Friday, October 31, 2008

Headache!!

A headache (cephalalgia in medical terminology) is a condition of pain in the head; sometimes neck or upper back pain may also be interpreted as a headache. It ranks amongst the most common local pain complaints and may be frequent for many people.
The vast majority of headaches are benign and self-limiting. Common causes are tension, migraine, eye strain, dehydration, low blood sugar, hypermastication and sinusitis. Much rarer are headaches due to life-threatening conditions such as meningitis, encephalitis, cerebral aneurysms, extremely high blood pressure, and brain tumors. When the headache occurs in conjunction with a head injury the cause is usually quite evident. A large percentage of headaches among women are caused by ever-fluctuating estrogen during menstrual years. This can occur prior to, or even during midcycle menstruation.Treatment of an uncomplicated headache is usually symptomatic with over-the-counter painkillers such as aspirin, paracetamol (acetaminophen), or ibuprofen, although some specific forms of headaches (e.g., migraines) may demand other, more suitable treatment. It may be possible to relate the occurrence of a headache to other particular triggers (such as stress or particular foods), which can then be avoided.Some forms of headache, such as migraine, may be amenable to preventative treatment. On the whole, long-term use of painkillers is discouraged as this may lead to drug induced headaches and "rebound headaches" on withdrawal. Caffeine, a vasoconstrictor, is sometimes prescribed or recommended as a remedy or supplement to pain killers in the case of extreme migraine. This has led to the development of paracetamol/caffeine analgesic.
Petasites, magnesium, feverfew. riboflavin, CoQ10, and melatonin are "natural" supplements that have shown some efficacy for migraine prevention; a 2006 review tentatively ranked petasites and magnesium with the best evidence, and melatonin with by far the least. Adverse events included sore mouth and tongue (including ulcers) and abdominal pain for feverfew.

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