nza or SARS. In such cases, you need to treat the underlying disease, and the pain will pass by itself.
The real danger arises if the headache is the result of a sharp increase in blood pressure — a hypertensive crisis, stroke, meningitis or other brain diseases. It is important to understand immediately, so as not to waste precious time on self-treatment.
So, what kind of headache can not be treated yourself:
• Which arose sharply as a blow on the head, and growing every minute.
* Against the background of unusually high blood pressure.
* Accompanied by nausea, vomiting, hearing, vision and speech impairment, numbness of the face and body parts, episodes of loss of consciousness.
* At high body temperature, neck stiffness, severe weakness, convulsions, stun state.
• A" new " headache that has never happened before.
* Headache, the intensity of which changes dramatically with the change of body position, coughing, sneezing and tension, and is accompanied by impaired coordination of movements.
* Headache that is not relieved by medications that used to help.
The intensity and duration of headache attacks, as well as its localization, are individual. If the headache is not as usual, and you feel worse than usual, it is better to consult a doctor immediately.
Type of headache
Once you have ruled out life-threatening conditions, you can begin an independent struggle with the headache — to determine why and in what area the headache.
Tension headache
The most common type of headache is tension headache. I know her personally, as do most people. The most likely causes are fatigue, stress and prolonged tension of the neck muscles. It is the last trigger that most often works in my case. I spend a lot of time at the computer, get around the city by car and do little sports, except for spontaneous forays into the gym. After several hours of working on the article, the muscles of the neck become "stone". This leads to pinching of the occipital nerve and the appearance of a headache.
The pain in the head is different. Tension headache is rarely severe. Head as if compresses Hoop or helmet-weighs heavily on their, whisky, the top of and the back of my head. A little queasy. Dizzy. Mood under this lose their cool, emerges irritability, desire to rather to end Affairs and finally for a holiday.
If the tension does not subside within a few working days, headache medicine takes pride of place in a handbag. In this case, one pill and a couple of hours of rest is enough to return to life.
Tension headache is the result of a long-term increase in the tone of the muscles of the neck and shoulder girdle. When working at a Desk or computer, it occurs regularly, sometimes every day, but it is rarely strong.
Migraine
Migraine is the second most common type of headache. The pain is usually one-sided, pulsating, intense and even unbearable, intensifying at the slightest movement, sharp sound or bright light. It is often accompanied by nausea and vomiting, which does not bring any relief.
In a third of cases, a migraine attack is preceded by a so-called "aura". For 10-15 minutes before the headache before the eyes begin to flash bright flies, there are flashes of light, lightning, fog. Hearing may be impaired and auditory hallucinations may appear. Sometimes there is a feeling of crawling goosebumps on the body, weakness in the leg or arm, and even paralysis.
Picture "aura" depends on the individual, as well as, in fact, the duration and frequency of migraine attacks. The attack can last from 4 hours to 3 days, gradually going to "no". Attacks can trigger nicotine, alcohol and certain foods, changes in sleep and Wake patterns, and even hormonal changes. For example, women migraine attacks often occur in the first days of the menstrual cycle, with a drop in the level of estrogen hormones.
Migraine headache unilateral, often severe, accompanied by nausea, light and sound, visual and hearing impairment, without treatment lasts from several hours to three days
Abusus headache
Next to migraine is abusus headache, which is associated with frequent and prolonged medication. If you are more than 15 days a month on their own taking conventional painkillers or more than 10 times resort to combined and special antimigrenoznym funds, abuzusnaya headache you provided. It will "Wake up" with you, "demand" the next dose of the drug and dramatically increase when you try to cancel it.
Other types of headache
Another type of headache is a headache associated with cervical osteochondrosis, which, as we know, does not spare even the young. Surely you at least once woke up with a headache and a feeling of stiffness in the neck. Such pain extends to the parietal area and the eye socket on the one hand, it quickly passes on its own or when taking an analgesic.
Finally, cluster headache. Rarely, but aptly-this about it. Arises suddenly, more often in area one eyes. Very strong, sharp, burning, drilling, accompanied by watery eyes and redness. It lasts for 15 minutes and can be repeated every day for 3 weeks or months, and then disappear and never come back.
Headache can be caused by cervical osteochondrosis and abuse of painkillers
How to remove a headache attack
Treatment of headache depends on its type, although there are General principles. Let's analyze what you need to do to relieve a headache attack.
1. Take a pill for a headache
Yes, that's right. The headache cannot be tolerated. The later you start treatment, the more difficult it will be to cope with the attack.
If you have a headache, ibuprofen, aspirin, acetaminophen, naproxen, drugs based on them, with or without caffeine will help. Names of drugs can be very different, depending on the manufacturer. Just read the label and look for the active ingredients.
If the headache has not disappeared within an hour and a half, you can take another tablet of medicine, but no more. If it does not become easier, then most likely you have a migraine attack, and need more effective means.
Do not take analgesics "packs"! This will cause an abusive headache, which is quite difficult to get rid of.
Treatment of headache should begin immediately after its appearance with the reception of conventional and combined painkillers. If they don't help within 2 hours, go to the special protivomigrenoznae funds.
If you suffer from migraine and have already experienced migraine attacks, treatment will depend on the intensity of the headache and your personal susceptibility to medication.
With moderate headache, you can start with the same drugs as in the case of tension headache. If within an hour the headache has not passed, go to special antimigrenoznym drugs-tryptans. In case of severe headache, it is better to take them immediately, that is, at the first stage.
Names of drugs from a number of tryptans can also be different. Look for the names of active substances on the boxes, they all end in" — tryptan " - sumatriptan, eletriptan, zolmitriptan.
Tryptans should be taken in the first 2 hours after the headache, otherwise their effectiveness is reduced at times
2. Drink a glass of water or coffee with sugar
Often, a headache attack occurs on the basis of dehydration and hunger — a drop in blood sugar, so wash down the tablet with a glass of water and chew a piece of sugar. To avoid dehydration, drink at least 80 ml of water per 1 kg of your body weight during the day. Do not drink icy water and cold drinks — they can cause migraine attacks.
You can drink coffee with sugar. Caffeine is not accidentally included in the composition of combined painkillers, it blocks the receptors involved in the formation of pain impulse and expands the cerebral blood vessels.
3. Lie down to rest in a quiet dark place
If possible, lie down and rest for at least half an hour. The head should be in such a position that the neck is completely relaxed. If you like cool, you can open the window, if you prefer to warm-to hide a blanket and put a hot water bottle at your feet.
Your allies in the fight with headache — absolute the darkness and silence. If you're not in the room alone, ask others not to make noise, talk quieter and not "pull" you for any reason.
Block the light by wearing a special mask or simply putting a small cloth on your face. To remove sound stimuli — use earplugs.
4. Massage your head, back of neck and bioactive points
At a headache of tension massage and acupuncture are very effective. They normalize the tone of blood vessels and improve blood circulation, providing oxygen to the brain.
Massage relaxes muscles, eliminates muscle blocks, squeezing blood vessels that feed the brain.
5. Put a compress on your head