About Headaches

Frequent headaches can be debilitating, interfering with your work and relationships. All headaches are not alike, and the causes are still not totally understood. However, much progress has been made in headache treatment in the last decade or two, and the headache patient's first line of defense is to collect as much accurate data as possible about their headaches.

Headache Treatment

Although much progress has been made in headache treatment in the last 20 years, many headache sufferers are unaware of the advances that have been made. Unfortunately, only a small minority of patients currently receive the most beneficial therapy. To be able to prescribe the best course of treatment and optimize your care, your doctor needs to know detailed information about your headaches such as the number of headaches over time, severity, the amount of disability and any medication currently being used. A comprehensive headache diary is a vital tool for parents and doctors alike, taking the guesswork out of tracking your headaches and making it easier to your doctor to find the best course of treatment.

What type of headache do I have?

All headaches are not the same. To best treat a patient, the physician or other healthcare professional must be able to classify the type of headaches the patient's are having. Neurologists and other headache specialists use the International Headache Society (IHS) Criteria to classify headaches. According to these criteria, there are three common types of primary headaches 1. (A primary headache is a headache which is not caused by another disease.) The three common types of primary headache are: