Headache
It is generally estimated that nearly half of the adult population has had at least one headache in the past year.
Headaches are associated with a burden to the individual and society in the form of pain, disability, deterioration in quality of life and financial costs.
Worldwide, only a minority of headache sufferers receive an appropriate diagnosis from a healthcare worker.
The extent of headaches has been underestimated and these disorders are insufficiently recognized and treated worldwide.
Definition of headache
Headache, characterized by recurrent headaches, is one of the most common nervous system disorders. Headaches are the painful and incapacitating manifestation of a small number of primitive headaches, namely migraine, tension headaches and facial vascular algae. It can also be caused by or secondary to a long list of medical conditions, the most common being headache caused by overuse of medication.
Frequency of headache
Globally, it is estimated that the prevalence of common headache in adults (malsymptomatic at least once in the past year) is about 50%. Between half and three quarters of adults aged 18 to 65 worldwide have had a headache in the past year, and of these, more than 30% reported a migraine. Between 1.7 and 4% of the world's adult population is affected by a headache for at least 15 days a month. Despite regional variations, headaches are a global problem affecting all populations, regardless of age, race, income level, and geographic area.
Headache disease burden
In addition to being painful, headaches are also incapacitating. In the Global Burden of Disease Study, updated in 2013, migraine alone is the 6th leading cause of disability-adjusted life years lost. Headache as a whole is the 3rd cause.
Headache headaches place a real burden on sufferers, sometimes with significant personal suffering, impaired quality of life and financial cost. Repeated attacks, often accompanied by constant apprehension of the next painful episode, undermine family, social and professional life. Long-term efforts to live with chronic headaches may also predispose the individual to other illnesses. Anxiety and depression, for example, are much more common in people with migraines than in healthy subjects.
Types of headaches
Migraine, tension headache and headache due to overmedication are important to public health and are responsible for high levels of disability and ill health in the population.
Migraine
It is a primitive headache.
Migraine most often appears at puberty and affects mostly people between 35 and 45 years old.
It is twice as frequent in women as in men due to hormonal influences;
It is triggered by the activation of a mechanism in the depths of the brain that causes the release of inflammatory substances, which cause pain, around the nerves and blood vessels of the head.
It is recurrent, often lifelong and is characterized by seizures.
Seizures have the following characteristics:
headache, which can be:
of moderate to severe intensity;
with unilateral and/or pulsatile pain;
aggravated by usual physical activities;
can last from a few hours to 2 or 3 days;
the frequency is between once a year and once a week;
in children, seizures tend to be shorter and abdominal symptoms are more pronounced.
Tension headache
It is the most common primitive headache.
In some populations, more than 70% of people report episodic tension headaches;
The chronic form of headache, occurring more than 15 days per month, affects 1-3% of adults;
Tension headaches often appear in adolescence and affect 3 women for every 2 men.
The mechanism of onset could be stress-related or associated with cervical musculoskeletal problems.
Episodic tension headaches usually last a few hours but may persist for several days.
Chronic tension headache can be permanent and is much more incapacitating than the episodic form.
This headache is often described as a band-shaped pressure around the head that radiates from the neck to the head or spreads from head to neck.
Treatment
Rest and pain relief medication are the main treatments for headaches.
Options include:
over-the-counter pain relief medications, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
prescription pain relief medications
preventive medication for specific conditions, such as migraine
other treatments for underlying conditions
To prevent medication overuse headaches, it is crucial to follow a doctor’s guidance.
Treating medication overuse headaches involves reducing or stopping the medication. A doctor can help develop a plan to ease off the medication safely. In extreme cases, a person may need a short hospital stay to manage withdrawal safely and effectively.
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