Headaches

Common triggers of tension headaches or migraines include:

• Alcohol use.
• Changes in eating or sleeping patterns.
• Depression.
• Emotional stress related to family and friends, work or school.
• Excessive medication use.
• Eye, neck or back strain caused by poor posture.
• Lighting
• Noise

The most common types of headaches are tension and migraine headaches. Tension headaches strike when the muscles in the head and neck tighten. Migraines come on when supersensitive nerve endings in the brain create pain.

Your headache pain may be serious if you have:

1. sudden, very intense headache pain (thunderclap headache)
2. severe or sharp headache pain for the first time.
3. a stiff neck and fever.
4. a fever higher than 102 to 104°F.
5. nausea and vomiting.
6. a nosebleed.
7. fainting.
8. dizziness or loss of balance.

There are several hundred types of headaches, but there are four very common types: sinus, tension, migraine, and cluster.

“Red flags” for secondary disorders include sudden onset of headache, onset of headache after 50 years of age, increased frequency or severity of headache, new onset of headache with an underlying medical condition, headache with concomitant systemic illness, focal neurologic signs or symptoms, papilledema and headache