Monday, February 6, 2012

Why Do I Keep Getting Headaches Everyday?

Why do I seemingly get headaches everyday? Many people suffer from frequent headaches and ask this question. Unfortunately, there isn't a simple answer to this question, since the causes vary greatly. Here are some ideas on how to remedy the symptoms of most common everyday headaches.

Although the root causes of headaches are numerous, ranging from muscular tension to medical situation that are much more serious, there are two primary causes of headaches. These are inflammation and pressure. Additionally, inflammation and pressure can lead to tension, which can compound the problem.

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All pain is typically related to these two things. By and large, when you have a minor injury, such as a cut on your finger, it's not the wound itself that causes the pain as much as the inflammation and perhaps the resulting tension. How is this?

If you have cut or burned yourself when you're not looking, have you noticed that quite often, you don't notice any pain until you actually see the wound? What is happening is that the inflammation from the wound hasn't set in until after you saw the wound. In some cases, the inflammation doesn't kick in until a few seconds after the wound has been spotted.

With headaches, either inflammation or tension, typically cause the pressure that you're feeling. Most forms of treatment for headaches operate on this principle. Whether you use massage therapy, ice and heat packs or drugs as your remedy, the goal is to treat inflammation, tension or both. Knowing this can help you choose an appropriate mode of treatment for your headaches, and it answers the question of why some remedies work in some cases and not others.

For instance, if you pop a couple Tylenol or Ibuprofen tablets as your remedy when you're having a tension headache such as caused by mental stress, it's not going to work. However, a massage on the neck and at various points on the head, as well as heat packs will help immensely.

Now, flip the coin and let's say you're having an inflammation related headache. It could be a migraine, a hangover, or as a result of mild trauma. In this case, unless the inflammation has caused enough pain to create tension, chemical methods and ice packs are the methods of choice.

If the inflammation has caused enough pain to call tension in as well, then a two-pronged attack is necessary. Alternating heat and cold packs, or mixing cold packs with massage have proven useful remedies for these kinds of headaches.

In fact, certain mixes of every day chemicals, such as mixing Tylenol and caffeine have proven to be among the most effective and convenient treatments for hangovers and minor migraines. Caffeine is a vasodilator, and because of this, it relieves the tension in the blood vessels in the head and brain. However, it should be taken in moderation, as it can cause muscular tension, which can have an inverse effect on pain relief. You must first understand the cause of your pain in order to choose the best remedy.

While this information is useful for normal headaches and mild migraines, it should not be considered a substitute for proper medical care when it's needed. In fact, in such cases, it would not be effective. In cases of extreme migraines, serious head trauma and brain tumors, you should seek outside professional medical treatment.

Why Do I Keep Getting Headaches Everyday?

Understand Migraine