Oouh - My aching head!

What Is a Headache?

Although it may feel like it, a headache is not a pain in your brain. Your brain tells you when other parts of your body hurt, but it can’t actually feel pain. Most headaches happen outside your skull, in the nerves, blood vessels, and muscles that cover your head and neck. Sometimes the muscles or blood vessels swell, which means they get larger. They also can tighten or go through other changes that stimulate or put pressure on the surrounding nerves. The nerves send a rush of pain messages to your brain, and you end up with a headache. What may cause Headache?

 
1. Perfume! - Strong odors may activate the nose’s nerve cells, which stimulate the nerve system associated with head pain.
2. Weather! - The meteorological shifts are thought to trigger chemical and electrical changes in the brain that irritate nerves — sometimes causing fairly dramatic pain.
3. Earrings, headbands, and ponytails! - The muscle groups around your scalp don’t have pain fibers, but their connective tissues do. “Ponytail headaches” result when tightly pulled hair irritates the muscle system. And your swingy updo isn’t the only thing contributing to your pain. Why earrings? It’s possible that earrings can pull on that same connective tissue. But some studies suggest that skin sensitivity around your scalp, face, and ears often accompanies a migraine. The earring supersensitivity could be a sign that a migraine’s coming, but not the cause of the headache.
4. Hunger! - Experts believe low blood sugar may stimulate nerve pathways that bring on these common headaches, but the exact mechanism is murky.
5. Sex! - During arousal, the culprit is most likely pressure building up in the head and neck muscles. And orgasm sometimes requires a lot of “work.” Running, coughing, sneezing, even straining during a bowel movement, can lead to similar pain.

 What to do?
 
1. Avoid perfumes, strong household cleansers, fragranced soaps and shampoos, and air fresheners. That remedy has aspirin, acetaminophen and caffeine, a combination endorsed by several medical organizations for migraine and tension headaches. However, you might want to try aspirin or acetaminophen individually rather than mixed together with caffeine. Frequent use of medicines with caffeine can lead to dependency and “rebound” headaches, the kind that come right back as soon as the meds wear off. Aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen treat pain and the inflammation often associated with headaches. Acetaminophen fights pain, but not inflammation. (Another caveat: If over-the-counter meds don’t help, a trip to the neurologist may be needed)
2. On bad-weather days, put an ice compress on eyes in the morning. Another trick: Record your symptoms and the weather to piece together patterns. Then check out the “Aches and Pains” forecast on Weather.com; it breaks down how the day is dawning in terms of temperature, barometric pressure, and wind patterns. Pretreat with 400 milligrams of ibuprofen a day or two before expected weather changes.
3. It probably didn’t take a study in the journal Headache to tell you that loosening your ponytail relieves a ponytail ache. Researchers have found that this simple action decreased headache pain within 30 minutes, and, in some cases, instantly.
4. Balance a protein with a complex carbohydrate, such as fish and brown rice, or a snack of whole-wheat toast with almond butter. eating foods rich in magnesium (spinach, beans, nuts, and seeds) and riboflavin (dairy products, lean meats, leafy greens, enriched breads and cereals) may prevent and alleviate head pain. Riboflavin is a B vitamin; large doses are thought to help prevent migraines. Put in mind, too, that cheese, chocolate, lunch meats, caffeine, and additives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG) may trigger headaches. In general, if you suffer from moderate, severe, or frequent headaches (more than two a week), consult a headache specialist about your diet.
5. Most exertion headaches can be pretreated with ibuprofen or naproxen. But be careful: An orgasmic headache, if it’s your first, may point to an underlying condition, such as an aneurysm, that merits a doctor’s attention. If your headaches occur during G-rated workouts, an activity switch can help — from aerobics, say, to biking.