Chronic Headache
Generally, most of the people would not consider a headache to be a serious illness. However, if one experiences headaches fifteen days or more in a month, you could be suffering from a condition referred to as chronic headache or chronic daily headache (CDH). It is claimed that chronic headache condition affects about 4%-5% of the general adult population.
The chronic headache condition could be categorized into a number of sub-categories like chronic migraine, chronic tension type, new daily persistent and hemicrania continua. You would experience a persistent pain in the head in all these instances but remember that these each subtype might show unique sets of symptoms. Migraine type of chronic headaches may display symptoms including nausea, vomiting, light and sound sensitivity and a severe headache affecting just one side of the head with a pulsating or throbbing feeling. Individuals suffering from chronic tension type headaches may suffer from symptoms such as headaches that hurt both sides of the head and slight to moderate pain which is generally described as pressing or tightening.
New daily persistent headaches, a subtype of chronic headache condition has the unique symptom where headaches that crop up abruptly and continues for nearly three days. Those suffering from this type of headaches might complain about a pressing sensation rather than throbbing on both sides of the head. In addition to these subtypes, hemicranias continua is also classified as a part of the chronic headache condition with symptoms that are rather more noticeable than the other subtypes. Symptoms such as daily persisting headaches that occur only on one side of the head without any sign of relief and also redness of eye near the affected area, nasal congestion and eye lid swelling are commonly displayed by individuals suffering from this type of chronic headache condition.
Upto now, a cure has not been found for chronic headache conditions even though some medical and non medical treatments are available to reduce the suffering of the patients. Relaxation training, acupuncture, paracetamol, asprin and physical therapy are some of the treatment recommended in treating chronic headaches. Also, techniques like changes in the diet and psychological therapy are also being experimented as potential treatments for chronic headache conditions. Modern research show that combining medical and non medical treatment is likely to show optimum results.
Therefore, if you are suffering from chronic headaches it is important to seek medical attention as soon as possible. Although a cure may not be available, early treatment would definitely aid in improving the quality of life of the patient.
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