Imagine you are at your home and there is a knock at your
door, you open the door and there is someone telling that you house is on fire,
would you ask that person to leave? Obviously not! But that is what you are
doing every time you have a headache and you pop a pain killer. You tell the pain to go away without trying to
address its root cause.
We all have experience headaches at some point in time and
we know that they can be terrible. There is only a little good that some can
say about the skull-pounding, crushing, and throbbing pain that make people
moan and wince. Yet headaches can tell you a lot about yourself. They can be an
indication of an underlying problem and something that you might be doing which
is not good for your health. Sometimes they can also warn you about serious and
underlying illnesses.
A headache could be an individual characteristic such as
migraine or tension headache, or an indication of an organic disorder or a complicated
or serious disorder. There could be multiple variations or causes of headaches.
People usually have two types of headaches: those that are caused due to the swelling
of blood vessels present in the tissues around the head, and those that are caused
due to strain or muscle tension, also called muscle headaches.
Both these types of headaches could be the symptom that you
are doing something wrong in your daily life that is causing harm and stress to
your body. Lifestyle choices that can be the cause of your headaches include:
- Eyestrain
- Poor posture at work
- Dehydration
- Insufficient nourishment
The headaches could be your body telling you something and
you just don’t want to treat them with medication. If you are getting regular
headaches then it is time that you start playing detective and try to figure
out the root cause of it.
Some people experience headaches rarely, while for some these
episodes happen frequently, often caused due to the following:
- Congested Sinuses
- Smoking
- Alcohol
- Dependency on drugs that relieve pain
- Noise
- Imbalances in hormones
- Weather (particularly the changes in barometric pressure)
- Problems with vision
- Allergies, including sensitivities and food allergies
- Dehydration
- Lack of sleep
- Fatigue
- Stress
It is astounding that most people try to hide their headache
symptoms with painkillers rather than trying to cure the source of it. One of
the simplest ways to cure a headache is to find its root cause. In order to do
that you can buy a small notebook and record in it all your activities and that
you drink and eat and also your emotions. For example, if you have been stressed
at work, then you can write something like, “Got upset about missing a deadline
at work” in your notebook.
Often the pain is triggered by the drinks and food that you consumed
a day or two before the actual pain manifested, so it might take you a few
weeks before you start understanding the patterns. Also make sure that you add
the description of your pain in your diary such as how the headache felt like. Was
it a sharp pain on one side, or was it a throbbing, dull sensation? The
details can help in pinpointing the type of headaches so that you will be in a
better position to treat them.
If you are unable to understand a pattern and the headaches
persist then it is time that you take your diary to your physician and tell
them all about your headaches in detail. Don’t self medicate, no matter how feasible
an option it may seem at the time. Over the counter pain killers can relieve
your pain for a little while but they won’t do anything to stop them from coming
back so in order to make sure that you don’t experience headaches again make
sure that you seek professional help from your physician.
For more information on Dr. Joseph Mills, visit: www.westhillspaincenter.com or call: 631-659-2980
References
Connealy, L. E. What
your headache is trying to tell you. Retrieved from <http://www.humanevents.com/2012/11/15/what-your-headache-is-trying-to-tell-you/>
Thompson, D. Got a
headache? You Body May Be Telling You Something. Retrieved from <http://consumer.healthday.com/cognitive-and-neurological-health-information-26/brain-health-news-80/got-a-headache-your-body-may-be-telling-you-something-638349.html>
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