Monday, February 6, 2012

After Exercise Headache - More Serious Than You Think?

It's surprisingly common - you're exercising, everything's fine, and then POW - a headache strikes! Or, sometimes, a headache hits while you're exercising. Is it just a minor annoyance? Or could it be a signal that something serious is going on? Should you go to the doctor, or just shrug it off?

If you already suffer from headaches or migraine, it may just be that your exercise is starting the headache chain-reaction. In that case, it's important to look at the overall picture and make sure you're getting the treatment you need for headaches. Your doctor may recommend a pain killer to take just before you exercise, to stop the pain before it starts. In the case of migraine, this is called an "effort migraine", and it's very common. A throbbing headache in the back of your head may be an "exertion headache", which again usually requires some pain killers and is not serious.

Migraine In Child

But after exercise headache can be a warning that something serious is going on. As a general rule of thumb, if you get a new headache after you exercise, you should see a doctor right away. Any sudden change when it comes to headache could be a sign of something serious, so don't wait.

Some of the more serious headaches have to do with the blood vessels in the head. A headache after exercise could indicate an abnormality in the blood vessels themselves, or could warn you of a brain hemorrhage (or haemorrhage) (blood flow when blood vessels break).

If you're exercising in the heat and begin to have sore muscles, difficulty breathing, and dizziness along with headache, you could be experiencing early signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. You'll soon be past helping yourself, but friends will need to make sure your body is cooled off quickly.

Of course, everyone is afraid of brain tumours. Tumours (tumors) are very rare, so don't panic at the first sign of headache. Unlike typical headaches, these generally get worse over the course of several weeks, and are usually worse in the morning. They get worse when you exercise, and almost always include other symptoms, such as blurred vision, unsteadiness or weakness. Again, if you get a new headache, see your doctor right away. You want to catch these things as early as possible.

Here are some other things that may tip you off that your exercise headache is very serious:

- You have injured your head in the past

- You experience paralysis or a tingling sensation

- Your neck is stiff

- You're waking up at night with pain

- The headache isn't going away

- You're experiencing other symptoms elsewhere

- Any other change in symptoms

Remember, even if you have other symptoms, it may not be an immediate problem. But it's worth it to talk to your doctor and remove all doubt. Even if it's not a sign of another disease, dealing with the pain will help you benefit more from exercise and your relaxing time too. Your health is worth it!

After Exercise Headache - More Serious Than You Think?

Migraine In Child

How To Deal With Headaches Behind The Eyes

Pain behind the eyes may be a symptom of different types of headaches and even other health problems. Most commonly people complain to have an extreme one-sided headache especially involving the area around or behind one eye. This is a typical description of cluster headache. Other symptoms associated with cluster headache are eye redness or tearing, smaller pupil on the affected side of the face and stuffy, runny nose.

Cluster headaches are very severe and last from 25 minutes to a couple of hours. They may recur several times a day for up to 8 weeks and than disappear for a few months or even years.

Migraine In Child

One of the most effective and safest treatments for cluster headaches is oxygen mask that raises levels of oxygen in the blood and as a result relaxes constricted blood vessels. If that does not help injections of sumatriphan and dihydroergotamine may provide relief from the headache behind the eyes.

Over-the-counter painkillers are not a good alternative for relieving pain as headaches often goes away before the pill starts working.

Both cluster headaches and migraines are considered vascular headaches and are linked to abnormal function of brain's blood vessels due to hormonal chemical change in the brain. Since those two types of headaches are closely linked together, during migraines, headache may start in the area surrounding one or both eyes.

Migraine headache often begins with visual disturbance called "aura" (a person is seeing zigzag lines or flashing lights or have blurred vision). Later migraine is often accompanied with such symptoms as vomiting, fatigue, nausea, sensitivity to lights and loud sounds.

People suffering from cluster or migraine headaches should avoid use of alcohol and tobacco, certain foods, especially the ones containing nitrates (food coloring, processed meats, preservatives), bright and glaring light, stress and certain medications that lead to hormonal changes (oral contraceptives, estrogens).

Sometimes infection of the frontal sinuses can lead to a dull, throbbing pain between or behind the eyes. It tends to get worse in the mornings and is accompanied with frequent tearing, congestion, runny nose, fever and sensitivity to light. Diving in dirty water, airborne allergies, cold or flu may cause sinus headache.

To eliminate pain behind the eyes, you should reduce inflammation and sinus swelling. Inhaling steam and applying heat over affected area combined with Vitamin C and zinc intake will facilitate the mucus drainage and help to boost immune mechanism to reduce sinus headache.

Other factors that can be the main reason for the headaches behind the eyes are eyestrain and glaucoma. Eyestrain occurs if the eyes are forced to focus on a close object (a newspaper, computer screen) for a long period of time, without focusing periodically at distant objects or due to uncorrected vision problems.

Glaucoma is caused by increased pressure within the eyeball that requires immediate medical attention as it may lead to optic nerve damage and loss of sight. Nowadays glaucoma may be treated by prescription drugs or surgery.

How To Deal With Headaches Behind The Eyes

Migraine In Child

Migraine Relief Alternative - Relieve, and Prevent the Pain of a Migraine With Acupressure

If you are someone that suffers constantly from migraine headaches, you are willing to try just about anything to relieve, and prevent the pain of a migraine. For some migraine suffers the pain can be almost unbearable.

As a child I started to get migraines at an early age, and they continued up into my adulthood. I spent tons of money on going to specialist, and taking the medications and special treatments that they offered me, but none of them seemed to help me. I became extremely frustrated; because when I would get a migraine I would be stuck in bed for days tossing and turning in excruciating pain.

Migraine In Child

Since the medications and all of the different treatments my doctors were offering me were not working, I decided to seek relief from other places. I did a lot of research online and spoke with other people that were in the same situation that I was in. After doing all my research I came across acupressure.

Acupressure is a said to come from Ancient China and is a non-invasive treatment that is a great option for migraine sufferers and that has had a high success rate. It has a proven track record as a successful pain abatement technique. It is known to help with the frequency of migraines along with the intense pain that is associated with a migraine attack.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is said that there is over 800 hundred vital energy points in the human body. These 800 hundred vital points lie along meridian's that run throughout your body, and Meridians are lines of energy that flow through the body. Chi, or life energy, flows along the meridians and through the energy points in healthy people. Chi that is blocked or overabundant near particular energy points causes illness and pain.

How acupressure works is that these points are manipulated by fingertips which massage and apply pressure to these energy points in order to release chi and stimulate the body's own healing mechanisms.

For me, acupressure was the only thing that I was able to find that worked for me. After learning and applying acupressure I was able to control the frequency of my migraines, along with the amount of pain that I normally felt.

Migraine Relief Alternative - Relieve, and Prevent the Pain of a Migraine With Acupressure

Migraine In Child