You have probably suffered from a headache as most people are, and there’s a way to effectively treat it. To reduce the pain, just eat bananas and consume plenty of water.
However, this method is not always useful, since there are different types of headaches. Many people who experience symptoms of headaches are being misdiagnosed when they visit a doctor.
The reason for this is because there are various types of headaches, so common treatments might not help to some of them. Although the usual causes of headaches are dehydration and fatigue, they can as well indicate some more serious health issue.
The famous neurologist, Dr. Sakib Qureshi MD, says that people have to learn to distinguish between common headaches and those that can indicate an alarming concern, by learning the so called “red light waring signals”.
Before you consider taking a pill for a headache, you should see if your headache indicates another health problem.
There are four most usual headache types, and they point to a different problem in our body. Once you learn the signals, you will know how to treat your headache effectively.
As oppose to taking painkillers which offer temporary relief, we give you natural treatment alternatives which will lower your headache more efficiently.
Sinus Headache
If you have a sinus inflammation, you are probably going to have a severe sinus headache. This type of headache is a result of an infection, and can cause pressure which can be felt on the forehead, eyes, and cheeks, and fever too.
Treatment- Drink as much liquids as you can. The warm water decreases the inflammation and opens the sinuses, so it might be beneficial for this type of headache.
Moreover, eat foods rich in vitamin C, oranges, or consume a green tea with lemon, because vitamin C is rich in antioxidants and helps our body combat infections.
You can as well try to lower the headache by eating soup, or a fresh ginger since it possesses potent pain-reducing and anti-inflammatory properties.
Tension Headache
This type of headache is the most common one, and it is manifested by a continuous pain or pressure around the head, mostly on the neck, temples, and back of the head.
It can as well lead to radiating pain below or above the eye area. Usually it causes vomiting or nausea. It is considered that it is caused by a stress that brings about contractions of the muscles of the scalp and neck.
Treatment- To successfully reduce your headache you will need ginger tea and peppermint oil. The ginger tea will soothe the inflammation, and the peppermint oil applied on the hairline will give you a cooling sensation to relax the neck and head muscles.
Cluster Headache
Women are more prone to this type of headache which can occur over one eye. Usually, it’s recurring, and can appear in a group or a cycle. The cluster headache happens suddenly and causes intense pain on one side of the head. You might experience a watery eye, a nasal congestion, or a rainy nose. The exact cause of this headache is unknown, but it appears with the activation of a specific nerve pathway in the base of the brain.
Treatment- Apply small amount of capsaicin cream to the nostril to make a barrier of the nerve pain signals. This cream contains the active ingredient known as cayenne pepper.
Migraine
Around 35 million Americans suffer from migraines. Although they usually occur between the age of 25 and 55, they can appear at all ages.
Migraine is far more complicated than the other types of headaches, since it involves various neurological symptoms. They are characterized with throbbing, intense, and severe pain on just one side of the head, but it can as well appear on both sides in 1/3 of the attacks.
Besides the severe pain, migraines have other symptoms which descent from the top of the head, such as dizziness, vomiting, visual disturbances, nausea, tingling or numbness in the face, and extreme sensitivity to touch, light, smell, and sound.
Treatment- It has been proven that vitamin B12 (riboflavin), omega-3 fatty acids, and magnesium have helped to many migraine patients.
To prevent this type of headache, enrich your diet with sufficient amounts of them. Moreover, a 2011 study showed that aerobic exercise can be as beneficial in preventing migraines as topiramate (the migraine medication). So regular exercises might replace medication.