The 13 types of headache (and their symptoms and causes).

Headaches can be classified according to their warning signs.

Headache is a very common problem that can become disabling if its intensity or frequency is high. if its intensity or frequency is high.

While the most common types of headache are not due to disease and are therefore not dangerous, others are symptomatic of underlying conditions that require medical treatment.

There are more than 150 types of headache with their own causes and symptoms. If we want to find out how we can solve our headaches, a fundamental first step is to identify which headache we suffer from.

• Recommended article: "The 7 types of migraine (characteristics and causes)".

What are the causes of the pain?

Generally, the sensation of pain is caused by lesions in tissues that trigger cells known as nociceptors. These receptors pick up mechanical, thermal and chemical signals that indicate possible damage to the organism.

However, neither the damage to the cells nor the reaction of the nociceptors are direct causes of the sensation of pain, but rather it is largely influenced by non-biological variables such as experience or emotion.

When it reaches the nervous system, nociceptive stimulation is coupled with our thoughts, memories and feelings before pain occurs. Thus, the final sensation depends as much on external factors as on our own mind..

Headache in particular is often influenced by factors such as muscle tension, vascular problems or the body's idiosyncratic response to stress, certain substances or medical disorders. However, the causes and characteristics of headaches depend to a large extent on the specific type of headache.

Primary headaches

According to the International Classification of Headaches there are more than 150 types of headache, which can be divided into three main categories: primary, secondary and other headaches..

In contrast to secondary headaches, primary headaches occur in the absence of a physical disorder and are therefore not dangerous.

1. Tension headache

Tension-type headache is the most common of all headaches.. These headaches are caused by muscle tension; this can be due to stress or physical causes, such as intense and continuous contraction of the neck or jaw muscles.

This type of headache usually manifests itself as a constant tension or pressure on both sides of the head. In the most severe cases, even touching the affected muscles can cause pain.

Tension headaches usually cause milder pain and are therefore less disabling than migraines and other types of headache, but there is a high risk of episodic tension headache becoming chronic, with attacks occurring every day or almost every day.

Migraine

Migraine headaches are headaches caused by the activation of neurons in the cerebral cortex.. Some experts also attribute them to the narrowing of encephalic Blood vessels, which would cause blood and oxygen not to reach the brain properly. However, the vascular hypothesis of migraine has lost support in the recent past.

This type of headache produces more intense pain than most tension headaches. Migraine headaches usually consist of prick-like or throbbing sensations on one side of the head.

The stimuli that trigger a migraine vary greatly depending on the person: it can be due to stress, exertion, lack of sleep, intense lighting, consumption of certain foods...

A distinction is made between migraines with aura and migraines without aura.. Migraines without aura are the most frequent and appear suddenly, while migraines with aura are preceded by visual, sensory, linguistic and motor symptoms.

3. Trigeminal-autonomic headache

The trigeminal nerve receives sensations picked up by many muscles of the head, such as those of the face, eyes, mouth or jaw. Headaches that primarily involve trigeminal reflex action are known as "trigemino-autonomic.". They are also one of the most painful and difficult types of headache to manage, as they are not so much related to the circulation as to certain alterations in the nerve.

The symptoms of this type of headache are very similar to those of migraine, so they usually affect only one half of the head and consist of throbbing pain. However, the intensity of the pain is greater than that of migraine headaches.

Trigemino-autonomic headache includes syndromes such as cluster headache, a very painful type of headache that affects the eye and temple region and is associated with symptoms such as nasal congestion, tearing and facial sweating.

4. Tonsillar headache

Although infrequent in the general population, a significant proportion of people presenting to the doctor as a result of severe coughing and coughing are affected..

Nausea, dizziness and sleep disturbances are common symptoms of thuygenetic headache. These headaches are triggered after coughing attacks and can be very brief or last for more than an hour.

5. Due to physical exertion

Physical exertion headaches" are classified as those in which the symptoms are not due to any intracranial cause, but simply to the practice of very intense exercise. simply to the practice of very intense exercise.. Abnormal blood flow can cause parts of the nervous system to suffer.

It occurs more frequently in places where it is very hot or at a high altitude, and the pain involved is usually of a throbbing type.

On the other hand, performing a task that requires constant exertion of the same type can cause this symptom to appear, which is a way of warning that we should stop as soon as possible.

6. Sexual intercourse

Primary headache associated with sexual activity is attributed to loss of cerebrospinal fluid causing a drop in intracranial pressure.. The pain occurs on both sides of the head and intensifies as the person becomes aroused, reaching its peak when the person reaches orgasm.

This is a problem that has to do with attention management, difficulties in relaxing, and continuous physical exertion.

7. Cryostimulus headache

"Cryostimulus headache" is the official name of the classic headache produced by contact with something very cold, either because it touches the outside of the head, or because it touches the outside of the head.either because it touches the outside of the head, because it is inhaled or because it is ingested, as is the case with ice cream. The pain of cryostimulus headache tends to be throbbing, unilateral and of short duration.

8. Hypnic headache

The "alarm clock" headaches occur only during sleep, causing the person to wake up.. It usually affects people over 50 years of age and tends to be persistent. They share some characteristics with migraine, such as a feeling of nausea.

Secondary headaches

Secondary headaches are the result of conditions, such as vascular disorders or brain injuries.The symptoms are pain and may require specific treatment depending on the underlying cause.

1. Due to trauma

Blows in the skull or in the cervical, as those produced by traffic accidents, can cause temporary or chronic headaches (if they last more than three months from the trauma). (if they last more than three months after the trauma).

Not only blows can cause trauma headaches, but these can also be due to other causes, such as explosions and the presence of foreign bodies in the head.

In general, these headaches appear together with other symptoms caused by the same trauma, such as concentration or memory problems, dizziness and fatigue.

2. Due to vascular disorder

This type of headache is a consequence of cerebrovascular problems such as ischemic stroke, cerebral hemorrhage, aneurysm or malformation.aneurysm or congenital arteriovenous malformation. In these cases the headache is usually less relevant than other consequences of the vascular accident.

3. Due to substance abuse or withdrawal

Abusive consumption or inhalation of substances such as alcohol, cocaine, carbon monoxide or nitric oxide can also cause and aggravate headaches. can also provoke and aggravate headaches. Likewise, withdrawal from substances that are consumed on a regular basis, as can happen with alcohol and drugs, is another frequent cause of headache.

4. Infection

Some common causes of this type of headache are meningitis and bacterial or viral encephalitis, parasitosis and infections.parasitosis and systemic infections. Although in most cases the headache disappears once the infection is cured, in some occasions it can persist.

5. Due to mental disorder

Headaches are sometimes categorized as secondary to psychiatric disorders if there is a temporal and causal relationship between both phenomena. However, in these cases the pain seems to have a psychogenic rather than a biological origin.

In this sense, the International Classification of Headache gives special importance to psychotic disorders and somatization, consisting of the presence of physical symptoms in the absence of identifiable medical pathology.