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5 types of headaches and their treatment
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Millions of people around the world suffer from headaches every day, which can be either moderate or barely bearable. Even absolutely healthy people are not immune to this trouble - headaches can be caused by changes in the weather or overwork. But sometimes headaches are a constant companion of a person, pestering him with their presence day after day, and neither aspirin nor rest helps here. Web2Health presents 5 types of headaches.
Cluster headaches
This type of headache affects a very small number of people - only one percent worldwide, but that's not all. 80% of those unfortunates who suffer from it are men.
The pain is so severe that a person cannot move or even speak. Signs of cluster pain include a rush of blood to the head, throbbing pain in the temple and eye, redness of the eyes and tearing. It can last from 15 minutes to an hour, and visit a person once a week or once a month. The nature of cluster pain is unknown. They are difficult to treat, and if the attack drags on, the doctor prescribes medications, and an oxygen mask is used to ease the patient's breathing.
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Migraine
Migraine is probably one of the most famous and terrible types of headache. It can occur after waking up, but even if it goes away, it always comes back again. Migraines can be both bearable and literally tearing your head apart. The duration of torment can be from several hours to two days. Migraine does not come alone, but with dizziness, vomiting and intolerance to loud sounds and bright light. Until now, scientists are lost in mysteries and cannot point out the cause of migraine, but it is women who are more often subject to its attacks. The patient needs to see a doctor who will prescribe blood tests and send you for a CT scan.
Headaches due to stress
Emotional experiences, anxiety and stress, as well as overstraining of the body muscles can cause tension headaches. Another reason for its development can be hidden depression. A person suffering from this type of headache should consult a neurologist or a psychiatrist.
Tension pain
This is the most common type of headache, because the cause is often frequent stress, which modern people are subject to. Also, tension pains can be caused by old injuries to the neck and head. This type of headache is not chronic and occurs from time to time. With tension headaches, a person feels tension in the eyes and experiences a sensation as if the head is clamped in a vice. Usually, the pain appears in the afternoon, when the person has already been exposed to stress. In order for the pain to subside, you can take paracetamol, but it is best to go out into the fresh air or do light physical exercise.
Temporal arteritis
Temporal arteritis mainly affects people aged about 50 years and older. It is accompanied by depression, oppression, insomnia and weight loss. In addition to headaches, unpleasant aching pains in the neck and shoulder pain may occur. In fact, there are many factors that provoke this type of pain - this is an excessive passion for medications, prolonged exposure to the sun, viral infections and alcohol. It is imperative to treat temporal arteritis, otherwise a person may completely lose his sight. The doctor will most likely prescribe steroid drugs to the patient, which act on the blood vessels, stopping their inflammation.