From a sore head: the secret causes of severe migraines
Headaches sometimes occur due to factors unrelated to the presence of chronic diseases. The most common causes are overwork, lack of physical activity, and tension in the neck and back muscles caused by prolonged tilting of the head towards a smartphone or computer screen. Why personal experiences provoke muscle spasms, what a tendon helmet is and how false eyelashes increase suffering — in the Izvestia article.
Red flags and serious diagnoses
Regular headaches can signal not only migraines or tension, but also hidden problems: hypertension, sinusitis and cervical osteochondrosis, explained Vladimir Mikhailov, head of the therapeutic department at the Be Healthy clinic in St. Petersburg.
"In more serious cases, it can be an early symptom of vascular abnormalities (aneurysm), increased intracranial pressure, or even tumors,— Mikhailov comments. — Alarming "red flags": pain that first appeared after the age of 50; sudden, "thunderous" pain; increasing intensity; pain with fever, stiffness of the occipital muscles, weakness in the extremities or speech disorders.
Vladimir Mikhailov recommends that you undergo the necessary minimum of examinations. If you have a headache, you need to consult a neurologist, monitor blood pressure, and take general and biochemical blood tests.
— To exclude structural pathologies, the doctor often prescribes neuroimaging: MRI of the brain and blood vessels or CT, as well as ultrasound of the vessels of the neck (Dopplerography). This allows you to make an accurate diagnosis and choose targeted treatment," the doctor explains.
Among the hidden causes of headaches, there are also those that are far from serious diseases. For example, according to Vladimir Mikhailov, a tight hat creates constant pressure on the receptors of the scalp. And when wearing such a wardrobe item for a long time, irritation along the nervous pathways can be transmitted (radiate) deep, causing tension headaches. Even tight shoes can cause pain due to muscle tension and circulatory disorders.
The expert also notes that lying with your head close to the battery is dangerous due to local overheating, which causes dilation (dilation) of the vessels of the brain and membranes, which is a classic mechanism of vascular headache.
Even prolonged sleep has a negative effect on health, turning from a long-awaited rest into a cause of cephalgia.
— This phenomenon is called a "weekend headache," — comments Vladimir Mikhailov. — The reasons are complex. A violation of the usual regime reduces the level of the "hormone of wakefulness" — serotonin. Prolonged sleep is often accompanied by hypoglycemia (a drop in blood sugar) and mild dehydration (the body does not receive water on time).
The doctor explains that lying down for a long time tightens the muscles of the neck and shoulders. As a result, instead of resting, a person feels exhausted and in pain.
— An important mechanism is the reflex spasm of the muscles of the shoulders, neck and scalp in response to discomfort, which leads to a deterioration in the flow of oxygen to the brain, — warns Mikhailov.
Is it harmful to wear false eyelashes
Some women feel relieved when they come home with a headache and take off their makeup.
"Most of the time, it's not the amount of makeup, but the reaction of the skin and the area around the eyes," explains Anna Matveeva, a trichologist and dermatologist at the Scandinavian Health Center. Cosmetics can irritate the skin, especially the eyelids: itching, tightness, dryness, and slight swelling appear. This makes your eyes get tired faster, you want to squint, your forehead tightens, and a headache may appear. Reactions to perfumes, preservatives, certain polymers and resins are especially typical for the eyelids.
In some cases, the mechanism of headache is triggered or enhanced by odors. This is typical for those who suffer from migraines and increased sensitivity to aromas. But after washing, the problem goes away.
Girls who wear false eyelashes literally get headaches. According to the trichologist-dermatologist, the cause of suffering is a special glue and constant discomfort from irritation of the eyelid skin. Discomfort also appears from inflammation along the edge of the eyelid, dry eyes and a feeling of a foreign body.
— The eyes get tired, the woman begins to squint more often, the forehead and temples tighten, and a headache appears against this background. Typical complications include allergic inflammation of the eyelids and irritation of the ocular surface. In addition, false eyelashes interfere with the normal hygiene of the edge of the eyelid, as it is easier for dirt to accumulate there, explains Matveeva.
To avoid headaches from the pursuit of beauty in every sense, a trichologist-dermatologist recommends choosing the length and volume of artificial eyelashes closer to their natural size: the heavier and longer the "fans", the more often fatigue occurs.
— The tape or bundles should not interfere with blinking and prick in the inner corner of the eye, and the glue should not provoke a burning sensation and a sharp odor, — explains Matveeva. — With sensitive skin and a tendency to allergies, the risk of all kinds of problems is much higher.
