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Headaches - what do we know about them today? How do we classify them?

Headaches - what do we know about them today? How do we classify them?

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Chronic and recurring headaches affect around 20% of the population, while occasional headaches are known to everyone. At present, there are about 90 different forms of headache. Some of them are encountered very occasionally, while others are frequently dealt with by general practitioners and specialists (neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, ophthalmologists or ENT specialists).

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In most cases, headaches are not particularly dangerous symptoms, but annoying, tiring, recurring, increasing pain, often involving the face and radiating to the neck and shoulder, requires diagnosis and then treatment (with or without medication).


Headaches, based on their clinical significance, are divided into:

  • Symptomatic (secondary) headaches, i.e. those that are one of many symptoms of diseases (e.g. brain tumour, poisoning, head injury, depression and others)
  • Spontaneous pain (primary or idiopathic), i.e. where the headache is the essence of the disease and its primary manifestation

The International Classification of Headaches, accepted in 1988 and still used today with great success, divides them into:

  1. Migraine
  2. Tension-type headache
  3. Cluster headache
  4. Headaches not associated with structural changes
  5. Post-traumatic headaches
  6. Headaches associated with vascular diseases
  7. Headaches associated with brain diseases but excluding vascular diseases
  8. Toxic headaches
  9. Headaches associated with extracranial infections
  10. Headaches associated with metabolic disorders
  11. Headaches or facial pain associated with disorders of the skull, nose, neck, eyes, teeth, sinuses, mouth and others
  12. Cranial neuralgia
  13. Unclassified headaches

Classification-of-headaches, Headache, Types-of-headaches

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A special role in the diagnosis of headaches is given to their dynamics. On this basis, they are divided into:

  • Acute pains, which are those that have occurred relatively recently before being reported to the doctor. Importantly, they are usually symptomatic and are a signal of serious illnesses
  • Chronic pains, are those where the patient has been suffering for a long time
  • Recurrent pains, are those that tend to recur even after a long period without pain (remission) e.g. migraine

A headache should never be underestimated no matter what form it takes (whether it is sharp, throbbing, dull, violent, light, throbbing or constant). In many cases, it can alert us to the danger of some very serious illness or change in our body.

In other cases, it may occur against a nervous background and also as a result of depression, frontal sinusitis, sight problems, blood glucose levels that are too low, hypertension, sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, insufficient fluid intake, hypoxia and others.

Remember to see a specialist in a headache situation for basic tests. Do not use too many pharmacological agents. In some cases, other methods such as a hot bath, rest, cold compresses on the forehead, a walk in the fresh air, massage, relaxation exercises, etc. may become helpful.

References:

  1. "Clinical neurology" R. Mazur, Via Medica, Gdansk 2007, 3rd edition.
  2. "Neurology" W. Kozubski, P.P. Liberski, Wydawnictwo Lekarskie PZWL, Warsaw 2011, 1st ed.
  3. "Diseases of the nervous system" edited by W. Kozubski and P.P. Liberski, Wyd. Lekarskie PZWL, Warsaw 2004.