• 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