There cannot be many of us who have not experienced a headache at some point and yet, in spite of the fact that they are so common, their cause is something of a mystery. Also, though we generally talk about a headache it is surprising how few people are aware that there are in fact several different types of headache.

For instance, migraines affect approximately 10% of the US population (in the region of twenty-eight million individuals) and afflict three times more women than men. And yet, although such a large number of people suffer frequently from migraine headaches, we still do not know what causes them. There are of course several theories, the most recent of which holds that they are caused by the interaction of chemicals within the brain like serotonin and the nerve cells of the brain, but we really do not know for sure whether or not this is the cause.

Cluster headaches, which are far rarer but also far more intense than migraines, affect approximately one person in every three hundred and tend to afflict men rather than women. Again however we only have a tentative idea about just what causes the stabbing pain that is often felt behind one eye in these especially painful headaches. A few people suspect that the cause could be a defect in the hypothalamus but, as yet, there is no good evidence to support this theory.

The most common type of headache is what we generally refer to as ordinary or tension-type headaches and again these are not well understood. In this case the list of possible causes is very long and includes everything from what we eat to the amount of stress we are under. Attempting to pinpoint a precise cause has eluded us so far however and exactly what leads to the ordinary everyday headache is still a mystery.

The only saving grace however is that we do have a large number of medications available to us to deal with the various forms of headache and most of these are both safe and effective for most sufferers.

Migraine headaches have proved hard to treat for a long time and the ergot drugs previously used to treat them showed varying degrees of success. These drugs were then replaced by triptan drugs which were more effective but which unfortunately had several problems. Nowadays however the second generation of triptan drugs are proving to be safe, have fewer shortcomings and work well for the majority of sufferers.

There has also been an increase in the use of preventive medications for migraine headaches such as calcium channel blockers, beta blockers, anti-depressants, anti-seizure medications and several other drugs that are commonly used to treat other well known conditions. For many people these medications will stop headaches from attacking at all, while for other people they act to reduce the frequency with which headaches occur.

For common headaches over-the-counter remedies like aspirin or paracetamol (which have been around for over 100 years) and newer medications like ibuprofen provide safe and effective relief in the majority of cases. For people who suffer from frequent headaches though care needs to be taken because even the humble aspirin can produce side effects if taken too frequently.

In spite of the fact that there is still so much that we do not understand about what causes chronic headaches the fact that we can treat them successfully is comforting to the many sufferers and particularly to the large number of people who suffer from often extremely debilitating migrane headaches. However, surprisingly enough, only about half of all migraine headache sufferers ever seek medical advice and so there are millions of people today needlessly suffering in silence.

If you suffer from headaches and find that simple over-the-counter medications such as paracetamol or aspirin do not work then, rather that suffer in silence, drop in to see your physician who will almost certainly be able to help to relieve your headaches.

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