The 13 Types Of Headaches (and Their Symptoms And Causes)
Headache is a very common problem that can be disabling. if its intensity or frequency is high.
While the most common types of headaches are not due to disease and are therefore not dangerous, others are symptomatic of underlying conditions that require medical treatment.
There are more than 150 types of headaches with their own causes and symptoms. If we want to discover how we can solve our headaches, a fundamental first step is to identify what headache we are suffering from.
Generally, the sensation of pain is caused by injuries to tissues that trigger cells known as nociceptors. These receptors capture mechanical, thermal and chemical signals that indicate possible damage to the body.
However, neither the damage to the cells nor the reaction of the nociceptors are direct causes of the sensation of pain, but rather it is greatly influenced by non-biological variables such as experience or emotion.
When it reaches the nervous system, nociceptive stimulation binds to our thoughts, memories and feelings before pain occurs. So, The final sensation depends on both external factors and our own mind..
Headaches in particular are often influenced by factors such as muscle tension, vascular problems, or the body’s idiosyncratic response to stress, certain substances, or medical disorders. However, the causes and characteristics of headaches depend largely on the specific type we are referring to.
Primary headaches
According to the International Classification of Headaches There are more than 150 types of headaches that can be divided into three main categories: primary, secondary and other types of headaches..
Unlike secondary headaches, primary headaches occur in the absence of a physical disorder, so they are not dangerous.
1. Tension headache
Tension-type headaches are the most common of all.. These headaches are caused by muscle tension; This may be due to stress or physical causes, such as intense and continuous contraction of the neck or jaw muscles.
This type of headache usually manifests itself as constant tension or pressure on both sides of the head. In the most intense cases, even touching the affected muscles can cause pain.
Tension headaches typically cause milder pain and are therefore less disabling than migraines and other types of headaches, but there is a high risk that episodic tension headaches will become chronic, with attacks occurring every or most of the time. days.
2. Migraine
Migraines are headaches caused by the activation of neurons in the cerebral cortex.. Some experts also attribute them to the narrowing of blood vessels in the brain, which would prevent blood and oxygen from reaching the brain correctly. However, the vascular hypothesis of migraine has lost support in the recent past.
This type of headache produces more intense pain than most tension headaches. Migraines usually consist of throbbing or throbbing sensations on one side of the head.
The stimuli that trigger a migraine vary enormously depending on the person: it can be due to stress, effort, lack of sleep, intense lighting, consumption of certain foods…
We distinguish between migraines with aura and migraines without aura. Migraines without aura are the most common and appear suddenly, while migraines with aura are preceded by visual, sensory, linguistic and motor symptoms.
3. Trigemino-autonomic headache
The trigeminal nerve receives the sensations captured by many muscles in the head, such as those of the face, eyes, mouth or jaw. Headaches that mainly involve the reflex action of the trigeminal nerve are known as “trigeminal-autonomic” headaches.. In addition, they are one of the most painful and difficult to manage types of headaches, since they do not have to do so much with circulation as with certain alterations in the nerve.
The symptoms of this type of headache are very similar to those of a migraine, so they usually affect only half of the head and consist of throbbing pain. However, the intensity of the pain is greater than that of migraines.
Trigemino-autonomic headache includes syndromes such as cluster headache, a very painful type of headache that affects the region of the eyes and temples and is associated with symptoms such as nasal congestion, watery eyes and facial sweating.
4. Cough headache
Although it is uncommon in the general population, cough headache occurs in a significant proportion among people who go to the doctor as a result of intense cough.
Some common symptoms of cough headache are nausea, dizziness, and sleep disorders. These headaches are triggered after coughing attacks and can be very brief or last more than an hour.
5. Due to physical effort
Those in which the symptoms are not due to any intracranial cause, but rather are classified as “exertional headaches”. simply practicing very intense exercise. Abnormal blood flow can cause parts of the nervous system to suffer.
It occurs more frequently in places where it is very hot or at a high altitude, and the pain it entails is usually pulsating.
On the other hand, performing a task that requires constant effort of the same type can cause this symptom to appear, which is a way of warning that we should stop as soon as possible.
6. By sexual relationship
Primary headache associated with sexual activity is attributed to loss of cerebrospinal fluid that causes a drop in intracranial tension.. The pain occurs on both sides of the head and intensifies as the person becomes aroused, reaching its peak when they orgasm.
This is a problem that has to do with attention management, difficulties relaxing, and carrying out continuous physical efforts.
7. By cryostimulus
“Cryostimulus headache” is the official name of the classic headache caused by contact with something very cold.either because it touches the outside of the head, because it is inhaled or because it is ingested, as happens with ice cream. The pain of cryostimulus headache tends to be stabbing, unilateral, and short-lived.
8. Hypnic headache
“Wake-up” headaches appear only during sleep, causing the person to wake up. It usually affects people over 50 years of age and tends to be persistent. They share some characteristics with migraine, such as the feeling of nausea.
Secondary headaches result from conditions, such as vascular disorders or brain injurieswhich have pain as a symptom and may require specific treatment depending on the underlying cause.
1. Due to trauma
Blows to the skull or neck, such as those caused by traffic accidents, can cause temporary or chronic headaches. (if they last more than three months from the trauma).
Not only blows can cause traumatic headaches, but these can also be due to other causes, such as explosions and the presence of foreign bodies in the head.
In general, these headaches appear together with other symptoms caused by the same trauma, such as problems with concentration or memory, dizziness and fatigue.
2. Due to vascular disorder
This type of headache is a consequence of cerebrovascular problems such as ischemic stroke, cerebral hemorrhageaneurysm or congenital arteriovenous malformation. In these cases, headache is usually less relevant than other consequences of the vascular accident.
3. Due to substance consumption or abstinence
Abuse or inhalation of substances such as alcohol, cocaine, carbon monoxide, or nitric oxide It can also cause and aggravate headaches. Likewise, the withdrawal of substances that are consumed on a regular basis, such as alcohol and drugs, is another common cause of headache.
4. Due to infection
Some common causes of this type of headache are meningitis and bacterial or viral encephalitis.parasitosis and systemic infections. Although in most cases the headache disappears once the infection has been cured, in some cases it can persist.
5. Due to mental disorder
Sometimes headaches are categorized as secondary to psychiatric disorders. if there is a temporal and causal relationship between both phenomena. However, in these cases the pain seems to have a psychogenic rather than a biological origin.
In this sense, the International Classification of Headaches gives special importance to psychotic and somatization disorders, consisting of the presence of physical symptoms in the absence of identifiable medical pathology.
