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This section of the site concentrates on areas of head and Neck pain.
For some, a pain in the neck is just a visit from the Mother-In-Law,
for others though a pain in the neck can be a horrific experience that
can cripple ones desire to socialise and more.
Millions of People suffer from head and neck pain in this world. In
fact so many people now suffer with it, and the many different
variations of it that it has become a medical speciality in itself. A
lot of patients now also look specifically for a head pain clinic as
opposed to the general pain management clinic that exists today.
Headaches have been part of our world for thousands of years. The
Egyptians have chronicled something that they called "a sickness of
half the head", and in 460BC Hippocrates himself told of a "violent
pain supervened in the right temple". Although they have been around
for so long the causes of many of today's headache variants still
baffle doctors. Indeed it has only been in the last 10 to 15 years or
so that doctors have started to make some progress in treating it.
Headaches can be a symptom of something far more serious a disease or
condition, or it can be a condition that in itself is not fatal but bad
enough to bring on depression, and cause some people to withdraw into
themselves and not want to leave the house or socialise as much as they
may have done in the past.
Despite these two very different headache-situations, less than 1% of
headaches that people experience are as a result of a Brain Tumour or
some other such illness or other ailments. And of those 1% most of them
are usually because of some major head trauma that the patient has
experience, such as a high fall, or a car crash, bullet wound etc. In
these situations other such symptoms as convulsions, confusion, loss of
balance, and consciousness along with lesser symptoms such as fever,
stiff neck, slurred speech, weakness etc.
So what causes a headache? Originally headaches were dismissed as a
"Women's problem" as a larger percent of women over men were suffering
from them and were deemed to be a "psychological disturbance". If a
Doctor were to say something like that in today's world they'd probably
be looking for a very deep dark hole to hide in while the court case
and furore blew over! :o) Thankfully, they are being dealt with in a
much more serious light now, and with the recent major advances in
scans and other such tests the science of headaches causes have been
well and truly opened up allowing Doctors to give much more accurate
reasons for such pains instead of just passing them off as before.
Headaches usually arise from a large number of chemicals in the brain
intermingling with neurological activity. At the moment Doctors do not
know exactly what causes headaches to occur, but they do know *WHY*
they hurt. Headaches that pound and throb are so painful because of
there being a dense network of sensory nerves around the head. It isn't
the brain itself that creates the pain as that has no sensory nerves,
but rather it is the nerves surrounding, and within, the face scalp,
mouth and throat that does the deeds. Some muscles in the head and the
blood vessels therein are also part of the party.
Under normal circumstances this network is a crucial part of the
human's survival mechanism and forms part of its protection. However,
stress, tension, sensory overload (too much television for example) all
help to trigger a chemical reaction in the affected areas that then
stimulate those nerves and have you diving for the Paracetamol or
Codeine and glass of water.
One staggering fact I learnt while researching for this page on the
site was that there is over 60 different types of headaches that a
patient can suffer from, and it is not uncommon for patients to
actually be suffering from several of those different types but they
just label them as a plain old "headache". Examples of the different
types include Migraine, tension, cluster, rebound and post-trauma.
So, although there are still many uncertainties in the world of
Headaches, there is one fact that is wholly true, and that is that you
are not alone with headaches.
Why not have a chat with other head pain sufferers on this site by
participating in our Message Board Community. There's a section
dedicated solely to head and Neck Pain discussion and I'm sure that
you'll find it a useful resource for support and venting as the site
develops and grows.
What can you do to help Headaches and Neck Pain?
(Please note: You must check these hints and tips are suitable for
your condition with your doctor before acting on anything listed in
these pages.)
- Avoid over-consumption of caffeine products such as coffee
- If possible avoid taking too many anti-inflammatory drugs such as
aspirin or ibuprofen as these can cause rebound headaches in some
people.
- If your head or neck pain is because of muscle ache or tension, or
spasms, therapy that's designed to strengthen the upper extremities,
and good posturing of, the head, neck and upper back.
- Avoiding fasting for long periods during the day can be helpful to
patients who suffer from low blood pressure problems as skipping meals
is often associated with headaches in some people.
Did you know…?
Here's a list of some famous headache and Migraine sufferers
Julius Caesar
John Calvin
Lewis Carroll
Frederic Chopin
Charles Darwin
Chris Evert
Sigmund Freud
Ulysses S. Grant
Thomas Jefferson
Karl Marx
Edgar Allan Poe
George Bernard Shaw
Peter Tchaikovsky
Virginia Woolf
National Support Groups:
USA: http://www.headaches.org/
UK: http://www.headachesuk.org/
Written by: Jason D.
Webmaster and Chronic Neuropathic Pain Sufferer
www.chronicpainsupport.info
www.ostomysupport.info Copyright © by Chronic Pain Support All Right Reserved. Published on: 2005-11-04
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