Headache 

     Headaches are categorized in two forms. One is called primary headaches. Fortunately, these are the most common headaches that physicians diagnose in their offices. These include migraine, tension-type headache, cluster, or trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias and some other forms of primary headaches that are rather rare.

     It is the second form of headache, called secondary headache, that patients are most concerned about. These are headaches associated with head trauma, cardiovascular disease, brain tumors, infections, pathology in the head and neck regions secondary to substance overuse or withdrawal, and sometimes secondary to psychiatric conditions. There are also some craniofacial syndromes that can be confused with headache, for example, trigeminal neuralgia and some facial pain syndromes.

     Headache is a complex disorder. The most important aspect is to make sure the individual patient does not have a sinister secondary headache disorder. The keys concerns as to when you should seek medical help by a physician and/or allied healthcare professional is when: there is a significant increase in the frequency/ severity of your headache pattern over a three to four month period, when the headaches are associated with an elevated temperature or fever; primary headaches are not associated with a fever, when there is an abrupt onset of the headache and associated symptoms, when there are focal, sensory, motor, or language symptoms or focal associated symptoms that persist with regard to your headache. Should you experience any of these symptoms or a combination, it is imperative that you bring this to the attention of your physician or allied healthcare professional to address these concerns.

     Fortunately, primary headaches such as migraine, tension type, and cluster can be diagnosed by your physician or allied healthcare professional and appropriate therapies exist today. The most common form of head pain that presents as headache to a physician’s office fortunately will turn out inevitably to be migraine. Please see the section on migraine on this web site for more information. For those people who do suffer headaches that are tension - type, migraine, or even some of the other primary headaches, it’s important to address good brain health. Please address the seven steps to a healthy brain on this web site.

    While many people suffer from this condition each year, there are simple steps that you can take to improve your quality of life. More information regarding these steps is outlined in Dr. Winner's "The 7 Steps to a Healthy Brain".