Topic: Headache

	Symptoms and Common Causes
	What you don't know can hurt you!
	What can you do?

Headache

Symptoms:

Chronic, recurrent, or occasional mild or severe pain in one or more areas of the head, face, mouth, or neck.

Common Causes:

There are two types of headaches: primary and secondary. Primary headaches—migraines, tension headaches, and cluster headaches, are not associated with (caused by) other diseases. Caused by associated disease, secondary headaches may be minor, serious, or life threatening, e.g., tumors, strokes, meningitis, and subarachnoid hemorrhages. The common causes of headaches are stress, muscular tension, vascular dilation, postural changes, protracted coughing or sneezing, and fever, and hormones.

Additional causes include physical conditions—arthritis, degenerative bone and disk disease in the neck and spine, and mental conditions—anxiety and depression; temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ); drugs that dilate or constrict blood vessels, alcohol; low levels of endorphins, caffeine withdrawal, hormones, and environmental triggers such as changes in barometric pressure and altitude, inclement weather, and high winds.

Page 1	Page 2	Page 3