What Type of Headache Am I Dealing With?

Pain Medicine Consultants Blog What Type of Headache Am I Dealing With?

Few conditions can hijack your life like headaches can, so if you’re dealing with ongoing head pain, relief has likely become your top priority.

We can also say that you’re taking a good first step by reading this blog. If you consider that there are more than 150 different types of headaches, narrowing the field is important so you can get on the right treatment track.

While our team at Pain Medicine Consultants won’t get into all 150-plus headaches, we do want to highlight three of the more common drivers of head pain here.

Primary versus secondary headaches

When you have a headache, the first step is to figure out whether it’s a primary condition or a headache that’s related to something else. 

For example, let’s say you have the flu and your sinuses are stuffed up. As a result, you have a sinus headache, which is a secondary headache. To treat this type of headache, you have to address the underlying problem — the stuffy sinuses.

Primary headaches are standalone conditions that aren’t side effects of another problem — they are the problem. And it’s these headaches that we’re focusing on here.

Migraine headaches

Let’s start with one of the more common primary headaches — migraines. This type of headache is a neurological condition that affects 10% of people worldwide.

Migraines can last up to 72 hours and often come with:

These symptoms occur during the migraine attack, but many people also experience symptoms before and after the migraine during stages called podrome, aura, and postdrome.  Symptoms during these migraine stages can include everything from mood changes to a stiff neck.

Tension headaches

The most common type of headache are tension headaches — about 70% of people have had episodic tension headaches. These headaches make it feel like your head is being gripped by a taut band or like it’s in a vice grip. The pain usually encircles your head, and you can also feel discomfort in your neck and shoulders.

Aside from the pain, you might also experience heightened sensitivity to light and sound.

Cluster headaches

Another road to head pain are cluster headaches, which are often mistaken for migraines since they lead to one-sided head pain. 

Cluster headaches typically occur in patterns — you may get several each day that last a few minutes to several hours. This can go on for weeks, and then the cluster headaches simply go away.

Aside from pain on one side of your head, you might also experience:

Like the head pain, these symptoms come and go with the cluster headaches.

In the interest of space, we’re going to stop here, as most people with primary headaches have one of these three types. The good news is that we have solutions for each of the headaches we outlined above. 

Your next step is to contact us at one of our offices in Pleasant Hill, Corte Madera, or Pleasanton, California, to schedule an appointment. Once we identify the type of head pain you’re dealing with, we can work toward a solution to bring you much-needed relief.

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