Help your Doctor Help you With your Headache

Every single year, almost 75% of American suffer with headaches. They are often scared that they may have a brain tumor or a stroke.

Benign (harmless) headaches can sometimes be just as severe as those from a more sinister cause. The first concern of the Doctor is to make sure what is causing your headache. To do this, he relys on the person's descriptions of the symptoms, any pattern that the headaches may follow and any possible triggers.

So what sort of things will your Doctor be looking at? If you are planning to visit your Doctor because of headaches, this list will be a useful check point for you. Having the answers to these questions will help both you and your Doctor.

How long have these headaches been going on?

As a general rule, the longer you have been suffering a similar sort of headache the more likely it is to be harmless (however debilitating or painful). Sufferers with migraine will often have started having them as a child, teen or young adult. Migraine may finish when a woman begins her menopause but they can also start at that time, too. Tension headaches can start at any time.

Does anyone else in your family suffer with headaches? Migraines can often run in families but cluster headaches don't.

How frequently do you suffer with these headaches?

Your doctor will want to you to tell him how many times a day, month or year you get headaches. This will help to decide whether the treatment should be:

Prophylactic (preventing the headaches from starting)
Abortive (trying to stop a headache attack that is already happening)

Has the pattern of your headaches changed or are you getting them more often?

Many people struggle on with headaches for months or even years. What finally brings them to the Doctor is a change in that pattern or the headaches becoming more severe. The Doctor will want to know what is causing your headache and check out the things that might be making it worse.

When you have a headache, where is the pain located?

The location will help your Doctor to diagnose what type your headache is. For instance:

Migraine: anywhere in the head but most common in the temple area.
Tension headaches: Felt on one or both sides. May be in the front. Commonly most intense in the neck, shoulder and back of the head.
Cluster headaches: always on one side usually around the eye.

Try and describe the pain for me?
Again, this will help with the diagnosis:

Migraine: commonly throbbing or pulsating
Tension headache: dull, dragging ache often tight band
Cluster headaches: Deep and intensely painful as if something sharp and hot is being pushed into the eye

Do you have any other symptoms with the headache?

Migraine: losing appetite, feeling sick, being sick, dislike of light and/ or noise
Tension headaches: stiff or sore neck, grinding teeth at night, clenched jaw
Cluster headaches: watering eye, blocked nose

How long does the headache last?
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Migraine: commonly less than 24 hours. Or may be as short as 20 minutes or go on for weeks although less common. Usually a pain-free period between migraines.
Tension headache: Can last for days, weeks and rarely, years.
Cluster headache: Very severe, but short. Usually 30-90 minutes, repeated 2-6 times during a 'bout'

Do your headaches always seem to be at a particular time?

Migraine: The sufferer often wakes up with one. May happen more at weekends. Women with menstrual migraine may have them a few days before their period.
Tension headaches: Commonly during stressful times.
Cluster headaches: Often wake the person from a deep sleep at night.

Have you or your family noticed your behavior or mood changing because of the headaches?

Migraine: Person can become withdrawn, easily irritated and want to be on their own.
Tension headaches: Happy to receive care and attention.
Cluster headaches: The person may pace up and down, hold their head or rock during an attack.

Headache sufferers are at a higher risk of depression due to their condition (or sometimes the depression causes the condition).
Signs of depression that the Doctor is looking for are:

Poor sleeping either too much or too little
Feeling tired all the time
Loss of appetite
Loss of interest in sex

Do you get any warning signs that a headache is going to start?

15% of all migraine sufferers may get a warning in the form of an 'aura'. This is often seeing dazzling lights or zig-zag lines.
Numbness and/or noticing a distinctive odor are also auras.
If you have an aura that carries on after your headache has finished, make sure you tell the Doctor.

Have you noticed anything particular triggering your headaches?

Headaches and migraines can have many triggers. If you know what yours are, that's fine. If not, it may help to keep a headache diary which includes what you have eaten and done during that day. This will help the Doctor to find out what is causing your headache and what type it is.

Knowing the answers to these questions will help your doctor determine the typr of headasche you have and the best way to combat the pain.