- There are many different types of headache
- The commonest types of headache that occur following a mild head injury are migraine and tension-type headache
- Some people have either migraine or tension-headache, some experience both
- Headaches can be episodic (i.e. come and go) or chronic (occur on most days, sometimes all day)
- Most headaches following mild head injury resolve by 3 months but some people continue to experience headaches beyond this point which is labelled as chronic daily headache
1. Migraine
What is ‘Aura’?
- Migraines are classified as occurring with or without ‘aura’
- This is the umbrella term we give to the various symptoms that can occur either just before or with the headache itself
- The commonest aura are visual symptoms, such as blurring, blind spots (‘scotomas’) or seeing flashing lights or zigzag lines.
- Others include sensory symptoms such as spreading tingling or pins and needles
- These symptoms usually evolve over about 5 minutes and last approximately 60 minutes
- They are always fully reversible
2. Tension-Type Headache
3. Chronic Daily Headache
- Often present most days, sometimes all day
- Can have features of migraine, tension-type headache or both
- Important to always consider medication overuse headache as a contributory factor
- Typical features include:
o Constant ‘pressing’ or ‘burning’ sensation, sometimes pounding
o Can occur on one side, both sides or over a small area
o Often worsens as the day goes on
o Conventional painkillers ‘only take the edge off’
- It can be difficult to understand how a headache can cause such severe pain without any obvious underlying cause
- Chronic Daily Headache is a widely recognised diagnosis in neurology
The development of a chronic daily headache is commonly due to the overuse of simple painkillers resulting in an additional type of headache called medication overuse headache.
> Find out what you can do about medication overuse headache
