Five Tips For Alleviating Chronic Headaches

June 16, 2022 / Thomas Cohn, MD

A headache can ruin your day and affect your mood. Even if your headaches are only presenting with dull soreness or pressure, these symptoms can make every day a challenge. Headaches can seem difficult to treat because their cause isn’t as obvious as a condition like a broken arm or a herniated spinal disc, which is why it’s important to know a few different helpful ways to alleviate your headaches. In today’s blog, we focus on five of them.

How To Reduce Headache Symptoms And Frequency

Here’s a look at a few different conservative methods for reducing headache symptoms or preventing their onset:

1. Staying Hydrated – A number of different health issues can be caused or exacerbated by being dehydrated, and headaches are one of them. Dehydration can lead to muscle tension or cramping in facial muscles that can contribute to tension headaches.

2. Exercise – Daily exercise helps to improve circulation, which can ward off headache onset. Strive to become more active, and you may find that your headaches are fewer and farther between.

3. The Daith Piercing – As we’ve talked about numerous times on the blog in the past, the Daith piercing is a low-cost option that may help provide headache relief. You can learn more about the piercing itself and why researchers believe it may prove beneficial by taking a look at some of our blogs on the subject.

4. Yoga and Meditation – Yoga, meditation and other mindfulness techniques can all help improve blood flow, which as we talked about in the exercise section, can help to relieve headache symptom and prevent their onset. Additionally, yoga and meditation can help a person reduce their stress and anxiety levels, which are also closely related to headache onset. If yoga and meditation aren’t for you, find some other ways to manage stress in your life.

5. Consult With A Specialist – Finally, if you’re still struggling to overcome your chronic headaches, it’s time to set up a consultation with a pain management specialist like Dr. Cohn. He can use a number of different tools to help pinpoint the contributing factors to your headache onset and set you up with an individualized treatment plan to reduce or eliminate them.

If you are bothered by daily or chronic headaches, take the first step on the road to recovery and reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today.

How To Prevent And Treat Stress Headaches

March 24, 2020March 24, 2020 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Things have become a little more stressful in recent weeks, and all this stress and anxiety can lead to physical problems in your body. One of the more common conditions that can develop as a result of added stress and anxiety are tension headaches. Stress is one of the leading factors in the onset of tension headaches, so it’s important to manage your mental health during particularly stressful times to avoid adding a tension headache to the list of things you have to deal with.

In today’s blog, we take a closer look at these stress-induced headaches and share some tips for preventing and treating them.

Preventing Tension Headache Triggers

Tension headaches tend to develop as a result of muscle tension in your head or neck, and stress can actually cause muscles in these areas to contract. So if you’re dealing with a lot of stress, you may unknowingly be physically stressing key neck muscles, and these movements can induce a headache. In order to prevent these headaches, you’ll want to help eliminate some stress from your life.

Obviously everyone deals with stress in their own way, and everyone is dealing with different things in their life. Collectively, we’re in a pretty stressful time amid the coronavirus outbreak, so stress levels across America tend to be higher than normal right now. We can’t guarantee that the following tips will work for you, but they are a good general list of ways you can work to reduce stress and prevent the onset of tension headaches. Those tips include:

Daily exercise – Exercise helps to get blood flowing throughout your body, which helps muscle groups perform optimally. Exercise can also help distract us from some of the stress-inducing areas of our life, which can help to alleviate headaches. Just be sure to warm up slowly, as intense physical exertion without a proper warm up can actually trigger a headache.

Healthy Sleep – Try to get plenty of healthy sleep if you’re dealing with more stress. Go to bed at a regular time, make the room as dark as possible and eliminate distractions like your cell phone or a television. Make it easier for your body to get a good night’s sleep, because lack of quality sleep can lead to the release of stress hormones.

Eating Right – A healthy diet can also help reduce stress. A healthy diet full of fruits and vegetables can give you more energy to get through the day, which can help you stay motivated to reduce stress. Poor eating habits can lead to weight gain and inhibit the desire to perform other healthy activities, like exercise.

Talking – Social distancing does not mean we need to remain socially isolated. Talk with friends or family members on a regular basis, and you’ll find that your stress levels are lower. That being said, make sure you keep the conversation light, or at least avoid dwelling on negative topics. There are healthy ways to talk about your anxiety and stress, but make sure these topics aren’t the sole focus of your conversations with others.

