Chronic Headaches

Most individuals who just have headaches very infrequently maybe do not realize that there are different sorts of headache. Different sorts of headaches affect different parts of the head and even headaches that have an effect on the same region last different lengths of time. The ones that last the longest, giving almost continuous pain, are called chronic headaches.

Chronic headaches can be like episodic migraine - a throbbing in the temples - but unlike episodic migraine, chronic headaches can go on for days, weeks, months and even years. One of the reasons for chronic headaches is stress.

One of the features of these headaches is that the stress can escalate in a vicious circle. That is, stress brings on the headache, then you worry about the headache which causes more stress, which causes more pain and so on. This is a very tough cycle of events for some people to break out of.

You can even bring on a stress-related chronic headache by worrying that you might get a headache. It is very depressing, because it appears that you just cannot win.

Sufferers of chronic headaches have a miserable time of it and normally make life miserable for everybody near them too. Therefore, if you are in constant pain, do something about it.

The first thing to attempt is to discover the reason for your stress or anxiety. Something is starting your headaches and you probably know what it is.

You need to examine your life and find out what is so distressing about it. Is it your partner, your career, your neighbours or your kids? Is it an illness of yours or a close friend or member of the family? Money and debts? It could be a blend of several factors, in which case, you will have to de-stress them one by one.

This is the only certain way of dealing with chronic headaches that are brought on by stress. You can take tablets to kill the pain and tablets to put you to sleep and tablets to calm you down, but in the long run, you know that they are not actually helping and that feeling will stress you out even more.

Other types of chronic headaches are chronic cluster headaches and chronic tension headaches. Episodic cluster headaches will occur each now and again, but chronic cluster headaches happen several times a day for years. Somewhere between 10% an 15% of sufferers of cluster headaches develop chronic indications.

There are several names for chronic cluster headaches depending on the severity of the pain.

An episodic tension headache is the most common form of headache. Everyone gets them from time to time, but a chronic tension headache is when you get periods of pain lasting for at least 15 days in a three month period.

If you suffer from chronic headaches, do not merely take medication or do not merely sit it out. You need professional advice once you suspect that you have a problem. You could try to fight it alone by taking up a sport or yoga to reduce your stress and tension, but it actually is better for you to tackle the problem of chronic headaches with the assistance of a professional.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with chronic headaches. If you want to find out more go to Stopping Headaches.