Headache (cont.)
Can cluster headaches be prevented?
Since cluster headache episodes may be spaced years apart, and since the first
headache of a new cluster episode can't be predicted, daily medication may not
be warranted.
Lifestyle changes may help minimize the risk of a cluster headache flare.
Stopping smoking and minimizing alcohol may prevent future episodes of cluster
headache.
What diseases cause secondary headaches?
Headache is a symptom associated with many illnesses. While head pain itself
is the issue with primary headaches, secondary headaches are due to an
underlying disease or injury that needs to be diagnosed and treated. Controlling
the headache symptom will need to occur at the same time diagnostic tests are
being considered. Some of the causes of secondary headache may be potentially
life-threatening and deadly. Early diagnosis and treatment is essential, if
damage is to be limited.
The International Headache Society lists eight categories of secondary
headache. A few examples in each category are noted (this is not a complete
list):
Head and neck trauma
- Injuries to the head may cause bleeding in the spaces between the layers of
tissue that surround the brain (subdural, epidural and subarachnoid bleeding) or
within the brain tissue itself.
- Concussions, where head injury occurs without bleeding
- A symptom of whiplash
and neck injury
Blood vessel problems in the head and neck
Non-blood vessel problems of the brain
- Brain tumors, either primary, originating in the brain or metastatic from a
cancer that began in another organ
- Seizures
- Idiopathic intracranial hypertension, once named
pseudotumor cerebri, where
there is too much cerebrospinal fluid pressure within the spinal canal.
Medications and drugs (including withdrawal
from those drugs)
Infection
- Meningitis
- Encephalitis
- HIV/AIDS
- Systemic infections (for example,
pneumonia or influenza)
Changes in the body's environment
Problems with the eyes, ears, nose throat, teeth and neck
Psychiatric disorders
Next: How are secondary headaches diagnosed? »
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