Pain is a perception response to stimuli with the potential to cause damage to any organ in the body, and is an unpleasant emotion or alarm system of the body. Headache is the most common complaint among patients who apply to physicians all over the world. Headaches are examined under two groups;
1: Primary headaches (Migraine, Tension and Cluster headaches etc.)
2: Secondary headaches These are the pains that occur after the spread of diseases in brain tissue structures or other organs of the body to the brain. These group headaches are more dangerous and are important headache causes. Secondary headaches; First of all, if not diagnosed and treated early, it causes death or serious permanent disability. This situation has negative consequences both for the relatives of the patients and for the country’s economy.
Secondary headaches ;
1:Cerebral vascular diseases; The best known and most deadly of cerebral hemorrhages are vascular ballooning (aneurysm) and cerebral vascular tangles (arterio-venous malformation). Cerebrovascular ballooning: they usually occur congenitally or later. It is the most common cause of cerebral hemorrhages in childhood and the second most common cause of cerebral hemorrhages in adults. These vascular diseases start to give alarms from time to time, especially after the age of 40, with headache complaints. However, patients either do not need to go to the doctor, or they may be confused by the causes of headache, which are more common and better known (sinusitis, stress, migraine, tension, cold) by the doctor they go to. Headache due to cerebrovascular ballooning; It usually starts from the nape and then spreads to the front of the head. If the headache in these diseases is diagnosed and treated early without causing cerebral hemorrhage, patients can be protected from the risk of serious neurological disability or death. Brain hemorrhages are one of the most feared and disabling diseases in medicine. Early recognition of the causes (ballooning, hypertension, cerebrovascular tangles) to be protected from brain hemorrhage depends on taking precautions.
2: It is a type of pain that should be well known in headaches due to brain tumors. Headaches in these diseases are initially in the form of waking the person from sleep in the morning and then become continuous later in the day. Headaches due to brain tumors are followed by nausea, vomiting and double vision. If nausea, vomiting, and especially double vision follow the complaint of persistent headache, this should be interpreted in favor of a brain tumor until proven otherwise. Headaches in brain tumors are common and continuous and increase especially during coughing, straining and sneezing, and there is temporary relief with vomiting. The headache here becomes constant and persistent later on, which usually takes the patient to the doctor. Early, accurate diagnosis and treatment of headaches due to brain tumors is very important and saves patients from death and disability.
3: Headaches that occur after high blood pressure and brain hemorrhages due to injuries are important and dangerous. High blood pressure was one of the most common diseases of the society, and it was a mild neck-oriented headache without cerebral hemorrhage. If high blood pressure is not treated well, it can cause small or large brain hemorrhages, which can cause death and severe disability in patients. Bleeding between the brain membranes (subdural) due to falls and injuries, especially in advanced ages, causes mild headaches. This group of patients apply to hospitals with the complaint of headache. If the patients are diagnosed correctly and early in time and operated successfully, they get rid of headaches and other neurological complaints. If this type of cerebral hemorrhage is not intervened in a timely manner, death and permanent disability are inevitable.
4: Headaches due to sinusitis are among the well-known and pioneering diagnoses of physicians. Headache due to sinusitis is a more benign form of pain in the front of the head. These pains occur later in the day, especially with nasal discharge and other complaints. In countries where antibiotics are used extensively, sinusitis treatments are both easy and very difficult. If sinusitis cannot be treated appropriately and specifically, it can turn into much more serious brain diseases such as meningitis and brain abscess. Meningitis or brain abscess are more difficult to treat. Initially, the patient who goes to the doctor with a headache may develop into severe brain diseases that cause death and neurological disabilities.
5: Trigeminal and occipital neuralgia pains; They are very severe pains like stabbing, throbbing due to diseases of the cranial nerves and appearing with seizures. This pain is mostly unilateral and rarely bilateral and is a disease of advanced age. If trigeminal neuralgia is seen at a young age, it is more often associated with multiple sclerosis. It is more common in women and the left side of the face is more affected. The characteristic feature of facial pain here is the pain that comes with very severe unilateral seizures, almost in the form of electric shock, which occurs when patients are eating, drinking cold-hot water, talking, brushing their teeth. Initially, it is seen as infrequent pain attacks during the day and does not occur much during sleep at night. As the disease becomes chronic, the number and frequency of seizures increase. Medication is initially used for trigeminal neuralgia pain. Different anti-epileptic drugs treat neuralgia pain. However, over time, these drugs fail to control the pain, and sometimes side effects occur due to drugs. Various closed and open brain surgeries are performed for resistant facial pain or neuralgia pain that develops intolerance to drugs. Thanks to these surgical techniques, patients get rid of unbearable facial pain.
What should be considered for headache?
1: First of all, if a very severe headache that the person has never experienced before occurs, if the pain starts from the nape and spreads to the front of the head, a neuroscience physician should be consulted without delay.
2: If headache is accompanied by complaints such as nausea, vomiting and double vision, a neuroscience physician should be consulted.
3: Those who have a headache after a fall or injury and mild head trauma from time to time should consult a neuroscience physician.
4: An individual who knows that he has sinusitis should consult a neuroscience physician when the type and extent of headaches change.
5: The person known to have high blood pressure should use the blood pressure lowering drugs given regularly and blood pressure should be normalized.
Conclusion:
Headache is the most common complaint in the society and should never be taken lightly. Headache is a reflex response of the body, which should be read correctly and treated with an appropriate approach. Being late should be feared without fearing a headache. Headache is a complaint that causes very serious disability and death, especially in medical approaches without a careful neurological examination and without investigating the cause of the pain.
