Generally, most of the people would not consider a headache to be a serious illness. However, if you experiences headaches fifteen days or more in a month, the individual may be suffering from a condition referred to as chronic headache or chronic daily headache (CDH). Statistics show that around 4%-5% of adults suffer from chronic headaches.
The chronic headache condition can be classified into several sub-categories like chronic migraine, chronic tension type, new daily persistent and hemicrania continua. Furthermore, it should be noted that each of these subtypes may display its own set of signs and symptoms while the common symptom displayed by all is the persisting pain in the areas of the head. Migraine type of chronic headaches might show symptoms that includes nausea, vomiting, light and sound sensitivity and a severe headache occurring only on one side of the head with a pulsating or throbbing sensation. You might feel that both sides of your head is paining in a manner that is not quite severe and feel a pressing or tightening kind of sensation in your head if you happen to be experiencing chronic tension.
New daily persistent headaches, a subtype of chronic headache condition is characterized by headaches that crop up abruptly and continues for nearly three days. The headache appears on both sided of the head and is generally described by patients to be of tightening or pressing sensation rather than throbbing. In addition to these subtypes, hemicranias continua is also categorized as a part of the chronic headache condition with symptoms that are quite clearly more visible than the other subtypes. Symptoms such as daily persisting headaches that occur only on one side of the head without any sign of relief and also redness of eye near the affected area, nasal congestion and eye lid swelling are commonly displayed by individuals suffering from this type of chronic headache condition.
Presently, a cure doesn’t exist for chronic headache conditions although certain medical and non medical treatments are available to reduce the suffering of the patients. Relaxation training, acupuncture, paracetamol, asprin and physical therapy are some of the treatment recommended in treating chronic headaches. Also, techniques like changes in the diet and psychological therapy are also being experimented as potential treatments for chronic headache conditions. Modern research show that combining medical and non medical treatment is likely to show optimum results.
Therefore, if you are suffering from daily chronic headache it is important to seek medical attention as soon as possible. Early treatment could greatly help a patient though a definite cure is yet to be found.
