Head is the most important part of our body. Most of the things we do are controlled by the brain directly or indirectly, and so it is not surprising that there are so many ways in which the head can ‘go wrong’. If you break your ankle, you get pain in the ankle. When something related to the head goes wrong, you can get a headache. Since the head is in charge of most things, including the way your ankle function, something wrong in any part of your body can, in theory, give rise to headache. Perhaps you can see why doctors have such a difficult job to do when working out why you have a headache. It is one of the common sicknesses that happen in our life. But, even it is normally happens, doctors have identified as many as 150 different types of headache upon their causes.
Headaches differ in both intensity and in type, or quantity and quality if you like, which means that two headaches of similar type but differing in intensity can end up in two categories. However, as with many things in life, there can be confusions in the grey areas where one category meets another. In addition, how long you have them can influence whether a doctor perceives you to be a victim to either acute or chronic headaches.
To make it simple, headache is very close to dizziness. Dizziness is an uncomfortable, troubling sensation that can feel like spinning, unsteadiness, or light-headedness. Some people will often say they have a migraine when actually they do not. Similarly, some people with a migraine think that they simply have a ‘bad headache’.
Migraines tent to be on the side of the head only (they are unilateral). Many people know that a migraine is going to occur because they might feel irritable, unduly tired, crave certain foods or even yawn excessively for hours or even days before it begins. This period is called the ‘prodrome’. Some people then experience an aura which tends to begin just before the migraine itself. This aura is often in the form of a visual disturbance. For those people who have an aura, it can be useful warning to enable them to can take a painkiller or seek out a quiet place before the migraine starts properly.
In contrast with headache, it can be any pain in the head which is not a migraine. The most common true headache is the tension-type, which might be called a ‘stress headache’ by your doctor. Stress headaches are the ordinary everyday headaches that most people have every now and then, and they are usually brought on by some kind of muscular stress in the neck and shoulder. This type of headache can be the result of psychological stress, because stressed people hunch up and tense their back and neck muscles even if they are not aware of it. Tension-type headaches can last for days but are often relieved quite quickly it the person takes some aspirin or other painkiller. They tend to be all over the head, commonly feeling as if someone has put a tight band around the head. They do not tend to be associated with other symptoms, unlike migraine , although some sickness can occur.
Cluster headaches are rarer than migraines or tension type headaches, but are still the third most common. If you have a cluster headache, you will probably be in intense pain in your eye socket, and the eye might be red and weeping. The terrible pain will be last up to a few hours and go away again only to return later. Cluster headaches are very distressing for their sufferers, and the pain is so strong that they can do nothing during an attack other than try to cope with it. Getting on with household chores or watching TV are generally not options. The pain is too intense to allow you to do everyday things, and sufferers often dance or pace around to try to relieve the agony.
Most people – that is, around 90 per cent – have primary headaches. These are headaches which exist entirely on their own and are not related to any other medical condition. Quite simply, they are headaches that are not really a sign of any other underlying disease or illness.
Secondary headaches, on the other hand, are related to other conditions, and they are known as ‘secondary’ because they are a ‘secondary symptom’. These types of headache occur precisely because you have some other physical problem. For example, your headache may be the result of high blood pressure (hypertension) and people with diabetes can get headaches for the same reason.
The first time anyone has a headache (probably as a baby) it is obviously an acute headache, because there is no history attached to it. Most of us go through life having occasional headaches and they are generally seen as individual acute episodes (you will also find that doctors talk of ‘episodic’ versus ‘chronic’ headaches and migraines). Similarly, if someone has an outburst of eczema one every 10 years we would also regard this as acute. As you can see, therefore, the acute/chronic distinction is really about the frequency of occurrence of something, not its strength, and not even that it recurs. Our difficulties arise when we try to pin down exactly some borderline between acute and chronic headaches, or indeed other conditions, because that is very difficult to do.
Headaches can stem from many of the things we eat or the things missing from our diet, disorder sleep, stress, noise, lighting, environmental pollution, hangover, overwork, and a myriad of other factors. But here will be explained two of the causes only.
In some societies, arguably most headaches occur as a result of ‘the night before’. Drinking alcohol (hangover) in large amounts poisons the body, and the result, for most people is a headache the next day. Binge drinkers are especially prone to this, but moderate drinkers (a glass of wine with a meal each day, for instance) rarely experience a hangover. The headache that is felt from a hangover is due to inflammation of the meninges, a membrane covering the brain. The brain itself is not sore, since that is not possible, but the sac of skin surrounding it has lots of nerve cells that can respond to poisoning.
Next on the list is stress. Stress probably affects all human beings, at least to some extent. In some societies it is ; caused by interpersonal conflict (arguments and disagreements, for instance) and by work or study ; in others it may even be caused by fear for one’s life (in dangerous political situations or in places where people are at risk from life-threatening events). In everyday life, even minor hassles, as they are called, contribute to stress. Queuing at the bank or waiting for a late train, having minor disputes with our neighbours, needing minor repairs to our cars and being served the wrong dish in a restaurant are all examples of little stressors that can add up for us.
