
Tension headaches are the most common type of headaches experienced by many. Tension headaches result from the tightening of muscles in the back, neck, shoulders and face.
Migraines, on the other hand, affect about 6% of men and 13% of women. Compared to tension headaches, migraines can be much more intense and last longer.
For the past 2,500 years, aspirin has been a stable in cultures all over the world for treating headaches. Hippocrates, the famed Greek doctor in 5th century B.C., extracted aspirin from the bark of a willow tree as a way to reduce fevers. The aspirin extracted from the willow tree bark has salacin, a chemical that the body converts into salicylic acid. Towards the end of the 19th century, Bayer, a German pharmaceutical company, introduced acetylsalicylic acid (or simply aspirin) that was made by Felix Hoffman, a chemist. Aspirin is a very widely used product, with more than 80 billion tables of it sold annually. It s one of the most popular over-the-counter medications for headaches used today.
While everyone suffers from a headache at one point or another, some individuals are more at risk to experiencing more severe and sudden frequent headaches than others. There are several studies that are able to pinpoint the likely culprits. These studies are still ongoing, and they are continually looking at the risk for the various types of headaches including tension headaches, migraines and cluster headaches.
Tension headaches are headaches that result from the muscles tensing up. Tension headaches can be triggered by normal daily activities including the way you hold the phone and how you sit. Your muscles are continually stretching and you can cause them to become inflamed by your actions. This in turn can result in tension headaches occurring.
A migraine headache is a severe type of headache that interrupts your ability to continue routine or daily activities. Common migraine headache symptoms include throbbing pain near the temple, nausea, vomiting and extreme sensitivity to both light and sound. More than 28 million people worldwide suffer from migraine headaches, which roughly computes to about 10% of the world's population. Most people who suffer from migraines are women, but men, teenagers and even young children can suffer from them as well.
Tension headache symptoms are thought to come about as a result of tension that settles in the body around the face, shoulders, neck and back. Most headaches are considered to fall under the category of tension headaches. However, the entire concept of headaches is still quite a mystery even though most of us have suffered from them at one time or another.
Many researchers believe that both tension headaches and migraines are caused by the amount of serotonin that is produced. Studies show that anti-depressants and various other types of drugs can help change the amount of serotonin that is able to interact with the cells of the nerves.
