CHARACTERISTICS TENSION HEADACHES

Tension headache is a collective term for several types of headaches. Tension headache is more common in women than in men and possibly hormonal factors, as well as the difference in physique and posture. A psychological cause for tension headaches has never been proven. The characteristics of tension headaches are not the same, but there are similarities to each patient.
The headache meets at least two of the following characteristics:
Pain on either side of the head.
Crushing / clamping pain, band sensation around the head.
Mild to moderately intense pain.
The pain is not getting worse during physical exertion.
Further, action the following:

The pain radiating from the neck to the head.
Shoulders are stiff and painful.
Nausea without vomiting.
Light sensitivity to loud noises or bright lights.
Depression, in particular in chronic tension-type headache.
Duration of headache:
Episodic tension headaches: max. 15 days of headache per month.
Chronic tension headache: more than 15 days per month, in the half of the number of cases it has been daily headache.
Tension headache is more common in women than in men and role hormonal factors may play ...

CAUSE TENSION HEADACHES

The cause of tension-type headache are not known. There are many, yet unproven theories. One of these theories suggests that such a headache is caused by a combination of pain from the neck and the facial muscles with a decreased pain threshold in the brains. Often play there are other factors involved. Examples of these triggers are:

Stress and tension
Physical exercise
mental effort
Fatigue
Ooginspanning
wrong attitude
Overloading of the masticatory muscles
hormonal fluctuations
food
other factors
Persistent headaches it is wise to examine whether the headache is a symptom of an underlying condition such as anemia, chronic colds, sinus inflammation, dental disease or allergy. These disorders are quite easy to detect and usually treatable.

HANDLING STRESS HEADACHE

There are treatments with and without medication

Examples of forms of treatment without medication are:

Physical therapy and exercise therapy
Exercise therapy, such mensendieck or caesar therapy
Physiotherapy
psychotherapy
alternative therapies
A number of known alternative therapies include acupuncture, homeopathy and haptonomy. If you opt for an alternative therapy, it is important that you check whether the practitioner is registered and belongs to a professional association.

Treatment of tension headache medication

Treatment with medication is in tension headaches often in last place. The effect is often minimal and generally provides less than attending a therapy or modification of lifestyle.

There are two types of medications to treat tension headaches:

Medication to treat headaches

First choice means the regular painkillers but are available without a prescription at drugstores, such as acetaminophen, aspirin, ibuprofen, etc. It is important to realize that too much medication can lead to medication overuse headache. Medication overuse headache is caused by prolonged use, more than three months, from painkillers. Not the amount of painkillers per day is decisive, but the frequency of swallowing. A rule of thumb for safe medication use: two days medication, seven days nothing.