The A to Z of Headaches

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Tension Headache
By Wendy Simons

While there are a number of different headaches the most common headache is that of tension headaches. People who suffer from tension headaches usually liken this headache’s pain to that of a tight band around the head. The pain that comes from a tension headache can cause an individual to feel a dull pain that is constant.

In general the pain is located around the forehead, sides or even the back of the head. Many times the pain is a diffuse mild to moderate pain. People who have the symptoms of a tension headache may sometimes feel some pain in the back of the neck area near the base of the skull.

Tension headache pain can last from about 30 minutes to even a whole week. The headaches can occur occasionally or almost constantly. The chronic form of tension headaches usually last for more than 15 days in a month’s period during a seven month time frame.

There is evidence that each person will experience different tension headache pain. The severity of the pain can change with individuals. Sometimes the tension headache will begin in the early morning hours and at others it begins soon after the person has woken up.

Some of the symptoms of tension headaches include a tenderness on the scalp, neck and shoulder muscles. There will be difficulty with insomnia, fatigue, irritability, difficulty concentrating and also loss of appetite too. Other symptoms include neck and jaw pain. There may be clicking sounds when the jaw is opening.

While a tension headache is very annoying because of the pain level there are none of the symptoms that are associated with migraine headaches. There are two distinct types of tension headaches that people can be affected by. These types are episodic tension headaches and that of chronic tension headaches.

With a chronic tension headache the pain can be found to occur for more than 15 days in a month for more that 3 months. Chronic tension headaches are found to be less common than its counterpart. While the headache attack is sometimes very short the person will suffer from this tension headache on a daily basis and the level of pain will be continuous. Sometimes scalp tenderness may not be present in chronic tension headaches.

Episodic tension headaches are found to occur for less than 15 days a month. The period of pain in an episodic tension headache can last from a few minutes to a few hours. There is usually a high percentage of getting neck and scalp tenderness with episodic tension headaches.

Tension headache pain can affect anyone without any warning. There is however medications that can be taken to reduce the pain from a tension headache. Should the symptoms of tension headaches become so severe that medication will not be effective then your doctor should be notified so that you can be examined for any other medical problems.

Author Details:
Wendy Simons, writes for various websites, mainly about skin care, microdermabrasion and other health matters. If you are looking for further information try these migraine articles from Simply Top

Source: The A to Z of Headaches

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