Plan – Finally, although try to plan ahead for what’s to come. You can’t prepare for every scenario, but try to think ahead so you aren’t caught off guard. Planning for potential outcomes can help reduce stress and anxiety when those possibilities occur. Control what you can control, and you’ll notice your stress levels decreasing.

For more tips on how to manage stress and prevent tension headaches, or for help with your headache-related issue, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.

How to Identify & Treat Tension Headaches

November 25, 2013June 24, 2014 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Muscle tension headaches are the most common type of headaches in adults. They have a tight “band-like” quality on both sides of the head. The headaches are not affected by routine physical activity and they can last from 30 minutes to several days. Pain intensity is mild to moderate.

The frequency is variable, from occasional to chronic daily. Up to 80% of adults have tension headaches occasionally, and approximately 3% are chronic daily sufferers. Women tend to have headaches twice as frequently as men. Most people have only one or two of these headaches a month.

Causes of Tension Headaches

Muscle tension headaches have no single cause. They involve the muscles in the back of the neck or elsewhere in the head tightening up. The most common cause is mental or emotional stress, or depression with anxiety. Other common causes include:

Poor posture
Lack of sleep
Overexertion

Understanding the cause of the muscle tension helps determine the possible solutions. Muscle tension headaches are not caused by significant problems in the brain. Tumors, bleeding in the brain, and brain injuries have different symptoms. Tension headaches do not require brain scans or sophisticated imaging of the head. Sometimes fairly routine blood analysis may be helpful to determine if there are any chemical imbalances in the body contributing to the problem. Most important to the diagnosis is a good history and physical exam.

Treatment for Tension Headaches

Treatment of muscle tension headaches is multifaceted. Tension and stress most often have physical, mental, and emotional components. Recognizing and having insight into the factors causing the headaches may be difficult. Professional help may be necessary to deal with emotional and mental factors contributing to symptoms. Here are some common treatment options for tension headaches:

Medications to deal with stress and anxiety
Physical therapy to help with physical components of muscle tension
Massage, acupuncture, and manipulations
Injections to muscles, joints, and nerves as well as Botox injections

Most people can be treated by their primary physician with good control of symptoms. When headaches become frequent and are not controlled, Neurologists and Pain physicians can determine a logical more complex and comprehensive treatment and management strategy.

A medical specialist should treat chronic daily muscle tension headaches. The medications used for occasional headaches may make daily headaches worse. Pain medications, some anxiety drugs and muscle relaxers can cause rebound headaches and worsening of symptoms. A specialist can determine different treatment strategies that may be more effective for the individual.

Read more about other types of headaches in our previous blogs:

Post-Concussion Headaches: Cause & Treatments

November 18, 2013June 24, 2014 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Concussions have been a recent hot topic in the news and in medicine. But for Neurologists and Physical Medicine physicians, this is actually a very old topic. Recently, due to high profile athletes having problems with concussions, the general public is better understanding the significance of this disorder.

What is a Concussion?

Concussions are traumatic brain injuries. The severity of symptoms is highly varied. Neurologists have long been in the forefront with diagnosis of brain injuries and Physical Medicine doctors as part of their training have extensive experience treating and coordinating care for these patients.

Concussions result from blows to the head. They are a “mild” form of traumatic brain injury. Loss of consciousness is not necessary for problems. The severity of the blow to the head also does not correlate to severe symptoms. Any blow to the head, or sudden shaking of the head can cause problems. The trauma to the brain is felt to cause microscopic damage to the brain and connections between neurotransmitters. The first symptoms may occur almost immediately with the person being slightly dazed or confused. Recognizing a possible concussion is important such that a person is removed from further injury and healing can be facilitated.

Concussion Headaches

Headaches are one of the most common symptoms of concussions. The headaches are diffuse throughout the head, and often are worse with noise, bright light, and movement. Accompanying symptoms can include:

Memory issues
Mood changes
Irritability
Fatigue
Balance problems and dizziness

The symptoms can appear immediately or within one to two weeks. If one has had head trauma, and has symptoms of a possible concussion, see a physician and seek treatment. Remember, the suggestion to seek evaluation is to help the brain heal and prevent further damage. It is not a punishment to keep a person out of sports or other activities.

