About this topic
Tension headache is the most common type of headache. You often feel stress and tension before the headache starts. Severe headaches can interfere with school, work, and your everyday activities. Tension headaches can be treated with drugs and making changes in how you live. ‚
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What are the causes?
Many things may bring on a tension headache. Some of them are: ‚
- Causes from life-style choices:
- Stress, anxiety
- Lack of sleep
- Drinking too much beer, wine, and mixed drinks (alcohol)
- Smoking
- Too much or too little caffeine from what you normally drink
- Not eating or eating certain foods
- Being overly tired
- Causes from changes within the body:
- Poor posture or holding your head in one position for too long a time
- Having a cold, flu, allergies, or sinus infection
- Eye strain
- Clenching your jaw or grinding your teeth
- Hormone changes in women
- Taking certain drugs
What can make this more likely to happen?
This type of headache can happen at any age, but is most common in teenagers and adults. ‚
What are the main signs?
- Pain
- May be a constant, dull ache, or pressure in the head, scalp, neck, or face
- Is not often throbbing
- Can extend into the shoulders
- Tightness
- In the head and neck muscles
- Like a tight band is around the head
- Discomfort
- Most often all over, not in one spot or on one side
- Often starts slowly and gets worse
- Often starts in the middle of the day
- Can last 30 minutes to 7 days
- May get worse with stress, being tired, noise, or glare
How does the doctor diagnose this health problem?
Your doctor will take your history and do an exam. The doctor will check your head, neck, and eyes. It is also important to see how well your nerves are working. This is done by testing your strength, sensation, and reflexes in your arms and legs and checking your balance. Nerve exams are often normal with this problem. ‚
You may need tests like: ‚
- Blood tests
- X-ray of the head
- CT or MRI scan
How does the doctor treat this health problem?
- Your doctor will treat your signs and help you learn what brings on or triggers your headaches. You may be asked to keep a diary about your headaches. This includes writing down when the headache happens and what you were doing before it happened. You will need to write down what you ate and how much sleep you got before the headache. This diary will help you learn what might be causing your headaches so you can avoid these triggers.
- Other treatments that may help include:
- Rest and relaxation
- Ways to reduce stress or tension
- Ice or heat
- Exercises, massage, and stretching
- Chiropractic care
- Acupuncture
- Hypnosis
- Biofeedback
What drugs may be needed?
The doctor may order drugs to: ‚
- Help with pain. This includes aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin), and naproxen (Aleve or Naprosyn). Also, pain drugs that combine aspirin and caffeine, like Excedrin, may help. Some people need stronger pain relief with a narcotic.
- Relax tight muscles
- Reduce anxiety or low mood. This is often used to help prevent headaches that happen 2 to 3 times a week.
What changes to diet are needed?
- Do not skip meals. Going without food for long periods may cause headaches.
- Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water each day. This may help prevent headaches.
- Limit caffeine. Too much caffeine may bring on your headache. If you drink a lot of caffeine products, missing one day of them may also cause a headache.
What can be done to prevent this health problem?
- Learn what makes your headaches worse and avoid these triggers.
- Get regular exercise and eat a balanced diet. Good health habits may help prevent headaches.
- Limit the amount of time you look at a screen, such as TV, computer, and video games.
- Relax and reduce stress in your life. Hot baths, breathing exercises, exercise and walking, yoga, and meditation are some ways that help.
- Avoid beer, wine, and mixed drinks (alcohol).
- Quit smoking. This can make headaches worse.
- Hold the phone rather than cradling it on your shoulder. Use a headset or use the speaker mode.
- Use a good, supportive pillow for sleeping. Try changing pillows if you wake up with headaches in the morning or they start early in the day. Get a good nights sleep.
- Use good posture when sitting, standing, and doing all activities.
- Avoid bright lights if they make your headaches worse. Wear sunglasses in bright places.
Where can I learn more?
FamilyDoctor.org ‚
http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases-conditions/headaches.html ‚
National Headache Foundation ‚
http://www.headaches.org/education/Headache_Topic_Sheets/Tension-Type_Headache ‚
U.S. National Library of Medicine ‚
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001800/ ‚
Consumer Information Use and Disclaimer
This information is not specific medical advice and does not replace information you receive from your health care provider. This is only a brief summary of general information. It does NOT include all information about conditions, illnesses, injuries, tests, procedures, treatments, therapies, discharge instructions or life-style choices that may apply to you. You must talk with your health care provider for complete information about your health and treatment options. This information should not be used to decide whether or not to accept your health care providers advice, instructions or recommendations. Only your health care provider has the knowledge and training to provide advice that is right for you. ‚
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Copyright ‚ © 2015 Clinical Drug Information, LLC and Lexi-Comp, Inc. ‚