Headache

These vary depending on the type of headache that you have. Symptoms can be more wide-ranging than you might associate with a headache. They may include:

• head/facial pain that’s throbbing, sharp, dull, burning, piercing, or stabbing

• one-sided pain, sometimes focused around your eye

• feeling like a band is pressing on your head or being tightened around it

• tenderness and pain if you touch your head

• Nausea and/or vomiting

• sensitivity to light, sound, smell, or movement

• visual symptoms, including flashing lights, zig-zag lines, or blurred vision

• dizziness and vertigo (the room feels like it’s spinning)

• tearing from eyes that may look red

• a drooping eye or swollen eyelid

• runny nose, nasal congestion

• irritability

Headache pain happens when nerves in your brain, blood vessels and muscles send pain signals to your brain. The nerves can be activated in many different ways and for different reasons. The most common causes of repeated headache pain – often along with other difficult symptoms – include:

• migraine – common triggers can include using a screen, stress, hormonal changes, too much or too little sleep, certain foods, dehydration, exercise and teeth grinding.

• tension headaches – triggers or intensifiers can include bright light, noise, tiredness, poor posture, missing meals, stress and lack of activity

• trigeminal autonomic cephalgias such as cluster headaches, paroxysmal hemicrania, and others

• medication overuse 

• dehydration

• temporomandibular disorders – problems affecting the ‘chewing’ muscles and joints between your lower jaw and the base of the skull

Investigating your recurrent headaches usually involves an initial consultation where our neurology specialist will:  

1. Take a history to get a full understanding of your family history, health status

2. Ask in detail about your symptoms – they may ask you to keep a headache diary for a few weeks before your consultation. There are many kinds of headaches, and understanding yours can help your consultant work out which kind it is.  

3. Do a physical and neurological exam.

4. Run additional tests, such as blood tests and imaging scans, such as MRI or CT

Specialist diagnosis of headaches is critical to rule out serious conditions such: 

• high blood pressure

• infection

• inflammation

• blood clots

• brain bleeds

• cancer

As there are so many causes of headache syndromes, it’s hard to say you can prevent them. For many people, once they’re diagnosed, the prevention is about understanding and avoiding or limiting exposure to the triggers. This will often include basic health and wellbeing approaches such as:

• managing underlying health conditions 

• getting support for times of hormonal change, such as pregnancy, peri/menopause, and the menstrual cycle

• managing screen time and brightness, and using them with blue light filters

• eating a healthy diet with regular mealtimes

• exercising regularly 

• drinking alcohol in moderation – no more than the recommended 14 units a week

• consuming caffeine in moderation

• quitting smoking if you smoke – it speeds up the development of plaque in your arteries

Complications of headaches are very individual and depend on the cause of your headaches. This is why it’s important to get a diagnosis, so you and your consultant can understand the best way to manage your headache condition and prevent long term problems.

Migraine complications can include ‘status migrainosus’ when a migraine attack lasts longer than 72 hours, digestive issues, and for people who have migraine with aura, there’s an increased risk of stroke.

Tension-type headaches can become chronic, where they are almost constant, or cause problems functioning well in daily life.

There are many effective treatment options available, and these will be recommended to you by your specialist depending on the type of headache you have. Some options include:

• lifestyle measures such as stress reduction and sleep management, based on your individual trigger pattern

• tablet medications – including pain killers, medicines to prevent nausea and dizziness, and preventative medicines called triptans to take at the first sign of a headache to make it less severe or even stop it developing

• Botox injections to reduce the sensitivity and pain signals from certain nerves, known as greater occipital nerve (GON) injections

• calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) monoclonal antibody treatments that have been developed specifically to help migraine by blocking CGRP, a chemical that can cause migraine attacks

• non-invasive transmagnetic stimulation to treat migraine pain, but also help reduce the number of days when migraine happens

• non-invasive Gammacore vagal nerve stimulation to help calm the nervous system areas that may trigger conditions such as cluster headaches or migraine

• physiotherapy to help reduce tightness in neck and shoulder muscles or jaw, which can make headaches worse or trigger them

At Welbeck, our neurology specialists are experts in their field and are dedicated to providing world-class care to every patient.

With access to colleagues across other specialties, our consultants are also able to refer within the Welbeck ecosystem if required to ensure you receive the treatment you need as quickly as possible, all under one roof.  

All appointments, testing, treatment, and follow-up appointments take place within our state-of-the-art facilities, enabling us to deliver accurate diagnostics and advanced treatments.

Your health is important to us, so we strive to offer same-day appointments whenever possible.

Our consultants are recognised by the major health insurance companies. If you have private health insurance, your treatment at Welbeck can begin once you have obtained authorisation. We also provide care to self-paying patients. Learn more about the different payment options at Welbeck.

Get in touch today to book an appointment.