LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Headache: Headache Pain
built 606 days ago
Headache is a pain in the head and neck region that may be either a disorder in its own right or a symptom of an underlying medical condition or disease. The medical term for headache is cephalalgia. Headaches are one of the most common and universal human ailments, described in the Bible as well as in medical writings from ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, Rome, India, and China. Severe chronic headaches were once treated by the oldest known surgical procedure, known as trepanning or trephining, in which the surgeon drilled a hole as large as 1รข€“2 in diameter in the patient's skull without benefit of anesthesia. Evidence of trepanning has been found in skulls from Cro-Magnon people that are about 40,000 years old.
Source:
Headache is a term used to describe aching or pain that occurs in one or more areas of the head, face, mouth, or neck. Headache can be chronic, recurrent, or occasional. The pain can be mild or severe enough to disrupt daily activities. Headache involves the network of nerve fibers in the tissues, muscles, and blood vessels located in the head and at the base of the skull.
Source:
Headache does not have any single cause. Just as there are many types of headache, there are many causes of the problem. With respect to the cause of the pain the mechanisms are much less well understood for the primary than for the secondary headaches. Whereas the pain due to injury to the skin, for example, is well understood as being due to stimulation of specific nerve endings in conjunction with local inflammatory events, it is not clear in primary head pain whether the nerves are firing normally or abnormally in response to various stimuli. Much work is to be to done, especially in regard to understanding tension-type headache.
Source:
DESCRIPTION: Headache is a common and frequently recurrent disorder that can seriously disrupt a person's life. Headache pain may be generalized (all over) or localized (in one area) and may range from mild to severe. Some headaches have a known cause while others, like migraine headaches, do not. Postural changes, prolonged coughing, sneezing, or exposure to sunlight may contribute to headache. Sometimes a headache may be a symptom of a serious underlying problem (such as stroke or brain tumor) and may call for prompt medical care. Serious headaches include those that are sudden and severe, associated with convulsions or seizures, accompanied by confusion or loss of consciousness, associated with a blow on the head or pain in the eye or ear, or persistent in a person who was previously headache-free.
Source:
The New Perspectives on Caffeine and Headache brochure addresses the science behind caffeine's headache-fighting properties. By increasing the production of stomach acid, caffeine helps the body absorb headache medicines more quickly. Caffeine constricts certain blood vessels, which reduces blood flow and eases pressure associated with certain headaches, such as painful migraines.
Source:
Headache-Free Migraine is characterized by such migraine symptoms as visual problems, nausea, vomiting, constipation, or diarrhea. Patients... to not experience head pain. Headache specialists have suggested that unexplained pain in a particular part of the body, fever, and dizziness could also be possible types of headache-free migraine.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Headache Pain