Medical Questions » Headache Questions » Question No. 480
| Question: | How many different causes are there for headaches? I do not believe that doctors have really worked out what mine are due to. |
| Answer: | This is going to be a long answer, because a headache is probably the most common symptom to be experienced by the human race, and may be associated with problems of any of the multiple complex structures in the head, or disorders of many of the body' s other organs. Fatigue, stress and anxiety may in themselves cause a headache, or may trigger muscle spasms in the temples and scalp that are responsible for the pain.
Any infection, by a bacteria (eg. tonsillitis, sinusitis, ear infection, bronchitis, urinary infection), virus (eg. influenza, common cold, glandular fever, hepatitis), fungus or parasite (eg. malaria), may cause a headache, as may a fever (see separate entry) of any cause.
Injury to any part of the head may cause a headache, but sometimes, and very seriously, the headache may occur some days after the injury due to slow bleeding from an leaking vein within the skull.
A headache is more significant when not associated with any other symptoms elsewhere in the body. The most common headaches to fit into this category are tension headaches, migraine and cluster headache.
A tension headache causes a dull, persistent pain with varying intensity that is often described as a pressure or tightening around the scalp. It occurs as a localised band around and across head, and is not aggtavated by exercise or alcohol. Tension headaches are episodic, often in association with stress. Depression and anxiety are common accompanying symptoms. The pain may last for 30 minutes or a week. Muscle spasm headaches usually have a cause (eg. stress, infection, psychiatric disturbance, eye strain), and if possible this should be rectified. Simple medications are readily available to ease both the muscle spasm and pain.
Migraines are often associated with visual symptoms including flashing lights, shimmering, seeing zig-zag lines and loss of part of the area of vision. They usually occur on only one side of the head, are described as throbbing, and cause intolerance of exercise, light and noise. Nausea and vomiting are common. Migraines occur periodically, and may last for a few hours to several days. The patient often looks pale and drawn. There are now effective medications available to both prevent and treat migraine.
Cluster headaches are not common, but cause a very characteristic pattern of headache, usually associated with excess sweating of one or both sides of head. They occur in episodes once or twice a year to cause severe pain around or behind one eye which spreads to a temple, the jaw, teeth or chin. They often begin during sleep, and other effects may include a red, watery eye, drooping eyelid, altered pupil in the eye, stuffy nose and flushed face. Cluster headaches may be triggered by alcohol, temperature changes, wind blowing on the face or excitement. They usually last for 15 minutes to three hours, and are named because of their tendency to occur in clusters for several weeks. An unusual but effective cure is to breathe pure oxygen for 15 minutes.
Many people fear that their headache may be due to a brain tumour, but this is actually very rare, most brain tumours causing other symptoms that lead to their diagnosis well before a headache develops. Cancerous and benign tumours may develop not only in the brain tissue itself, but in the other structures within the skull such as the pituitary gland, membranes around the brain (meninges), sinuses and eyes. Most brain tumours are benign and can be cured by surgery.
Anything that puts abnormal pressure on the brain may cause headaches. An abscess caused by an untreated infection in the brain or an injury that penetrates the skull are possibilities. Bleeding inside the skull caused by an injury or rupture to a blood vessel is another. An aneurysm is the ballooning out of one side of an artery. The aneurysm may put pressure on the brain to cause a headache, or rupture to cause very severe effects on the brain function.
Viral or bacterial infections of the brain (encephalitis) or surrounding membranes (meningitis) will almost invariably cause a headache.
Inflammation of nerves in the scalp and face may appear to be a headache, when really it is the tissue outside the skull that is affected. Trigeminal neuralgia is one relatively common example, as is the pain of neuralgias associated with pinched nerves in the neck that spread from the base of the skull up the back of the head and as far forward as the hairline.
Psychiatric disorders as varied as phobias (abnormal fears), depression, posttraumatic stress disorder and excessive anxiety may cause headaches.
Eye disorders that vary from increased pressure within the eye (glaucoma), to poor vision (resulting in eye muscle strain) and inflammation of the eye (iritis), may cause head pains.
Menopause, menstrual periods (premenstrual tension), contraceptive pills, pregnancy and other fluctuations in the level of the sex hormone oestrogen, may cause headaches.
Inflammation or infection of tissues around the head may be felt as a headache, but the problem may be coming from the teeth (eg. abscess or dental decay), jaw joint (eg. arthritis), neck (eg. arthritis or ligamentous strain), nose (eg. large polyp) or sinuses (eg. polyp or infection).
Cancer of any tissue in the body may cause headaches, particularly in advanced stages, due to the release of toxins into the blood. Leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells, is one example.
Both an underactive and overactive thyroid gland in rhe neck, and the subsequent variations in levels of the hormone thyroxine that it produces, can have effects on every cell in the body and result in head pain amongst other symptoms.
Diseases of any orher gland (eg. adrenal glands, testes, parathyroids) in the body can affect the blood chemistry and cause headaches.
Extreme high blood pressure, or a sudden significant rise in blood pressure above normal is another cause that requires rapid medical treatment. Phaeochro-mocytoma (tumour of an adrenal gland on the kidneys) is a rare cause of extreme high blood pressure.
Anaemia (a lack of haemoglobin and/or red blood cells) reduces the amount of oxygen being supplied to cells, and as they are unable to function properly, may cause pain, particularly in rhe head.
A wide range of medications (eg. for control of high blood pressure, epilepsy and cancer) may cause headache as a side effect.
Poorly controlled diabetes, resulting from either high sugar levels from lack of treatment, or low blood sugar from excess medication, may result in a dull head pain.
Severe allergy reactions (anaphylaxis) may affect any part of the body, depending upon where the allergy-causing substance has entered, and what it is. A headache is almost inevitable.
Acromegaly is a thickening and enlargement of the bones in the skull and legs that results in pressure on nerves and pain.
Cushing' s syndrome is caused by an overproduction of steroids such as cortisone in the body, or taking large doses of cortisone to control a wide range of diseases, including asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Headache is a common symptom of this syndrome.
Low blood pressure from excessive medication, sudden change in position, shock or fright may cause a head pain.
Failure or inflammation of any of the body' s major organs, such as the kidneys, spleen or liver, will cause a rise of waste products or abnormal cells in the blood to cause a headache.
There are many other rare causes of headache, and entire textbooks have been written on this symptom, so persistence in seeking a cause for your problem can be worthwhile.
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