The diagnosis of concussion and headaches from injury is made clinically; it is based on history and exam. MRI scans of the brain or spine may be done to evaluate for possible problems contributing to symptoms or to see if there may be subtle tissue changes in the brain that are consistent with exam. If dizziness is an issue, then an Ear specialist may also be involved with symptom evaluation and management.

Concussion Headache Treatment Options

Treatment of post–concussion syndrome and headaches is dependent on severity of symptoms. Initially, it is recommended to rest and avoid too much activity and stimulation to the brain. That may mean no computer use, no reading and no watching TV or videos. As the headaches improve, gradual increase in activity as tolerated. The brain needs to heal on its own time frame without being damaged or stressed. Medications that are used are the same medications we use for muscle tension headaches or migraines, but we start simple and hopefully they will be unnecessary very quickly. Repeated concussions often heal very slowly if ever.

Concussions and headaches from them are serious problems. Medicine and everyone else is just starting to become aware of the seriousness of these injuries. Treating ongoing headaches from concussions is serious; ignoring them may lead to long-term issues. Once a diagnosis is made, follow the doctor’s orders and allow the brain to heal. There is no such thing as brain transplants, so allow the brain time to heal.

For more information on headaches, check out our other posts:

Migraine Headaches: Phases, Triggers, & Treatments

November 13, 2013June 24, 2014 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Migraine headaches often involve severe pain in one side of the head, and are commonly accompanied by nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound. These headaches are thought to be vascular with constriction and then expansion of the vessels. Migraines occur in 28 million Americans, about 12% of the population with a ratio of 3:1 for females to males.

Check out our other posts about headaches:

4 Phases of a Migraine

A migraine attack usually has four phases:

Premonitory symptoms. Symptoms of this phase include fatigue, lack of concentration, yawning, visual changes, neck pain. This phase may last from hours to days.
Aura. The auras are usually a visual or sensory phenomenon, lasting minutes to an hour. These only occur in a small portion of people with migraines.
Headache. The actual headaches have a gradual onset. First thing in the morning you will start to feel pain on one side of the head. The pain can start dull, then evolve into pulsating pain with jabs and jolts. 90% of sufferers also experience nausea and sensitivity to light, sound, and smells. Mood and mental awareness changes and neck pain are common.
Postdrome. After the migraine, the postdromal period, involves fatigue, impaired concentration, irritability, and general pain and weakness.

Migraine Triggers

The triggers for migraine headaches are numerous, and are partly dependent on the individual. All of the following can be triggers:

Stress
Weather changes
Caffeine withdrawal
Menstruation
Sleep problems
Fasting
Certain foods including wine, MSG, nitrates, and aspartame

The correlation to a heart defect called a patent foramina ovale (PFO) is clear, but it is an association, not a cause, and fixing the heart defect sometimes does affect the migraines. In females, there is a correlation to hormonal changes, but regulating female hormones does not necessarily improve migraines.

Migraine Treatment Options

Migraine treatment includes a variety of medications depending on the severity and frequency of the headaches. First line medications include anti-inflammatories, combination analgesics like acetaminophen with caffeine, and sometimes nausea and seizure drugs. If the migraines are more severe but not more than once to twice a week, triptan type medications are often highly effective. The most common has been Imitrex and there are multiple similar drugs available.

Addictive medications like narcotics or benzodiazepines should be avoided since they are likely to cause increasing difficulties in management over time. When migraines become frequent, twice a week or more, seizure type medications and beta-blocker heart drugs may be effective. If the headaches become uncontrollable, sometimes intense interventions by Neurologists who just specialize in headache management is necessary.

Migraines & other Headaches

Migraines can also be mixed with other types of headaches, such as pain from the neck like whiplash or TMJ jaw problems. Treating headaches of mixed origins is often complex and needs a team of specialists and support staff including Neurologists, Pain specialists, physical therapists and psychologists to address the variety of problems these headaches cause.

If one has migraines, and simple treatment is not working, then a Neurologist and sometimes Pain specialists can be of great benefit. A team approach can often address the variety of factors impacting and contributing to the headaches.