The expert advises to contact an ophthalmologist urgently if severe redness, eye pain, photophobia, blurred vision or severe swelling appear when using false eyelashes.
Why do clamps occur?
As for the psychosomatic causes, clinical psychologist and body therapist Sergey Volkov associates the mechanism of the symptom of chronic headache with the so-called "denied patience." The point is that a person, for various reasons and circumstances, tolerates a certain situation and at the same time denies that he is suffering, assuring himself and others that everything is in order. But at the same time, muscle tension inevitably arises in the body, which disrupts blood flow, and then a person experiences physical pain.
"Our consciousness is only a small part of the psyche,— explains Sergey Volkov. — The main processes proceed independently, obeying the laws of biology and biophysics. The body receives information from receptors from the outside world and from internal organs. The brain analyzes this information and creates an image of a response. The simplest example is the reflex of pulling your hand away from the source of pain.
The more complex an organism is, the more options it has for managing reactions that others may not like for various reasons. According to Volkov, patience is one of those options. In this case, the person, figuratively speaking, tries to endure the pain of the flame. For example, someone takes care of an elderly relative to the detriment of their health, but they cannot send their loved one to a special institution of a good level due to moral attitudes, social views or lack of finances. A person assures others that everything is fine, even if they are experiencing inevitable difficulties.
"But the brain can't just stop,— Volkov continues. — In any case, the reaction will be completed: the shoulders rise up, the neck bends forward, the load on the atlas (the first cervical vertebra) increases, the jaw contracts, the muscles of the cheekbones tighten, the eyebrows come together. This constricts the vessels of the head, the pressure increases and the person experiences pain. A psychosomatic migraine is formed according to a similar pattern.
According to the clinical psychologist, you can tolerate anything, but if this process is denied by a person and is not expressed to the outside world by conscious actions, then the body takes all the nervous tension on itself. That's how the pain appears. However, we are talking about global issues. The expert does not recommend linking all unpleasant life situations with a painful symptom. "If our health depended on our children's grades, then all parents would be in constant pain," says Volkov ironically.
Computer pose and headache
A clinical psychologist considers the main cause of headaches in the modern world to be problems with neck strain.
"We live in a position that was not intended by evolution,— explains Sergey Volkov. — A modern person keeps his head down all the time, and he does it even on the move when he looks at his phone. And he spends most of his time sitting, which is also not natural for the body. Lying in bed, we put a pillow under our head to read or look at the screen, creating a tremendous strain on the neck.
Sergey Volkov advises to lead a healthy lifestyle, introduce some kind of "motor snacks" into your schedule, learn how to hold your phone differently, and compensate for a sedentary lifestyle with competent biomechanical exercises.
Gentle self-massage, contrast shower, meditation or relaxation in silence, and even shampooing at home or at the hairdresser help to relieve tension. By the way, an unwashed head rarely causes headaches by itself, but it may well trigger or exacerbate them, explains Anna Matveeva, a trichologist and dermatologist at the Scandinavian Health Center.
— This is most often due to the condition of the skin: when sebum (sebum), sweat, styling residues accumulate, itching appears, and the scalp becomes sensitive and painful when touched. A person involuntarily strains his forehead, temples, nape and neck, and the pain is felt more strongly, says a trichologist-dermatologist. — With professional washing, the head lies more comfortably, the neck holds less load, the movements of the master are rhythmic and soft, like a light massage. Plus, styling residues are well washed off, which create a feeling of heaviness and cause itching.
Warm water reduces muscle tension in the neck and shoulders, and with tension headaches, this is one of the most common mechanisms for relieving suffering.
— Shampooing in a modern salon is very similar to aponeurosis massage (another name is tendon helmet), — says Sergey Volkov. — Aponeurosis of the head is the convergence of tendons on the scalp, which are stretched over the skull like a cap. A gentle massage relaxes the temporal, frontal, occipital and facial muscles.
At the same time, the body therapist emphasizes that such manipulations will only help to cope with pain for a short time and will not replace a full-fledged medical examination.
— Do not consider a headache only as a symptom of overexertion or fatigue, — the expert warns. — And chronic pain, even more so, cannot be ignored. They can signal problems with the heart and kidneys, and warn of an approaching stroke. Therefore, to find out the reasons, you should consult a doctor, without shifting responsibility to the currently fashionable psychosomatics. Otherwise, there is a risk of missing a serious illness.
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