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Types of Headache: Chronic Headache |
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When the pain refuses to leave you and your
day-to-day activities might get affected, it turns into quite an
annoying situation. Hence, it is important to identify it and take the
necessary treatment for it at the earliest.
Basically, chronic
headaches can be divided into two categories - primary and secondary.
Primary
chronic headache is when the headache itself is a disorder and needs to
be treated. However, if an underlying disease is present, it might
manifest itself in the form of a secondary chronic headache. Some of the
causes for secondary chronic headache can be whiplash injury, arthritis
of neck bones, arthritis of the jaw joints, sinus, tumors or breathing
problems during sleep. In this case, it is important to treat the
underlying cause which, would then lead to a cessation of the chronic
headaches as well.
An estimated 45 million Americans are the
victims of migraine. The global numbers add up to a frightening figure
with this disease affecting about 3 – 5 % of the global population
leading to loss of important and numerous working hours.
Primary Chronic headaches may be further categorized into two as
chronic tension or chronic migraines.
In the chronic-tension type
headache, the left and right sides of the head are affected equally. The
back and the neck may also be involved. Sometimes, the pain may travel
to the front of the head as well. Although these headaches may be mild
to moderate in intensity, yet the constant throbbing may leave you
feeling totally rotten and drained out. A piece of consolation for the
victims is that this type of headache does not usually worsen with
exertion. Nor is there any extra sensitivity to light and sound. Nausea
is also not an accompaniment as it is with the common type of
migraine.
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