Posts Tagged ‘chronic tension headache’

Stress Could Lead To Headaches

Saturday, January 16th, 2010
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Stress is a standard headache trigger. In nerve-wrangling situations, particular chemicals are released into the brain as a counter force to handle the injury. This in turn strokes the blood vessels which lead to headaches. Migraines in particular are a result of stress.

Stress is generally the reason for tension-type headaches too. Tension-type headaches are of two types: episodic and chronic. You get an episodic tension-type headache because of an isolated stressed situation or an increase of stress.If you get stressed out daily, such as from a high-pressured job, it can lead to a prolonged tension-type headache.

Headache causing stress is usually prompted by factors which exist in the environment or other internal reasons. The most common sources of stress include family, social relationship, friends, work and faculty. Explicit stress triggers include:

* Family issues.
* Not having mates around
* Absence of best friends
* Exam stress
* Tests or examination preparations.
* Meeting stern cut offs
* Deadlines at work
* Competing in sports.
* Being fired from a job
* Being obese.
* Constant recurring looking for of perfection
* Taxing yourself too much
* Over-involvement many activities

If you do not need to deal with headaches, it is important that you keep stress in control. These are some tips that will help you keep stress in control.

*Recognize Potential triggers: keep a record of things that have caused stress in the past. These may include habits, situations or personality problems.
*Manage your time effectively : plan your tasks by allocating sufficient time to each task. Do one task at a time.
*Give yourself a break. It is sweet to give yourself a break each now and then. This helps you relax and find a solution to your Problems.
*Start exercising every day. Exercising releases endorphins in your body so helping combat a headache.
*Maintain proper diet: A tasty controlled diet with a rich quantity of vegetables, fruits and grains maintains your health and also stops stress.
*Go on vacations: Break away from your daily routine and go on a vacation or weekend getaway. A vacation may help you develop a new outlook.
*Laugh: Humor is an acceptable approach to easing stress. Laughter releases the chemical endorphin into the brain which keeps your mood positive.

Additionally, you may seek help of assorted non prescription medications to treat headaches that result of stress. Some of the medicines that you might use are ibuprofen, aspirin, acetaminophen and naproxen. You can also opt for prescription medication such as ketoprofen, isometheptene, tolmetin, hydrocodone, and diclofenac.

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Chronic Tension Headaches - A Simple Guide

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Chronic tension headaches can be a potentially debilitating condition that seriously deprives the patient of life enjoyment.  Daily activities can be painfully interrupted by the sudden occurence of a tension headache.  Chronic tension headache can easily lead to depression and a general pain crisis.  It is important that chronic tension headaches be treated as soon as possible.  Fortunately, the medical community has a great deal of experience with the phenomenon of headache, and has several avenues of treatment available for sufferers.  In fact, the medical community has researched headache thoroughly, and has divided the phenomenon into three distinct categories.

The majority of headaches suffered are put into what is known as the primary category.  A primary headache is frequently brought on by emotional or physical stress, and is the most common form of headache by far.  Primary headaches are almost never life threatening, but they can bring serious pain with them.  This pain can impair enjoyment of daily activities, making even basic functioning difficult.  Although the actual causes of chronic tension headache are still unknown, it is widely held that the symptoms are brought on by a tightening of the muscles that surround the base of the skull.  This tightening comes on as a sensation of tightness at first in the patient’s cranial area. 

Cluster and secondary headaches are a far rarer form of headache that occurs to small portion of the population.  To treat this kind of headache, serious medical attention is required.  Cluster headaches are easily identifiable by the amount of pain they cause.  Patients frequently describe cluster headaches as an icepick sensation behind one or both eyes.  Treatment includes powerful sedatives and pain medications.  Secondary headaches can be a sign of deeper neurological issues.

Chronic tension headaches should be approached from a stress management point of view.  Physical and emotional stress can be a significant source of chronic tension headaches.  Circumstances that trigger significant emotional stress can easily lead to chronic tension headaches. Prolonged physical stress is another potential cause of chronic tension headaches.  Steps to manage both kinds of stress should be undertaken in order to reduce the occurence of chronic tension headaches.  If these steps do not succeed, then further treatment via pain medications may be necessary.  Chronic tension headaches that occur on a regular basis should be a signal to see a doctor.

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