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Scientists are learning more about what causes headaches.
You should too.
 A headache can either cause a small ripple in your day or throw you totally off course. Tension and migraine are the two most common types of headaches. Not too long ago, experts thought that tension headaches resulted from muscle tension and stress. Migraines were thought to be caused by altered blood flow in the brain. Researchers now suspect that neurological and chemical abnormalities may cause both types of headaches. Here are some tips for preventing and treating headaches.
Tension Headaches
About 90 percent of all headaches are tension headaches. They affect slightly more women than men. This kind of headache is often felt over the top of your head or the back of your neck and can hit when you feel stress, anxiety, or anger. Tension headaches are no fun, but they generally aren’t debilitating. An over-the-counter (OTC) drug, such as ibuprofen or aspirin, may ease tension headaches.
Some people have chronic tension headaches that occur almost daily and can continue over a period of months. If you have headaches that occur three times a week or more for more than a month, OTC drugs may not help, so call your doctor.
Migraine Headaches
If a tension headache limits your day, a migraine clears your calendar. These intense
headaches, which can be hereditary, are most common in adults. Of the approximately 26 million Americans who get migraine headaches, 70 percent are women.
Some migraines occur with an aura, or warning sign, that strikes approximately 20 minutes before the migraine hits. The aura can be flashes of light, zigzag lines in your field of vision, weakness or numbness in your face, hand, or leg, or trouble seeing or speaking.
Migraines can last from hours to days and are often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound. If you have migraine headaches, it’s a good idea to tell your doctor and discuss the best way to treat them. Some migraine sufferers find relief from OTC drugs. However, if OTC medications don’t work, your doctor can prescribe medications that may help prevent and treat migraines.
Headache Triggers
Headaches may seem to strike out of nowhere, but certain factors can trigger them. Learning what your triggers are and avoiding them may help you avoid headaches.
Certain foods can trigger migraine headaches. Red wine, beer, aged cheeses, fermented, pickled, or marinated foods, food additives such as sodium nitrate and monosodium glutamate, caffeine, and aspartame (an artificial sweetener) are suspected migraine triggers. Chocolate may also be a culprit, although researchers aren’t sure whether it causes migraines or whether a
craving for chocolate signals that a migraine is coming.
The following triggers can cause both migraine and tension headaches: weather or seasonal changes, altitude changes, sleep pattern or mealtime changes, stress, and polluted air. For women, hormone level fluctuations, use of estrogen therapy for menopause, and use of oral contraceptives can trigger migraines.
Don’t suffer in silence. If you have frequent headaches, talk with your doctor.
—Jameson Case
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