Stress is linked with anxiety and worry and all contribute to headaches. Tension-type headache are often called ‘stress headaches’ because they are often caused by muscle tension in the neck. We tend to tense up when stressed, hence the therapeutic value of a massage to relax us.
Health psychologists have spent many years studying stress because it can damage the body and the mind significantly and is so common. Therefore, a stressed person is much more likely to become ill, especially with viral infections such as colds and influenza.
The following story shows how much a so-called normal headache, the tension-type, can easily be confused with migraine. In some cases, the main difference is in intensity rather than quality. In all of the talk about how terrible migraine can be, it is easy to forget the suffering that tension-type headaches, especially chronic ones, can bring.
“The worst thing about tension headaches is that other people don’t always sympathy because they just think I am having normal, everyday headaches. It’s true, I am, but I don’t just get headaches like anyone else. I think they are worse, if only because I have them quite regularly.
I have headaches 10 to 20 times a month. What’s more worrying is that I have had them for years and years at this level. They are a dull pain, and they just don’t go away. They are worse when I move my head. Sometimes I feel sick, but not always, and once I also had blurred vision. At first I thought I had migraines, but the doctor ruled that out. When I get them, they can last two or three days, and I stop being able to concentrate on things because the constant pain just gets me down. Of late, the doctor has been suggesting that I might be depressed. The trouble is, he’s right, but it’s not that simple because I think that anyone who had these headaches for so long would start to get depressed anyway. What I mean is that depressed people hate getting up in the morning, and so do I, but in my case it is often because I have gone to bed with a headache and woken up with a headache and know that I’m going to have headache all day unless I am lucky and painkillers get rid of it, which they do sometimes but not always.
I have tried lots of things to deal with them, and painkillers seem to be the best, but I don’t want to use them very often because I know they are not good for me in the long run. If my husband massages my shoulders I very often get relief, but it doesn’t always last, and the headache can come back an hour after he stops. I have also tried Indian head massage, and that works too, but I can’t get someone to do that to me at three in the morning when I can’t sleep and my head feels like it is in a vice.
Anyone who has headaches like mine has a job on their hands. Sometimes, I wish I had migraines instead, because I know that they hurt more, but from what I have heard they don’t take up as much of your time. The problem with chronic headaches is that it’s hard to get anything done when half of your life is spent with pain in the head.”
Sue, 55
Other story, we can try to remember our own experiences, when facing with headache. Although it is not chronic like the above story, it’s already bothered our life. Usually, students face headache cause by stress or sleep disorders. When we got a lot of task that we do not done yet, we will feel stressed. Then we will force ourselves to do not sleep as to complete all our tasks. Other problem will occur actually, which is headache. When the disease comes, we have no more intention to complete our works. Our brain can’t work like normal anymore, so we will only choose to go to sleep. Rest our pain mind.
We actually can avoid this headache to happen. In Islam, it is already prohibited for us to do not drink the alcohol. The prove is narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar, Allah's Messenger saw said, "If anyone drinks wine Allah will not accept prayer from him for forty days, but if he repents Allah will forgive him. If he repeats the offence Allah will not accept prayer from him for forty days, but if he repents Allah will forgive him. If he again repeats the offence Allah will not accept prayer from him for forty days, but if he repents Allah will forgive him. If he repeats it a fourth time Allah will not accept prayer from him for forty days, and if he repents Allah will not forgive him, but will give him to drink of the river of the fluid flowing from the inhabitants of Hell."
But from international views, they allow people to drink the wine but not drinking it to excess. From their words ; “The best way to avoid a hangover is by not drinking alcohol to excess, but if you do then drink large quantities of water before going to sleep. The best advice is to drink water along with the alcohol, volume for volume. So, for every glass of wine you drink, have a glass of water.”
Allah knows the best for His slaves. Allah knows that the alcohol will bring many problems/ diseases to us, thatis why Allah prohibited it. How beautiful is Islam.
In addition, Islam also has many ways to avoid stress from being happened. For example, Islam teaches us to be patient, accept all what Allah gives and do not give, do not mad and stay calm in whatever situation. Narrated from Abu Huraira, Allah's Messenger saw said, "Allah says, 'I have nothing to give but Paradise as a reward to my believer slave, who, if I cause his dear friend (or relative) to die, remains patient (and hopes for Allah's Reward)."
However, in international views (other than Islam), most of them avoid stress by drink the wine. “You can use alcohol when you are stress or any drug in order to relax your mind”. Their perspective is exactly wrong as drink the alcohol or take drugs will cause many other problems and will probably cause the headache. It will never reduce stress and avoid headache, but encourage them.
For me, this illness or other illness can be avoid if we truly keep away from what Allah ban and follow all what Allah asked us to do. Allah already guided us with good rules. So we must follow in order to take care all what Allah gave to us.
As a conclusion, headache looks simple and normal, but it actually has many branches that we need to know. We have to spend our time to see a doctor (when we are facing the pain) and ask doctor, what category of headaches we are facing. Is it a bad headache or migraine? Is it acute or chronic? If acute, don’t feel satisfied, because it may change to chronic. The most important thing is to avoid ourselves to be stressed, as it is one of the factors to get headache.
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