What is a headache?
A headache is classified as any pain which occurs in the head or upper neck. More than 90% of adults will experience a headache in their life, as it is one of the most common forms of pain in the body, though the causes are widely varying.
Since a headache can have many different causes, the International Headache Society decided on a classification system for different kinds of headaches in 2007. With so many people suffering from it and treatment being so vastly different for each case, the classification system provides health specialists with a uniform way to understand and diagnose the many different types of headaches. Currently, the three major categories according to the IHS are: primary headache, secondary headache, and cranial neuralgias. Each of these different types of headaches has different causes and symptoms and can affect different parts of the brain.
The first type of headache is the primary headache, which includes migraines, tension headache, and cluster headache, just to name a few. The tension headache is the most common form of headache experienced in adults, as more than 75% of adults will have had at least one tension headache in their life. Migraine headaches are second on this list, with about 12% of the population in the United States having experienced at least one migraine headache in their life. A common mistake is assuming migraines can only affect adults. However, this is not true. Both children and adults are equally susceptible to migraine headaches, though it is more common in adults than children, and more common in women than men. Cluster headaches are last in the list, as they are the rarest form of primary headache. Around 85% of people who suffer from cluster headaches are men. While primary headaches are the vast majority of headache suffered, these types of headache are not terminal.
Secondary headache is a headache that is caused by as a result of a pre-existing problem in the head or neck. These types of headache can have many causes, from tumors, meningitis, or even bleeding in the brain. Blunt force trauma to the head and neck, such as that which is experienced in a car accident can also lead to severe headache, sometimes many months after such a trauma has occurred. These types of headache are often more predictable than primary headache, but the treatment can vary from cause to cause.
The third type of headache is cranial neuralgia and facial pain. A cranial neuralgia is a group of headaches which can occur because of nerve damage in the head or upper neck. This nerve damage causes the area to become inflamed, which leads to sever head pain, often in areas one wouldn’t normally experience a headache. These types of headache can be caused by trauma, but also by underlying conditions which are pre-existing. Any type of facial pain is also included in this category.
Since there are so many different classifications, diagnosing and finding the correct treatment for a specific kind of headache is best left to health care professionals.
