MANY people will have started the year off with a headache – feeling unwell due to stress, overindulgence, or a change in routine from the holiday season.
Or if you’re unlucky enough, your pounding head may have been brought on by a bout of flu, after a sharp rise in cases in recent weeks.
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Knowing the cause of your headache is important, as it allows you to effectively manage it and prevent future ones happening by identifying and avoiding triggers.
But it can also help you to recognise when a headache might be a symptom of a more serious underlying medical condition.
The location of your headache is just one of the things that can help identify the cause.
Dr Jeff Foster, director of health at Manual www.manual.co, shared what else to look out for.
“The vast majority of frontal headaches are not serious and tend be either tension, migraine, sinusitis, eye strain or related to posture,” he explained.
“But, with all medical conditions, there are always a few conditions to be aware of such as temporal arteritis (an inflammatory condition of the temporal artery that can lead to blindness if left untreated) or space occupying lesions such as brain tumours.”
Dr Foster said headaches at the back of the head can be caused by similar mild conditions such as migraine, tension from the neck and posture, and caffeine withdrawal.
But just like frontal headaches, headaches at the back of the head can have more serious causes.
“Just with frontal headaches it is always possible to have more serious causes such as changes in blood pressure to the brain, bleeding (hemorrhagic), strokes, burst aneurysms, or tumours,” he added.
Most headaches can last a few days – there shouldn’t be any cause for concern if a headache lasts more than a day, said Dr Foster.
But if a headache lasts longer than a week, it’s time to seek medical advice.
“Whenever we get a headache there is always the worry that it could be brain tumour,” said Dr Foster.
“But time and position of the headache are only one piece of that larger puzzle.”
When it comes to brain tumours, there are a number of things to consider, including site of the headache, it’s duration, and whether it has a pattern, for example, if it comes and goes.
“Is it worse with any positions like lying down,” added Dr Foster.
“Does it get worse when coughing or straining, and is it associated with any other changes that effect the nervous system such as weakness, change in function, pins and needles, vision etc.”
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In addition, some people experience nausea or vomiting, changes in personality and other things that mean you just don’t feel right.
While these symptoms may seem hard to pin down, the key to remember is brain tumours are still very rare.
“Brain tumours are considered very rare, with less than 1 per cent of the population being diagnosed with one,” said Dr Foster.
“The highest incidence is in the over 80s, and the five year survival rate for a benign tumour is 92 per cent.”
If you are worried about a persistent headache or any brain tumour symptoms, speak to your GP.
The most common symptoms of a brain tumour
More than 12,000 Brits are diagnosed with a primary brain tumour every year — of which around half are cancerous — with 5,300 losing their lives.
The disease is the most deadly cancer in children and adults aged under 40, according to the Brain Tumour Charity.
Brain tumours reduce life expectancies by an average of 27 years, with just 12 per cent of adults surviving five years after diagnosis.
There are two main types, with non-cancerous benign tumours growing more slowly and being less likely to return after treatment.
Cancerous malignant brain tumours can either start in the brain or spread there from elsewhere in the body and are more likely to return.
Brain tumours can cause headaches, seizures, nausea, vomiting and memory problems, according to the NHS.
They can also lead to changes in personality weakness or paralysis on one side of the problem and problems with speech or vision.
The nine most common symptoms are:
- Headaches
- Seizures
- Feeling sick
- Being sick
- Memory problems
- Change in personality
- Weakness or paralysis on one side of the body
- Vision problems
- Speech problems
If you are suffering any of these symptoms, particularly a headache that feels different from the ones you normally get, you should visit your GP.
Source: NHS
