Treatment of pain in the head
Last reviewed: 20.11.2021
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Treatment of pain in the head should be aimed at achieving the following goals:
- Reduction of the symptoms of the disease, mainly, the intensity of pain in the head.
- Reduction in the degree of loss of physical and mental capacity.
- Improving the quality of life of the patient.
It is necessary to observe two basic principles of treatment:
- Stage of therapy. It is that after the diagnosis of primary pain in the head is established, the patient is at the first step of the therapeutic ladder. If a satisfactory result is achieved with first-line therapy (conventional simple analgesics), it continues. If not, then a second-line therapy is prescribed (combination of analgesics). However, quite often patients who fail after the first attempts at treatment conclude that the doctor can not help them anymore, and refuse further treatment. If the second line therapy satisfies the patient, then the treatment continues. Otherwise, the third line is treated (specific anti-migraine agents).
- Stratification of treatment. It is the stratification of seizures. Patients with mild seizures that do not interfere with their activity can be treated with simple analgesics. Those who suffer from severe attacks are prescribed specific medications with proven efficacy.
However, therapy, effective in some circumstances and in one patient, may be completely useless in another. It is necessary to avoid standard approaches to therapy, to strive to at least to some extent individualize the treatment, taking into account the patient's psychological state and his attitude towards the disease. Constant observation, evaluation of treatment results, therapeutic correction are necessary conditions for safe and effective achievement of the desired result.
Therapeutic tasks of treating pain in the head: to find out the cause of pain in the head, to prescribe etiopathogenetic or symptomatic treatment.
Non-pharmacological methods of treatment of pain in the head: the use of relaxation techniques, psychotherapy.
Medical treatment of pain in the head: non-narcotic analgesics with dosage according to age.
Referral to a specialist: pain in the head lasting more than 3 days; pain in the head with neurological complications; the first pain in the head that lasts more than 1 week; chronic relapsing pain in the head, if there is no improvement; suspicion of organic pain in the head.