Monday, May 28, 2012

Is It Migraine? Tension-Type Headache? What?

By Teri Robert, Health Guide Saturday, April 19, 2008

 

What IS your head pain? How should you treat it?

So. Here it is, another day . . . and another day with head pain. What to do...  Migraine abortives...  pain medication?  sleep?  relaxation exercises? It all depends on what kind of head pain you have. It's sometimes hard to tell, and one kind of head pain can trigger another. For example, tension headaches will frequently trigger a Migraine for Migraineurs.

 

The first step in treating our head pain is to get an accurate diagnosis. This is very important for a couple of reasons:

  • Head pain can be a symptom of various diseases or physical anomalies such as tumors or aneurysms. A CAT Scan of the sinus cavities to rule out infection is helpful, as is an MRI to rule out tumors, aneurysms, stroke. and other problems. Keep in mind that your doctor may not order such tests immediately. It's quite normal procedure to try treatment first, and do such tests if the treatments fail. Keeping a Migraine and headache diary will also be helpful to you and your doctor for diagnostic and trigger identification purposes.

  • Treatment methods and medications for different types of head pain vary. For example, the triptan drugs used to treat Migraine (e.g. Imitrex, Maxalt, Zomig, etc.) aren't prescribed for tension-type headache.

Symptoms of the Most Common Headache Disorders...

 

Continue reading Is It Migraine? Tension-Type Headache? What?

 


Blogs of Note:
Abi's Migrainous Wanderings Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy The Carmelite's Habit The Daily Headache Doc's Cluster Headache Journal   Down the Rabbit Hole: The Journey of a Migraineur Free my Brain from Migraine Pain Help My Hurt Her Life In A Nutshell Migraine Chick The MAV Experience The Migraine Girl Migraine News Network MigraineCast My life with migraine Putting Our Heads Together Rhymes with Migraine Somebody Heal Me Weathering Migraine Storms
     

   
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By Teri Robert, Health Guide— Last Modified: 09/06/11, First Published: 04/19/08