Headache: A Neuroscientific Analysis

Written by Bedirhan Atabay

Headache is pretty common in various communities of the world, approximately 96% of the people say they have experienced a headache at least once, and only 4% of the people said they did not suffer from headaches from any point in their life (1). As you might have noticed, this percentage is extremely high, and many people are suffering from it.

(Image Credit: https://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200711/r201630_773621.jpg.)

Chronic headaches are simply daily headaches, and keep happening in a time of more than 15 days but can occur for a time longer than a month (2). We are categorizing chronic headaches into two groups: long-lasting headaches, and short-lasting headaches. Long-lasting headaches last more than 4 hours. Meanwhile, short-lasting headaches last less than 4 hours (2).

Headache is divided into two main parts: Primary Headache, and Secondary Headache. Primary Headaches are not symptoms of an ailment (1). This means that the headaches you suffer from some types of the ailments such as influenza are widely not accepted as Primary Headaches. Primary Headaches can occur by overactivity of our pain-sensitive structures or some problems occurring inside of those structures, and chemical activities occurring inside of our brain. Other than that, studies show that mutations in genes of CACNA1A, ATP1A2, SCN1A, and PRRT2 also increase the possibility of primary headaches (6). Some examples of primary headaches are Cluster Headaches, Migraines, Tension Headaches, and Hypnic Headaches.

Different from primary headaches, secondary headaches are not independent themselves; however, they are dependent on the existence of other ailments and their effects on our body are far more severe than the primary headaches since they can happen due to an underlying ailment that can have severe effects on the human body such as meningitis, brain injuries, and brain tumor (1). You must be ensured that secondary headaches are not caused by a major ailment and if it is, you should take precautions in order to be able to fight against that ailment more efficiently.

Headaches are not only dangerous for human health and have negative effects on working conditions and life, but it also creates a major financial loss. This is visible in the statistics that headaches caused by migraine end up in a financial loss of 30 billion dollars just in the United States, with most of the damages made to women with 18% of the women suffering from migraine headaches; meanwhile, this percentage being 6% for the men (4,5).

There are many treatments to cure headaches. However, being sure about these treatments is crucial as different types of headaches require different methods. Tension-type headaches, which are headaches that occur on both sides of our head and are chronic, require counter-medications such as aspirin in order to properly be cured (3). Migraines meanwhile, can be healed by simply following some methods such as making hot and cold compresses to the neck (3). Headaches can be cured if accurate methods are used.

References:

1. Types. Stanford Health Care (SHC) - Stanford Medical Center. (2018, October 11). Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/brain-and-nerves/headache/types.html. ü

2. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2019, April 9). Chronic daily headaches. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-daily-headaches/symptoms-causes/syc-20370891.

3. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2019, May 10). Which treatment is best for your headaches? Mayo Clinic. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-daily-headaches/in-depth/headaches/art-20047375.

4. Burton WN; Conti DJ;Chen CY; Schultz AB; Edington DW; (n.d.). The economic burden of lost productivity due to migraine headache: A specific worksite analysis. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12085478/.

5. Stanford Health Care. (2013, March 1). Migraine 101: A 3-Step Guide to Managing Headaches [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHffEt-MXjI.

6. Carreño, Oriel & Corominas, Roser & Serra, Selma & Sintas, Cèlia & Fernàndez-Castillo, Noèlia & Vila Pueyo, Marta & Toma, Claudio & Gené, Gemma & Pons, Roser & Llaneza, Miguel & Sobrido, Maria & Grinberg, Daniel & Valverde, Miguel & Fernández-Fernández, Jose & Macaya, Alfons & Cormand, Bru. (2013). Screening of CACNA1A and ATP1A2 genes in hemiplegic migraine: Clinical, genetic, and functional studies. Molecular genetics & genomic medicine. 1. 206-22. 10.1002/mgg3.24.